gardening

Six On Saturday: Happy New Year

/ n20gardener / 11 Comments

It’s hard to keep the mind on a positive track in this chaotic world and the garden that provides much enjoyment through the year can feel, well, rather uninspiring in winter.  But the Prop does not offer winter breaks and SOS continues. After a few mornings of looking at the frosty garden from a distance I went out on a recce. Here’s what I found.

One

First a surprise.  The vinca is in flower again.  One brave soul sheltering among the leaves.  It lifted the spirits.

Two

The viburnum in the front garden that flowers only on one side is true to form this year.  But there is promise for the future as there are definitely more flowers than last year. 

Three

More encouraging signs.  Primroses have been spotted over the last few weeks, just one or two small ones here and there. 

Four

Winter berries on a cotoneaster.  This has always been a mystery plant in the garden.  Variously thought to be villosus or possibly moupinensis,  I really have no idea but the black berries look rather bewitching. 

Five

While much of the garden is showing off various shades of brown the variegated leaves of euonymus fortunei ‘Emerald Gaiety’ fill a dark corner of the garden.  Sometimes known as winter creeper, which seems to be an entirely appropriate name. 

Six

Snowberries.  Not mine, because my snowberry does not seem to keep its berries.  I hope this is because the birds eat them, but it is possibly because every year, several times a year, I go at it with the loppers trying to make some sense of the thicket of stems.   I would have dug the snowberry out by but I doubt you can ever dig out a well established snowberry.  

Positive vibes restored, it is a Happy New Year.  I wish you all happiness and health in the year to come.  I’m going to top up the good feelings with a dose of Nina Simone – it’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life for me and I’m feeling good!  There is also some blue sky showing through the window so perhaps a spot of rose pruning would be a sensible job to get on with. Happy gardening. 

Six On Saturday: Reasons to be cheerful

/ n20gardener / 23 Comments

After a deluge of rain this morning there is a patch of blue sky to be seen. I’ll enjoy it while I can. This week’s six comes from Thursday’s garden when the sun shone for most of the day and the clear sky of the evening revealed a waxing silver sliver of a three day old moon. It was a good day and there was much to appreciate.

Although the sun shone, the garden was very wet and an hour of pruning the roses and tidying up the alchemilla mollis led to cold wet hands. I chose my six for the week and headed inside again. Here’s what I found to cheer me.

One

Raindrops on the euphorbia characias. I hope this Mediterranean plant copes with all the rain. I have lost two over the years but there always seems to be a self seeder to move into the gap.

Two

I inherited quite a few these and have dug most of them out as they were very large and dominated one particular corner of the garden. I kept a few and this one is just going over into winter browness but for the moment the yellowing leaves look rather good. What is it? I have no idea, could it be a dryopteris?

Three

The low sun was shining through the hedge at the back of the garden and the silvery seed heads of the thalictrum took on a seasonal sparkle.

Four

Oh so wet, but it was a joy to see the new buds of hellebore ‘Pretty Ellen’ red. Moments later the leaves had been trimmed back ready for the flowers to have free rein.

Five

A glistening mix of ivy and arum italicum that colonise the inhospitable ground under the snowberry.

Six

An anonymous free gift. Was it from the birds or the wind? Another form of euphorbia but not one that I have planted in the garden. Neighbouring gardens both have substantial euphorbias so maybe it’s one of theirs. I am letting it stay so time will tell.

It was also cheering to see, as reported by other SOSers, the emerging shoots of spring bulbs. There are a few months to go but things are on the move, spring is being prepared.

For more gardening cheer pop along to Mr P’s, the whole jolly band of SOSers gather there over the weekend to exchange bon mots, support, encouragement and no doubt seasonal good wishes. Wishing all of you peace, health and happiness and see you in the New Year.

Six On Saturday: Time to be kind to ourselves

/ n20gardener / 19 Comments

I’m giving myself a big fat gardening tick this weekend. Not the ones that bite and cause no end of problems but the ones that acknowledge a job done. Tick. Tulips planted. I really had been sinking under the weight of not having done this. The weather had been awful. I knew it was going to be a tough job. I definitely had other things to do, although truth be told, they too were strangely being put off in favour of, well, in favour of not much. Finally there was a dry moment between bouts of chilly damp fog and I ventured out.

