The Withering

The first serious frost has visited.  That one, you know that one, that one that happens when even though you've been expecting it, it's still a surprise when it arrives.  It is the time of The Withering (this is a bit like in Highlander with the Quickening, but colder, less lightening effects and a lot less swordy).
The effect of this first frost is quite dramatic.
The once bright zinging zinnias are a soggy mess,
The cosmos is past it,
it has the transclucent pallour of death about it.
The gingers look limp,
the chrysanthemums have lost color and shape,
The dahlias are demonstrating what 'blackened by frost' means.  Most of them will be left in the ground to survive or not, I may try and store some of the most expensive ones.  I shall decide this soon but in recent years I have failed quite spectacularly to keep stored ones alive.  They seem to last better in the ground.
Poor withered, bleached out looking things adorn my garden.
Some have just given up and flopped.
The tithonia has drooped.  Yet with all this going on, all is not lost.
There are buds on the Camellia rosthorniana 'Cupido'.
There are new Eschscholzia growing,
and new marigolds,
The Clematic cirrhosa 'Freckles' is flowering,
This Coronilla valentina ssp. glauca 'Citrina', bought last year, has flowered and flowered for weeks.  It has the most wonderful scent which can really be appreciated now most of the other plants around it have died down.
I shall finish with the Edgeworthia, a few leaves have fallen following this frost.  I am now focussing on whether it will get through another winter.  I am hopeful that it will as it has grown well this year.  I am also staring into the center of the leaves wondering if that is a flower bud I can see forming for next spring.  Oh what a joy that would be!
This first withering frost spells the end of some plants there are, as always, the signs of continuation and hope for next year.  If I was a fan of Disney I might start muttering songs about the circle of life, so you can be grateful that I am not.