Cold Frosty Morning and Frost Flowers

"Granny, what are these called?" 

My grandson and his girlfriend are visiting from Los Angeles, and they'd been out for a walk. Granddaughter Haley was here too, napping on the couch. We'd had a good country breakfast of biscuits, gravy, bacon and eggs, so a walk or a nap both seemed like good options. Larry opted for the nap as well, and I was washing up breakfast dishes when Pilar came over to show me something she was holding in her hand.

"Frost flowers!" I was so surprised. My storytelling friend Dianne Hackworth in Tennessee has posted many photos of frost flowers on Facebook, but I'd never actually seen a real one.

"Where did you find it? I asked, as excited about it as Jared and Pilar.

"In your woods, right over there by the poutin' house."

They were getting ready to leave about then, so we said our farewells--how I hate to see them go, such a treat whenever they come home and waved goodbye. When they were gone, I told Larry, "Get your shoes on, we're going for a walk. I want to show you something."

The poutin' house

It has been cold here this December, colder than for the past several Decembers, with heavy frosts the past two mornings--so heavy that it looked like snow in the early morning light. Ice is beginning to form on the little lake at the end of our road and the snow we had at the beginning of the week is still lingering in places that get little sun. But today the temperatures are a little warmer, and it felt good to get out and walk in the brisk air.

Larry found some pitch pine for starting fires in the fireplace.

We hadn't gone far when, just as Jared and Pilar said, there were the frost flowers, not 100 feet from the house.

I would very likely have missed them if Jared hadn't explained exactly where they were. These are not as big as some of the ones Dianne has photographed, but I am so thrilled to have seen real frost flowers, or ice blossoms as they are sometimes called. at last.

What are frost flowers? Frost flowers are fragile natural ice sculptures formed when conditions are right, and the right kind of plants are available. According to the National Weather Service, "Frost flowers are thin layers (perhaps credit card thickness) of ice that are extruded through slits from the stems of white or yellow wingstem plants, among others. Their formation requires freezing air temperature, soil that is moist or wet but not frozen, and a plant's stem that has not been previously frozen. (Practically speaking, a once per year event, although not all individuals produce frost flowers on the first day of good conditions). The water in the plant's stem is drawn upward by capillary action from the ground. It expands as it freezes and splits the stem vertically and freezes on contact with the air. As more water is drawn from ground through the split, it extrudes a paper thin ice layer further from the stem. The length of the split determines if the frost flower is a narrow or wide ribbon of ice. It curls unpredictably as it is extruded, perhaps from unequal friction along the sides of the split, to form "petals". These flowers, no two of which are alike, are fragile and last only until they sublimate or melt."

So, below freezing temperatures, wet ground that has not yet frozen, and the right kind of plants whose roots have also not frozen, and the conditions are right for frost flowers.

Still some green in the woods, and a pretty white mushroom on a stump.

An ice flower at the base of a stump where a squirrel has been shelling nuts.

If the NWS is correct and this is generally a once-a-year event, then we were very lucky that Jared and Pilar happened to take a walk today in just the right place.

See any ice flowers? They're actually there, but not so easy to spot.

And back to the house.

One of my favorite tunes for this time of year is Cold Frosty Morning. I was humming it as we walked in the woods, so here it is for you to listen to as you look at the photos above.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.