Getting Ready for Winter

We had our first killing frost on Friday night/Saturday morning. The basil is gone (sigh) and some of the annuals did not survive as well.
Our front planters look a little wear weary this late in the season . . .
Begonias were pretty in the summer, but they look tired in November.

The solution, borrowed from Reggie Darling, plant real evergreens in the planters. They'll be great until spring when the planters receive their pansies.

The evergreens are on sale now and for far less than what I pay for annuals, I can have real living greenery in the planters. With a little watering, they should be vibrant all during the winter. And how great they will look with a dusting of snow!
One nice evergreen per pot -- the near one
And the far one . . . .

With pumpkins that still decorate Linderhof, the greenery in the pots and the pile of fallen leaves, the season has certainly changed. We also changed out the planters by the back door and the big planters in the back garden and the window box under the sunroom window. When the barreness of winter finally comes, when the leaves are off the trees and snow falls, the green of the evergreens will give a nice color to Linderhof.

And, you don't have to worry about these plants drying out as cut greens do -- by mid January, the boughs that I used to put in the planters were nothing but a mass of lost and missing needles! These should stay green until it is time to dig them up!

Thank you Reggie!

And after I redid my planters? . . . I went inside and baked.

A tradition for the first Sunday in November -- making the Dundee cakes for the freezer. A great nosh for December teas.

They need to be made early for they benefit from a time in the freezer. We'll start serving them for tea the first full week in December.

The first of Christmas baking is done!

It's Monday and I'm joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for the metamorphosis of the front planters from summer to winter.

And I'm joining Cielo at The House in the Roses for Show Off Your Cottage Monday.