Discoveries!

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 comments & the Twitter hashtag, #SixOnSaturday.

It's been a week of discoveries in the garden, including the misplaced Thalia
<= possibly being located.

O, the intrigue a faulty memory provides.

On to this week, so!







1.  Daffs.

These popped up in the akebia planter where they've lived for 3 springs, now.  They were a free gift for some plant order, along with a few other daff bulbs.

While I'm not sure the right one's good for pollinators, it's certainly a stunner.  The left one does all the things a daffodil should do, & with great style.

The discovery here (for me) is that both these fellas look good from behind, too.

The white against the peach & yellow & green . . . it takes my breath.


2.  My newest crush.

Every morning, Mr BigNose & myself hand Mlle DoodleFace over to her walker,  then sidle s-l-o-o-o-w-l-y back the way we came, taking the walk featured here last week.  Though you can't tell from the snap below, the plum tree at the far left is still very much in bloom.

The discovery, however, has to do with the large variegated holly in the centre of the photo.

Earlier this week, I caught a sweet citrusy scent just as I came up to the holly, so stopped & saw a bit of colour.

A camellia covered in buds & blooms.  Trust me, I'm coveting big time.

The folk living there are dog people we meet on the BigNose walk, so I might be able to beg cuttings.


3.  Appletini brown.

A pair of appletinis came to live with us two Christmases ago.  They didn't bloom last year, but end of summer, they were duly promoted to larger pots & fed like they were going to slaughter.

There's no sign of flower buds, but the leaves've begun to unfurl in the most delicious colour.  I didn't notice this last year, undoubtedly because we'd just moved & I had other things on my mind.  Absolutely adore the russet brown of that leaf on the right.


4.  Loro (petalum).

In a large planter out front are 3 small shrubs including the famous Loropetalum which blooms twice a year for me (& anyone else who has one).

Usually, I zoom in on her flamingo-pink witch hazel flowers, but thought this time I'd show her structure & varied foliage.  IRL, the red-purple leaves are slightly more intense in colour, a nice complement to the greeny-black leaves over the startling flecks of pink blossoms.


5.  Free planter.

One of the neighbours put this old picnic basket out for the bin men this week.

Looks like a great place to grow annuals.


6.  Pear worries.

We've 2 cordoned pears in the garden => Invincible on left & Louis Bonne on right.

Louis produces green pears great for cooking but not my preference for eating raw.  After 3 summers, I decided to leave him behind when we move, so planted him in the ground.  Full of promise at the moment, he's marvelous in bloom, which is why he's not been given away to some allotment holder.

Invincible came to us last autumn as bare root & was planted in a pot until his fate is decided.  His fruit will be blushed yellow, which I do prefer in a raw pear.  He's also alleged to have 2 spring bloomings as a protection against late frost.

He's alive, but doesn't look much like blooming, let alone twice.  His pruning from the nursery was much closer to the trunk than Louis, so perhaps next year'll be different.

And those are our discoveries for the week.

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope to see you again soon.