The job was as difficult as I had imagined. Weeks of rain had taken its toll on the heavy clay soil. I gave up trying to plant out the pretty pink double ‘Angelique’ and ‘Spring Green’ in the clay border and found a home for them amongst the lavenders. I dug up a dahlia and threw in about 60 bulbs of ‘Queen of Night’, ‘Shirley’, and ‘Violet Beauty’ in the hole and then as the light faded and the fingers numbed I planted the remaining bulbs in a pot. Not even a special pot, just a plastic one that was to hand in the shed. But it was job done and I was euphoric. It wasn’t the carefully thought out scheme that I had in mind but those tulips are going to be very wonderful next year even if they are in all the wrong places.

So here are the photos for this week’s six:

One

The stunningly attractive tulip pot so full of promise of things to come. Tick. Bonus plant: rose still flowering.

Two

I have never lifted dahlias for the winter here so I quite amazed at the number of tubers that I discovered. Now stored away in a box in the garage I have no idea where this one is going come the end of Spring.

Three

I give myself another tick for getting round to spraying the allium heads I had dried over the summer. My first tip of the hat to Christmas. I shall artistically arrange them in a vase, soon.

Four

I’m on a roll now. Another tick for keeping the bird feeder topped up. This is the best I can do with an iphone (old version) through the kitchen window and sadly I cannot share a photo of the very charming one legged sparrow that comes every day to hoover up the spillage left by the other birds.

Five

And I did order new fleece. Last year’s purchases are flaking away with every new breeze. I am trying this rather posh version this year. Maybe it will last longer.

Six

A beautiful hellebore to end on. I’m pretty sure its ‘Pretty Ellen’ white. It is lovely to have white in the garden as December gloom settles in.

The shortest day is in sight. Not long to go before the early bulbs push through. We can do it! If you are in need of a tick, gardening or otherwise, please consider one duly despatched. Ticks for everyone! Well done. Much appreciation too for Mr P who little knew what he had started. He definitely gets a tick for his drawers!

Six On Saturday: The shed has landed

/ n20gardener / 19 Comments

Pride of place this week has to go to the new shed. So let’s go straight to it.

One

The old one went a week or two ago, leaving a large open space for me to contemplate. I was wondering why I had ordered a same size replacement when surely I could manage with a smaller one, but too late, the shed was on its way. It is very new and shiny. How lovely it is not to have to lift the door up off the ground before trying to open it and how lovely not to have a soggy floor every time it rains.

Two

I have some new borders to plant up. This one is at the very back of the garden in the area used for produce. This is a very inhospitable plot for veggies, dry and shady and nothing has fared well here. Now the plan is try some plants. First in were three asplenium scolopendrium or hart’s tongue ferns. In the spring I will add thalictrum, hostas, tiarella and aquilegias. The logs in the corner come from a fig tree, read on for their sad story.

Three

Earlier in the year tragedy struck the smaller of the fig trees. I can’t believe it didn’t make a six at the time. Whilst trying to remove the alkanet from around the base of the tree I realised it was moving around quite a bit. Further examination revealed it to be rotting from soil level so it was quickly taken down, sawn into chunks and stored at the end of the garden. The space I was left with was planted up with annuals and an old dahlia that was lurking in a pot. The dahlia did well but it won’t be a permanent fixture. The first real frost arrived this week so I will lift the dahlia and then settle down to thinking up some plans for this border, a sunny spot thank goodness.

Four

More new plans to put in place for this patch of ground. I took out both white currant bushes and a good number of gooseberry bushes earlier in the year and sowed a green manure mix. That has now been dug in and mulched over. Now the ground is ready to receive a new redcurrant bush and a new white currant bush. All the bushes will now have more room to breathe and hopefully I will be able to net them more successfully against the birds.

Five

It is the that time of year again, when the cotoneaster horizontalis gets to be a star of the show. This was not one of my favourite inherited plants and I thought it would be on the list to dig up asap. But those red berries are very attractive at this time of the year and the blackbirds need something to nibble on. It stays.

Six

There’s a little spark of lime green in the border coming from the euphorbia oblongata. This will be its first winter out in the garden after having been grown from seed. It is described as fully hardy but short lived. I hope I get another season out of it.

