It may be difficult to find six things worth sharing in the garden over the winter months but taking a stroll around each weekend does reveal some interesting things. The weather has kept me out of the garden for most of the week but today as I peered and poked around I discovered that the darling squirrels have been rooting around in the pots. I’ve back filled their holes and hope that no damage has been done to the plants. This is my last SOS for the Christmas and New Year period so I will send you all very best wishes for the holiday season. Here’s the six things I did find.
One
I’ve borrowed this one from my neighbour. The red berries being too seasonal to be resisted. My phone sometimes obliges with a plant identification but nothing was on offer this time. I have no idea, it is a small tree if that helps.
Two
I usually bring in plenty of ivy and other foliage to make a garland for the stairs but this year I have gone very minimalist and used allium seedheads sprayed gold and combined them with some other bits and pieces and a string of snowy pine cone lights. There’ll be less to clear up come the New Year!
Three
Other foliage sometimes includes sage and rosemary. These always look good in the garden at this time of year and they will feature in the Christmas cooking.
Four
The plant identifier did have a suggestion for this one and told me it was cyclamen persicum, the florist’s cyclamen. I thought I’d planted c.hedifolium here. Is it easy to tell the difference? I thought c. persicum was not hardy and these have been in the ground for several winters. All thoughts welcome.
Five
The ivy in the garden is bearing berries now and these are great for adding interest to wreaths and garlands but this year I have left them for the birds.
Six
Lastly some cheery red from the stems of cornus alba ‘Sibirica’. I planted this in 2021 and it is making slow but steady progress. I am slightly worried for it though as it is planted in the border that has (had?) honey fungus. So far it doesn’t seem to have been affected although the RHS indicates that it may be susceptible. I wish it well.
Don’t forget to check in with Jim for more SOS posts. Jim is going all the way through with two more posts before the year end, I feel like a school truant! See you all in 2024!
n20gardener 
My phone identification thingy suggests Mexican Hawthorne for the berries. Lovely use of the alliums for decoration – I’ve always wanted a staircase with a proper banister. One day perhaps.
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I had completely ruled out hawthorn as the berries were so large! Live and learn!
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I was going to suggest a hawthorn too, but some of them have thorns and I couldn’t see any on this plant. Lovely inventive decorations.
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I really didn’t have the tree down as a hawthorn- I’m not sure I’ve ever noticed it in flower. I’ll have to look more carefully!!
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I think the tree is probably Crataegus prunifolia; we benefit from a neighbour’s tree of it too. The cyclamen is probably a persicum form if it’s flowering now. C. hederifolium is very variable but usually the leaves are more lobed and less clearly marked. They’ve been breeding Cyclamen persicum for a couple of hundred years and there are strains that have been selected for hardiness as well as heat tolerance. With the right strain (the garden centre probably won’t know what they’ve got, let alone tell you) and ideal conditions, they will survive outdoors until you get a hard frost or too much wet. True C. hederifolium is reliably hardy.
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Thank you so much Jim for cyclamen explanation. And for the tree id.
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To me it looks like a variety of hawthorn, but which one?? About the cyclamen, yes it also seems to me to be a florist’s cyclamen, that is to say the variety more chilly than the hederifolium one.
I really like the decoration you add to your staircase with the allium flowers and the light garlands. It looks very nice ! I wish you a happy Christmas.
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Thank you. Have a great Christmas too.
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I agree with Jim and would say it is not Cyclamen hederifolium, and most probably C persicum as it is flowering now. I do however have a C hederifolium that is in flower now but it is the end of its season and believe that it is just the unusual Summer weather that has thrown it off kilter.
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So interesting. I’m all for trying to find some proper hederifolium soon!
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Whatever the cyclamen is it does have very pretty leaves! I thought the tree fruit looked like crab apples! But I bow to Jim’s expert ID knowledge. Do you ever cut your sage down? That looks like a very large plant! I have previously cut sage back (as per Monty’s advice) and then lost it. So just wondering what you so with yours.
Enjoy the holidays and the break – love the alliums!
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I do cut the sage back once a year to some new growth. I did cut out a lot of deadish growth about a year ago probably in May. Happy Christmas. I hope you can find some peace.
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Your neighbour’s whatever-it-is tree is a show and your allium decorations look great. Have a very Happy Christmas and all the best for the New Year.
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Lovely Six, there’s still a lot of colour in your garden. I hope your Dogwood survives. Have a lovely Christmas.
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The berries resemble those of mayhaw, which are like big hawthorn berries, but those ripened at the opposite end of the year. Otherwise, they look like crabapple, but you would have recognized the bloom last spring.
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I agree with Jude. Those leaves are very pretty. Yes, many garden centres sell what looks beautiful on display but to get the best variety requires persistence.
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