. . . we have lift off

Time for another Six on Saturday.  For me, that means six things in the garden that grabbed my attention sometime during the week, not necessarily on Saturday.

For the proper way to do Six, run over to The Propagator who not only has guidelines, but links in his comment section to all sorts of other Six on Saturday bloggers.

At last.

So, on with my week.

At long last, the rains have ended.  Or taken a break.

Yes, it's true.  We have sun.

<= <= <= Unlike Mr BigNose, we couldn't spend the week basking in its glory.

Work awaited us.  And OAP Fairies.



1.  Keeping up appearances.

You may remember that an OAP Fairy Person lives next door.  Once the sun came out, she mentioned some of our neighbours use a lawn mowing service.

Now me, I like a bit of a length to my lawn, enough to let the dead nettle & escapee grape hyacinth & teeny lawn daisies flower.

The Butcher of Lanfranc.

But it never pays to cross the Good People.  Mow my lawn?  Indeed I did.


2.  Feed the trees.

The potted forest began to wake up after the Beast, & its rumbling belly could be heard inside the house.  Fairy Person appeased, it was on to feeding & repotting.

New big pots.

Like someone with a dozen chillen, I use the hand-me-down method - buy a few new pots & hand down the old ones to the smaller denizens.

Oak planted by a squirrel 4 gardens ago.

The oak tree's pot'll go to the rhododendron.


3.  More daffs.

Last year, I got free daffodil bulbs for buying something else that I didn't need.  I was tickled pink when my first daffodils opened last week.

But this week . . . well, just look at this fascinating thing.  White petals on the outside, then a layer of yellow petals, & finally a tight ball of white on the inside.

Surprise beauty in the crooked cherry tree's pot.

The next day, it unfurled all of itself.

Look at that face. Not Mlle Doodle. The daff!

Can't really count the layers in there, but I'm quite liking it.


4.  I forgot about these.

While gadding about the garden, I noticed some speckled leaves in a pot shoved onto the terrace.

Well, hello there!

Fortunately when I planted them last year, I also tucked the label inside the pot.

White dog tooth violets, o my!

How many weeks you reckon before they open up?


5.  Spider's web Fatsia.

After all these lovely finds, I got enough courage to cut back the Beast damage on the fatsia.

Looking a bit bare.

As Fred the French Gardener predicted, there's new growth on the stem, including something quite charming.

Little white leaf.

This is my first spider's web fatsia, so I don't know why this happened.  Think I'll take it as a good omen for the growing season.


6.  Germination.

With our move, I decided not to do seeds this year, but couldn't find everything I wanted as plugs.  Even in years we don't move, I've learned not to plant seeds before April.  This was the week the germination factory got up & running.

Germination factory.

And Houston, we got lift off.

Peek-a-boo pea.

Which rounds up my Six for this week.

Time to put my feet up.

So isn't it time for you to join this blathery of gardening bloggers?

Yes, you can still do it this week.  Out you go, take your six snaps & post a link.  We'll be very glad you did.

See you next week!

Crazy Rains

Flooded stepping stone.

We're at it again, that impossible Six on Saturday challenge to share six & only six things of interest in the garden.

When last we met, I'd nearly completed my potting shed, & the missing parts to my storage shed had finally arrived.

I'd hoped my shed adventures would be behind me by now.

Instead, we had a week of crazy rain.



1.  Inside job.

The potting shed roof got brought inside to dry out before felting on it.

It's just a tiny thing.  Not at all in the way.

While construction of the storage shed began in the living room.

Which bag of screws do we use?

2.  Cabin fever.

We've an ancient mattress turned down by every charity, & impervious to Freecycle.  All these rainy days, there's me nurturing a convert's belief that inside this mattress lives the perfect trellis for my berry wands.

During surgery.

I'll half the springs (like making a sandwich) to make 2 trellises.  The padding includes a quilted outer cover, an inner coir-like material, & a bit of foam.  Folded together, they make a nice cushion I hope to cover with outdoor fabric to use as a deck pillow for the dogs.


3.   Cutting update.

This is the current state of the cuttings I took a little over a month ago just before we moved - about a 2 thirds death rate.  As hard as it is to believe, that's an improvement for me.

Hardy little curries.

The discussions I'd had with some other SoSers prior to this attempt, suggested that I'd kept my cuttings too wet.  You may notice it's the drought resistant curry plants that've lived.

The pendulum has swung, me thinks.


4.  Into the storm.

Although all of the above are garden things, none of them are photographed in the garden.  So for you, I braved the elements to check on the newly planted woodwardia.

Woodwardia unigemmata.

It's promised that this fern's new growth will come in bright red, then the whole thing'll go a bit bronzy in the autumn.  Considering this thing can grow 2 metres in all directions, can you even imagine?


5.  A shady character.

I got this little guy because I thought his leaves would brighten up my shady border.  A day or 2 inside the warm house & buds appeared.  It bloomed soon after being planted.

Brunnera macrophylla Silver Spear

My photos really disappoint me, but this one in particular fails its subject.  Like forget-me-nots, the brunnera's little blue flowers glow in the shade.  This is a plant I already love.  Can't wait to see it reach full size.


6.  Long awaited daffs.

Where I'm from, the old mountain folk might call someone dumb as a daffodil, because daffs bloom in the snow.  My daffs haven't been at all dumb this year.  I got my first bloom only yesterday.  These were the ones twice rescued from the fox.

Highly intelligent daffs.

Although there's lots of buds, there's also lots of foliage, most of which have little brown tips.  Not sure if the snow butched them all up or the rain gave them some really good hair days, but the arcs of the foliage & tapered buds are stunning.  Never saw daffs look so good.

And there you have it, my Six.

Do I see tulips in my future?

Considering the week that's been in it, don't think I'll make any predictions for next Saturday's Six.

                (wink wink nudge nudge => => => =>)

For the moment, I'm headed over to our meme's host, The Propagator to see what his week's been like.  He'll have links to all the other SoSers in his comment section, so I can catch up with them as well.

Have a garden?  We'd love a snoop in it.  The Propagator's written some guidelines, so why not join us?