New, But Not Really New Stuff

Six on Saturday is a weekly diary hosted by The Propagator & contributed to by gardeners all over the world.  For links to other SoS blogs, check out Mr P's comment section & the Twitter hashtag, #SixOnSaturday.

Neighbour's viburnum. 

The sun's led us astray this week, plants & myself equally.  Temps've stayed mostly in single digits, yet there're buds & bulb tips everywhere.

The old has returned as new.

And me?  I just can't convince myself to wait for warmer weather.

January is the month of folly, it seems.





1.  Neighbour's shrubs.

Below, my neighbour's shrubs before my October pruning, new growth since my spring trim rather evident.   I cut back what could be reached from my side, sparing the viburnum (middle blob) because it was in bud/bloom.

I'd thought the neighbour's landlord didn't bother with his shrubs, as there'd been no activity in that department in the 12 months we've been here.  This week, he sent someone to do their side.

The viburnum still blooms, but they didn't take that into consideration.


2.  Proof of sun.

It's startling, the difference a bit of sun makes in taking a photo.  For my eyes, it washes out colour.  But o, how pretty those shadows are.

I think this is my hesperantha.


3.  Nigella.

A few weeks ago, my nigella sent shock waves through the SoS community by being . . . dare I say => in bud.  This week, with a beautifully cast shadow, we see that bud opening.

And not just one bud.  It's mass nigella hysteria.  They budded early last year, too, but didn't flower until the rest of the nigella world woke up.

Odd, that there's little colour to them.  I believe their ancestors were pink.


4.  Tip of the tongue, The Bride.

The sun's caused the hesperantha to play groundhog & the nigella to open.  Me, I kept saying it was too cold to plant things out, yet plant things out, I did.

Two shrubs mysteriously appeared in my garden a coupla summers ago, already potted, identity unknown.  They get featured in an SoS post every year when white blooms form all over them.  No SoSer's ever identified them, although someone (probably Jim) said the name was on the tip of their tongue.  I call them The Brides, because all shrubs covered in white blooms are called the Bride.  At least in the West, they are.

One of them got planted last autumn, but I couldn't decide where to put the other until the sun came out this week.

Bride the 2nd seems to've survived being dumped out of its pot, into the cold, cold ground.  There are leaf buds all over both brides, too tiny for my photographic skills to capture.  So we shall have our annual SoS Guess The Bride's Name later in the year.  Tip of the Tongue.


5.  Cyclamen growth.

These new cyclamen gave a poor showing of bloom at the end of last year, though the foliage made up for it.

This is the first time ever that I noticed how red their new growth is.  Not sure if this is specific to this type or if cyclamen in general have red new growth. The other thing I wonder, since the leaves are to the side, is this a baby cyclamen 'hatching' off the main plant?


6.  Rhododendron Scarlet Wonder.

Just last week, I had a discussion with a fellow SoSer about how she got her rhododendron to bloom, as mine never had.  Her advice dealing with soil & food was consistent with my own regime.  Subsequent research told me that certain rhodes don't bloom for a few years.

I promised myself to dig out its name & do research on its blooming habits.

Before I got round to it, I noticed this little guy at the back of the shrub.  Success.  And now I totally don't care if Scarlet Wonder is a late bloomer or not.

The peonies are coming!

That's my Six for this week.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Hope to see you next time.