The winter colours as they come

Its always the preparation that takes time and suddenly you see them all come together after the long waiting period as a seasonal burst of the tropical winter colour palette. This is the time for the tiny flower colours, the phlox, dianthus, and the tiny "mums", yes, all varieties of chrysanthemums, and not forgetting the burst of marigold yellow and the multi-coloured peacock flowers as you see in the snap shots. They all start to appear one by one, then all together, peeping through the mild sun and the mist. The winter chill seems to help them give their solid colours a sheer shine and freshness. The other day the fog became kind of heavy after a sudden cold spell. I thought that may be they wouldn't survive the bitter chill nor the dense, wet cloak of fog, but they were all there when late in the day the sun slowly came up and I went up visiting them, they were all smiling, a sight to watch and treasure.