Frosty leaves

I had to be up early this morning to accept a special kind of honor—I was asked to spend the day teaching sixth graders at our local school about salamanders—so I didn't get much of a chance to walk. But as I drove downhill from the house, I noticed that "Jack Frost" had been busy overnight and the ground wore a light coating of silver for the first time this year. The temperature had dropped to around 30 at daybreak, and I was glad I'd elected to bring in the house plants that could not hack the cold. This wasn't a carry-off-everything-green frost, but it could have ended the growing season—and life—of the more tender species, my ancient Angel Wing begonia in particular. Of course, these oak and maple leaves have already given up the ghost, so there's harm the silvering can do. In fact, frost damage is a positive development for spent foliage, because it begins the recycling process that turns this year's leaves into next year's fertilizer. For now, however, it just turns them pretty.