This week I’ve tried getting my photographs for my six on Saturday in advance. As the days get longer and with there being a bit more light about, sometimes I can get five minutes to wander around the garden.
The garden is peppered with mahonia. They must have self-seeded as they’ve popped up in the strangest of places. Sometimes I think about rarving them all up but they add a nice bit of winter interest and the foliage is handy for use in place of holly for Christmas wreaths. I like this one with the yellow berries and the almost purplish tinge to the leaves.
A little victory for me, this a Kalanchoe or Flaming Katy. I had a yellow and a red one and last year thought I would try to take cuttings from them. I cut them off, left them to form a callous, and then potted them up individually and hoped for the best. They have gotten a little leggy from want of light, but I moved this one downstairs and look at the gorgeous red flowers! Very pleased with this. I’ve wonder about repotting the others and planting the stems a bit further into the compost. As you can see this one needs a little support.
Look at this primula appleblossom! I ordered these from Dobies in little pots, along with some violas and pansies. A lot of the pansies and violas suffered some damage from frost which I was a bit gutted about, but this gorgeous flower was just sat there glorying itself the other day.
I bought a lot of autumn-sowing onions, garlics and shallots and admittedly made a bit of a boob with my ordering. Because I ummed and aahed the pack I was going to order sold out so I had to order a bigger box which meant I ended up with about a hundred seed sets of six varieties. I sowed as many as I could fit in my empty raised bed and then the rest I just potted up in what pots I could find. They have been sat out in my cheap-as-chips plastic cloche that no longer has a plastic cover on it. And here they are, sprouting! Ignore the top label that says one is a Tomato Alicante when it very obviously isn’t. I used what labels I could find and on some they had very waterproof permanent marker.
A crocus! And one of many! I think this shade of yellow is my absolute favourite. I weeded this border the other day and never ever saw this little fellow so he’s obviously magically popped up in the double-figure temperatures we’ve been enjoying of late. I had a further wander around and there are lots more of this yellow popping up all over. I also discovered a much paler, delicate yellow one and a cloudy blue-purple one.
In the corner of my garden stands this great mess. Every time I look at it, I get very angry and wound up. It is a scruffy reminder that I can’t do everything on my own. I will be very happy to get something done. The raised bed to the left I have plans to grow beans and peas in. The long border at the other side continues in a bit of a similar state. There are two gigantic clumps of daylilies that bloomed last year, though could do with dividing. It has the possibility to be a beautiful border, if I can pull my finger out.
And that’s it for this week’s #SixonSaturday, publishing again on Sunday. We’ve been hit by the dreaded flu virus at our house.