Look how the frost blooms on the flower buds of the saskatoon bushes … … long after the day’s thin sun has wiped it from the sage and grasses … … and even the dogwoods …. … except for their spent seed heads (the birds ate the berries long ago). The roses, the close sisters of the saskatoons, have also lost their frost.

So, let’s look again and praise saskatoons. Doesn’t the frost look like stars?

This is a dangerous time of year for tender-blossomed roses (like saskatoons), especially ones that bloom as early as saskatoons, which need to maximize scarce water to plump up their berries in July. There is always a danger of frost, or even a renewed winter. Maintaining your flowers in a state of semi-dormant readiness, by making them attractive to frost that will cool them in the day and warm them at night (creating a steady temperature) is going to mean that one day in the spring, when the sun comes out, the blossoms will all open at once. Look at them here, growing on nearly solid rock.

Beautiful balance!