There are a few jobs still to done, not least the last of the tulips to be seen to. The mojo just wasn’t there last week to get on and do that but the cold weather has arrived and they must be planted soon. Temperatures in the greenhouse went down to -0.9 degrees for one night this week, winter is coming.

Mr P continues to host this merry band of sixers for which many thanks are given. Stop by and take a look. Enjoy your winter gardening, here the wildlife is taking over. Parakeets and squirrels have come for the persimmons and the birds are regular visitors to the feeder. All very entertaining.

Six On Saturday: Last jobs to be done

/ n20gardener / 18 Comments

It’s still quite mild but the days are shortening and colder weather is forecast. I have risked leaving the lemon tree out but this is the weekend it will go into the greenhouse. The scented leaf pelargoniums went inside during the week and the evergreen agapanthuses in pots have been wrapped up in fleece. There are too many of these to move into the greenhouse so they brave the winter outside. The garden is mulched, the old shed has gone and the new shed is on schedule to arrive next week. That leaves the leaves! And the last tidying up in the borders. Oh, and a few dozen tulips still to be planted. So nearly there, but not quite. The garden looks as though it is going quiet but underneath the soggy earth the spring bulbs are waking up. Hurrah! Here’s six from the garden this week.

One

Testament to the mild weather perhaps, is this flower on one of the anemones I grew from root cuttings. I took the cuttings last autumn and managed to get them through the winter. I moved them to 9 cm pots in the summer and perhaps around the end of August planted them out in the garden. It’s a small flower on a small plant but it’s all my own work so much treasured.

Two

The figs have been falling from the tree. Some were ripe enough to make jam with but most are not. This was the result of one morning’s work and the windy weather of this morning has brought down a few more.

Three

Lockdown life is pretty dull which is my excuse for buying these purple cyclamen. Madness, I usually only entertain the white ones. But here they are, looking more pink than purple but they are purple!

Four

As mentioned the pellies are in the greenhouse, even as they continue to flower. They will need to be cut back for their overwintering, a job for next week.

Five

The leaf cage is getting full and the neighbours on both sides are contributing. It’s quite a social event!

Six

Roses are still giving little pops of colour, a cheery sight through the gloom of a drizzly afternoon.

This season is turning, there will be less gardening and more eating of hot buttered crumpets. But SOS carries on. Mr P will inspire us all with his ingenious finds to make it into each week’s six. I urge you to take a look.

Six On Saturday: November shines its way in

/ n20gardener / 26 Comments

November is my favourite winter month and so far it is looking good. The first light frosts arrived this week followed by blue skies. The perfect weather for shovelling the large amounts of mulch I have sitting in dumpy bags. Progress is slow but it’s a wonderful outdoor work out. I am not a tidy gardener but I am always very happy with the sharpness of the border after a mulch has gone down. So all is well in the garden at least. Here’s six things that caught my eye this week.

One

Last week’s halloween fungus was identified as Coral fungus, probably ramaria stricta. This week I have another mystery to be solved. The front garden once again supplies the object requiring an id. Sorry, no prizes!

Two

I have been busy cutting back soggy leaves, in this border it was the siberian irises getting the chop and nearly losing a leg was this little fellah. I usually have a robin as company in the garden but this year the amphibians have been muscling in. I am hopeless at telling the difference between frogs and toads but previous creatures have been identified as toads so I’m going toad for this one.

Three

November is the season for bare root roses and there are always some discounts available which is very tempting. I still have one or two roses putting out small flowers. This one is ‘Jaqueline du Pre’.

Four

And this one is ‘Natasha Richardson’. This one is very floriferous through the year. If I am tempted to try to fit in one more rose it might be ‘Munster Wood’. But at the moment I’m just looking….

Five

A few weeks back I showed the leaves on the persimmon tree as they turned colour. The leaves have all fallen now, leaving the fruit to take centre stage. It’s a good crop this year, destined for the birds as I am not a great fan of the fruit.

Six

I have one fuchsia in the garden, an inherited one so I have no idea of the variety and I am sad to say that it looks like it has fuchsia gall mite. The ends of the shoots are distorted. Here’s the flower rather than the damage. Cutting back the affected growth seems to be the main option. A job for the weekend.

The week ahead promises mild weather here, I’ll be mulching and collecting leaves. The old shed will be taken down and I hope the new one is still on schedule for delivery end of the month. Meanwhile I’ll keep in touch with other SOS gardeners through the links on Mr Ps site. This is the time of year when sunny photos from Australia cheer us up.

