As I was driving up the ridge this morning, I noticed these ‘frost flowers’ in bloom along my path. I have heard them called rabbit frost before but most people know them by frost flowers. Our temperatures were cold enough to freeze the moisture left in these road side grasses, causing the membranes to burst and freeze as it squeezed through the plant stems.
I wish I could show you how delicate these are – a thin sheet of frost swirled out around the plant. Shattering on contact and soon evaporated by the morning sun, they are a wonder each time I see them.
blossoming in the crystalline field –
flowers of delicate frost appear –
ephemeral beauty
Another wonder we encounter in the course of our seasons!
thecourseofourseasons 
How nice that you had some – I was hoping to see some today but I think there was not enough moisture.
Frost and ice is just so interesting, isn’t it? Often surprising.
Hope you are well, Kathleen!
K
Hi Karen – I thought of you when taking these pics this morning – knowing that you would have done miraculous photos of these beautiful ‘frost flowers’.
Thanks for thinking of me – and I am hanging in.
Hope you are having a wonderful Christmas season! K
How very pretty! I’d not heard of that.type of frost before (and living in the Midwest, I thought I’d seen it all too!). Thanks for the pictures.
Nancy
Steve Schwartzman wrote about the frostweed. I didn’t realize it was the nickname to an actual plant!
http://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/frostweed-explains-its-name/
http://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/frostweed-debuts-its-ice-trick-for-2012/
I learn new things all the time!
Nancy
I learn new things all the time, too! Part of the fun is presenting those things to other people/
That really is part of the fun. It was quite a coincidence that you both posted this within a few days of each other!