I’ve been directing my attention elsewhere for the last two weeks but Six On Saturday persuaded me outside again where I found that the garden was rising up! We have a week of cold weather forecast after months of storms and rain. I am looking forward to change. Here’s the six things I spotted this week.
One
I was very taken with some helleborus argutifolius or holly-leaved hellebore that I saw in a garden some time last year and three were promptly added this garden. Hardy to H5 and preferring some shade they seemed the perfect choice. It’s year one and they are flowering. That’s a tick, now they have to survive black spot and the honey fungus that also likes this corner.
Two
A walk round the garden always reveals jobs to done, here the ivy covering a low wall has reached the lawn. I’m grateful for the coverage of a pretty shabby wall but it is time to get the shears out.
Three
More hellebores are putting out buds, ‘Pretty Ellen’ red. These are in quite a sheltered spot between the shed and a water butt, often overlooked but at this time of the year they do shout out for some attention.
Four
I’m sure all this rain is not ideal for euphorbia wulfenii but so far they are battling on. There are several self-seeders and the more established ones are putting out new growth.
Five
I don’t cut back the grasses until February but I noticed that the melica is already putting up new growth. I’ll leave it for a few more weeks and will probably regret that decision. In the meantime over Christmas I snipped few stems of miscanthus sinensis ‘Silberfeder’ and calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’ to add to some gold sprayed allium heads, hylotelephiums, a stem of veronicastrum ‘Fascination’ and a few fake red berries. The decorations will come down this weekend but these can stay a while longer.
Six
Wow, you may be thinking but rest assured this is not my garden. A walk in a local country park showed the extent of storm damage elsewhere. So many trees down and the ground saturated. After having lost a greenhouse last year I was very relieved that we have had no damage, so far, this winter. I do hope no one else has suffered with damage or flooding.
That’s the first six of the year delivered, Jim will have the links to more and of course his own choices for the week. Maybe this is the year to take part, Jim has the guidelines for joining in. Happy gardening until next week. And Happy New Year to you all.
n20gardener 
Your Hellebores are gorgeous. A very wise purchas(s) to add to the others.
Delighted also that we will have a cold snap. Great for getting out to woodland walks.
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And such a welcome change from that wet weather
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I also like the Hellebores. They are ideal for shady spots. Fortunately, fungus and mold don’t seem to bother mine.
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Hoping for the same here.
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That’s a big fireplace you have! Does it work? There were also many trees that fell in the surrounding woods. They prohibited access for security reasons. Lovely hellebores !
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Once upon a time it worked. Then it was converted to gas and then by the time we moved in it was decommissioned altogether. I have fir cones in the grate.
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Yes, that’s what I seemed to see. I thought it was to light the fire as I could sometimes do. We also converted our old fireplace into a wood stove.
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Lovely to see signs of Spring. We lost 4 rotten fence panels, but their time was nearly up so it wasn’t too much bother.
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Great to see signs of life – that ‘Pretty Ellen’ Hellebore looks like it will be very pretty indeed.
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I love your arrangement, it’s beautiful, it has an Arts & Crafts vibe to it for me. I have some allium heads I meant to spray for a Christmas arrangement but I was too ill to do it – I think I’ll do it soon and have a New Year arrangement instead, you’ve inspired me!
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Thank you so much. I hope you’re feeling much better now and have fun putting together your arrangement too. I’ve kept my sprayed allium heads for several years now.
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Are those European white birches (Betula pendula) growing wild in their natural environment?
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Good question! It’s a long standing piece of land, previously used as a hunting ground in the time of Henry VIII. But these look like more recent plantings. I wonder???
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They look as much like wild or naturalized specimens as intentionally planted. The buttressed but not disfigured roots suggest that they grew where they are now from seed, without former confinement within nursery cans. Of course, even nursery grown specimens can develop such roots after installation.
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