The hills of the Ozarks are a wet place. Rain water becomes spring water or ground water as it passes through our limestone karst topography. As it gets colder out the bluffs leach out this water in the form of icicles. On the ground below the bluffs the water trapped inside the stalks of tall plants expands. This ice takes on amazing forms – frost flowers appear at the bases of these plants. They appear on mornings where the temps are below freezing and disappear as the temperature rises.
It’s been unseasonably cold for a few days. I have been lighting a fire most evenings to warm up the old Stonehouse. This kind of sustained cold is more common in January or February. This morning when I took a look at the forecast I thought that even though it’s a couple of months early, the conditions were right. I packed up my macro lens and hit the highway. I had to slog through some semi frozen mud, but is it was worth it. Fields and fields of frosty blossoms.
I used a macro light on the super close-ups and a flash on a couple of shots. I wish I had taken the tripod, but the white light of an overcast day let me shoot fast enough to get away without it.
Click through and get a sense of the flower and the intricate shapes that make them up. I’m off to the kitchen to make some hot apple cider. Stay warm.
the eff stop 
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I’ve only seen frost flowers in person once in my life. Such an incredible phenomenon! Your shots are gorgeous. Thanks for sharing them.
Wow! Amazing images. I’ve never seen anything like it before.
Thanks Robin, I think they may be unique to the Ozarks. I never noticed them until someone asked me how to photograph them – from your car they look like paper or litter on the roadside.
These are fascinating photos.
unbelievable!
Thanks Elizabeth – nature pulls off some pretty amazing things š
Those are simply remarkable. If you hadn’t told me what they were, I would have been left scratching my head. Great work.
Thanks Lyle, their shapes can be so varied. Once the temp hits 35 they are gone.
This reminds me of the spun sugar flowers on our wedding cake. Sweet captures!
Thanks Honie – I haven’t seen spun sugar in ages. Their forms are so amazing.
Wow!
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Now I learned of frost flowers besides the snowflakes … Thank you
Thanks for dropping by. Ice can be so amazing.
Amazing captures never heard or seen this before…
Thanks Bulldog, I’ve never seen them anywhere else.
Absolutely fascinating. I’ve never heard, or seen, of this before.
Thanks for sharing images of this amazing phenomenon.
Thanks Vicki, they are like snowflakes – no two alike.
These are amazing! Pardon me for asking, are these frozen flowers or the frost itself? Sometimes my eyes don’t work. š¦
Thanks. They are called frost flowers, but they are just ice.
Nature’s art! Gorgeous photos!
Thanks, they really is art, aren’t they.
I could take some of that hot apple cider about now. Brrrr. Those photos are fascinating! Mother Natures is so full of amazing things. So cool (pun intended) Lorri!
I bet, it’s been in the teens at night lately – I’m a desert rat so this is like the frozen north to me. I’ll send some cider your way š
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This is incredible! I’ve never seen anything like it. Simply stunned at the glory of nature. Thanks for posting and sharing these photos!
Thank you. I see these on the way to work in the winter and never have time to pull over. Today was the perfect chance to shoot them. I have always been fascinated by them.
When I saw the photo in the header, I thought it was an elderly woman’s hair. Such a cool phenomenon!
Blue hair! That would have been a great photo title š
What amazing photos – that spindle is really interesting! And I like the idea of hot apple cider š
Thanks – they are all so delicate, even the spindle is hollow and translucent.