Six On Saturday: Something for Halloween

/ n20gardener / 11 Comments

I’m a little shocked to find myself at the end of October with so much still to do in the garden. The rain is spoiling all my plans, but thankfully so far it has been quite mild and the lemon tree and the scented leaf pelagoniums that are still outside haven’t suffered. A trip to the garden centre saw me suckered into buying reduced Tete a Tete bulbs, these are my priority for the weekend. I’m planting them in pots so that I can move them into the front garden in spring when the gaps in the borders are evident. Here’s six from this week’s very squelchy garden.

One

Strange things are afoot in the front garden. This is my contribution to Halloween this year. It looks like it should be in use in the bathroom. I have no idea what it is, other than some sort of fungus. Suggestions most welcome.

Two

I stumbled across these salvias in the week. Evidence of previous garden centre temptations. I planted them under the roses and promptly forgot about them but they have settled in very well. They are ‘Nachtvlinder’. I am glad I spotted them again as there is the chance I will lose them if the winter is a harsh one. Maybe it’s not too late to try taking a cutting or two.

Three

My next contribution to Halloween. The seed pods of Iris foetidissima are just beginning to open. The berries stay on the plant well in to winter, giving a good splash of orange to some dark corners of the garden.

Four

Zinnias are just surviving the regular downpours of rain. It hasn’t been the best weather for them but the occasional flower braves the showers.

Five

Lovely, lovely autumn leaves. These are from a nearby parkland walk. The garden here has a few trees in it and is surrounded by some very well established oaks, sycamores and ash trees in neighbouring gardens. The leaves are beginning to fall and it’s a good workout to gather them up and store them in the leaf cage to rot down over the year. Last year’s leaves have been bagged up to rot a little more and then they’ll be used as a mulch for the raspberries.

Six

Last splash of orange for Halloween. The blue sky is a distant memory from last Sunday and the beautiful pyracantha berries are a reminder that there are still one or two plants on the wish list for the garden. These were growing outwards from a garden neighbouring the local park.

The rain has arrived so my bulb planting will be taking place in the potting shed, which leaks. I’ll be in the dry corner. The Prop could be anywhere but all the links to the SOS meme will be on his website. Enjoy them.

Six On Saturday: last hurrahs from the garden

/ n20gardener / 23 Comments

Where does the time go, or is it that my energy levels are declining with the decreasing hours of sunshine? Wednesday was a complete wash out, a deluge of rain that lasted all day. But I was determined to get some bulbs in the ground this week and Thursday saw the camassias go in. I may be pushing the boundaries for their growing conditions, liking moist conditions is one thing but I think my chosen spot for this batch may be erring on the wetter side. Time will tell. Here’s six from the garden this week.

One

I struggle to get nasturtium seeds to germinate – can you believe that? But one year I did get a couple going, they languished in their growing spot so much so that I uprooted them and put them at the back of the garden along the edge of my failing asparagus bed. Here, left completely to their own devices, they have begun to take hold and are flowers have been forthcoming. A rather nice treat for this time of year and for the mainly shady conditions that now represent home.

Two

There are still flowers in the garden, dahlias, cosmos and zinnias clinging on but this week I was very aware of the foliage beginning to change. The persimmon tree is going from green to reds and will eventually become golden yellow as the leaves fall, leaving the fruit behind to ripen.

Three

The fig tree leaves are already heading to yellow and the numerous fruits will not ripen. What a job that is, taking them all off. It is a large tree and those much above head height never get removed.

Four

There are one or two flowers on the bergenias but this striking red leaf against the green was the attention grabber.

Five

The pulmonaria are enjoying the wet conditions, looking fresh and zingy this week. Such a contrast to their withered summer look. I didn’t think they would survive but they really are tough plants.

Six

Saving some flowers for last, helenium ‘Short and Sassy’ is still giving. What a trooper.

I have the borders to selectively clear, mulching to be organised, tulips and alliums to plant. A few more dry days would be helpful. And a little sunshine would be a bonus. Just hoping. The Prop will be a source of inspiration – so join me in taking a look at this week’s SOS from his garden. There will be much to enjoy from other gardens too.

Six On Saturday: Here’s one I prepared earlier

/ n20gardener / 13 Comments

I was half way through my six last week when I was derailed. Nothing dramatic just things to do and then Sunday was spent in the garden. In the shed to be precise. I was emptying it out in preparation for the delivery of a new shed. The weather was good and although the shed won’t arrive until November it was too good an opportunity to miss. I was tempted to share a photo of the now empty shed but on second thoughts I’ll save that for another day. Here’s last week’s three and three for this week.

One

I am going to upgrade my score for veg growing to a 6/10. I pulled the second sowing of carrots last week and was pleasantly surprised. A few nibbles from the slugs but no carrot fly damage. I am sure this is because they grew in a bed of calendular flowers. This may have made the competition for precious water a little greater but all in all it was not a bad haul.

Two

The salvia ‘Amistad’ really gets into its stride in October taking over from the ‘Darcy Bussell’ rose, but Darcy is still sending out a flower or two. I took cuttings of the salvia last year in case this crowd didn’t over winter. Of course they did and now I have an abundance of salvias – which is no bad thing.

Three

The appearance of mushrooms in the garden is sure sign that autumn has arrived. This atmospheric group are colonising an old tree stump. I think, from comparing them to those that Fred tweeted, that they are not edible. But I’m happy to enjoy them visually.

Four

On to this week’s contributions. The hydrangeas are looking fabulous in their new colours. At least something in the garden is enjoying the endless rain. So much so that some of the other hydrangeas have put out new flowers.

Five

The hesperantha is brightening up a corner by the rosemary. As I write, I am thinking that I should try to spread these around a little more. They offer a good splash of colour at this time of the year.

Six

A little late perhaps, but this is anemone ‘September Charm’. It’s neighbour did do the charm thing in September but this one was a little later into bloom. It’s sharing a space with salvia ‘Mystic Spires’ and the second flowering of skimmia ‘Lime Green’. This is one of the more recently planted borders and needs to fill out a little more or have some more plants added. It’s a shady north-ish facing border which is always an interesting place to plant up.

I am hoping for a dry spell so that the bulb planting can commence. I have forgotten what is hiding in the boxes, tulips for sure and some more camassias and possibly some other delights. It will be like Christmas! Oh, sorry, not sure we allowed to talk about that for fear of jinxing it. Wishing every one well and hoping that the garden exploits of SOSers revealed at The Prop’s will cheer us all up. OMG, thanks to Jim’s words of wisdom, I have sort of managed to edit the url link. I dare not try to tidy it up a bit, I’ll see if I can do better next week.

Six On Saturday: Seedlings

/ n20gardener / 18 Comments

This is the sort of SOS that will separate the forward thinkers from the skin of the teeth types and I nailed my colours to the latter mast some time ago. The weather is atrocious here but there was a brief moment of less than torrential rain so I nipped out to the greenhouse and snapped this six.

One

Ignore the label – these are not Lutea!

Foxglove seedlings. Somehow, and much to my delight, I had one white foxglove among the forest of purple ones this year. I collected seed and will patiently wait to see if a) I can get them through the winter and b) if they come through as white foxgloves. Oh, the jeopardy!

Two

Fighting the damp conditions and the slugs

More collected seeds. This time from purple delphiniums. I think I am already in danger of losing some of these as the greenhouse has been rather damp of late and I fear the worst.

Three

Aquilegia seedlings, sown some time ago and I am already down two of them.

Four

Thalictrum delavayi seedlings, in need of potting on. Such delicate little things that will, if all goes well, grow on to make plants of over a metre tall. Possibly in danger of being overtaken by moss and algae. Oh dear.

Five

The astrantia major in the garden is really making itself at home and needs to be taken in hand from time to time. Some are pulled out but I have potted some on for next year to fill gaps in a shady border.

Six

A second sowing of basil has come good

I have a forest of basil plants that I hope will keep going for a couple of months longer. These have been one of the most enjoyable crops this year!

Well, I seem to have ended in in the new block editor this week. I have always failed to edit the link. Let’s see what happens. https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2020/10/03/six-on-saturday-03-10-2020/ No I can’t give it a short and snappy name – any ideas folks? As they say, a rose by any other name … so just follow the link to Mr P’s page of delights and take a stroll through the comments section to find your way to the SOS collection of gardens. Keep dry!