Last SoS of 2019

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

We're at the end of another year, the end of another decade, yet in the garden, change is so gradual & so constant, it never seems the end of anything.

Let's see what's happening in the garden this week, shall we?









1.  Shed blooms.

This is the first year the potting shed's been used to overwinter live plants, & they couldn't be happier there.

The strawberry & salvia are two of the shed plants in bloom.


2.  Outside buds #1.

I didn't expect the witch hazel to start so soon.

Nevertheless, here they are, like small wounds on a seemingly dead branch.


3.  Outside buds #2.

On the other hand, I'd hoped the sarcococca would be wafting sweetly by the front door for Christmas.  Not to be.

This is one of the smaller type sarcocca (my foot below for scale).

I've seen mass plantings of the larger sarcs, & they're impressive.  I prefer the little guys, for some reason.


4.  Flower boxes.

A previous tenant put Japanese anemones in front of several stretches of garden wall, their flower stalks nearly as tall as the wall itself.  One section of border'd been planted with golden rod, though, which at their tallest, reach about half as high.  I've decided to hang flower boxes above them, hoping for a bit of fetching variety, rather than a trio of boxes oddly out of place.

The boxes've been planted but not hung, because once up, they'd be too tall for my short self to spy on.  There'd been nothing to see other'n a few weeds until this week when . . .

. . . the first daff showed up.  The boxes'll most likely get hung sometime in January.


5.  Moving day for Phyllis Bide.

The main garden project this week involved a change of plan.  The original idea was for this Phyllis Bide rambling rose to brighten up the wall behind the hot bin.  Phyllis knocked her socks off, but still has a long way to go before she conquers the wall.  Which isn't why I changed the plan.

The problem with Phyllis is, she's at the end of a narrow path that runs between a border & the bin.  That makes her hard to access, especially in summer.  For a rapid grower & prodigious bloomer, not ideal.  Also, there'll eventually be a fair bit of her hidden behind the bin, which, beyond the inconvenience, wastes a good rambler.

I gave her a prune, then moved her to an anemone wall where I've started a winter clematis.  Most likely there'll be anemone wars in Phyllis' future, but once they reach the negotiation stage, I think the combined effect will look nice.

As to the wall behind the hot bin, it'll get some fast growing annual climbers in 2020.

6.  Books.

My dodgy health has put reading in the category of things that exhaust me.  When a fellow SoSer suggested Gertrude Jekyll's Colour Schemes for the Flower Garden,  I wished I could, but suspected I couldn't.  

I found a used copy for £5.50, & the price decided it.  Jekyll's language is a century old & we don't particularly share the same gardening ethos, but, as a non-visual gardener myself (yes, we exist), her colour expertise is what I'm after.  Two pages at a time interrupted by frequent online image searches, & I'm working through it.

Coincidentally, my son got me Scent Magic by Isabel Bannerman for Christmas, saying he couldn't resist because it combined 2 of my favourite things - smell & gardening.  He thought that since it's divided into many small sections, I might be able to read it, albeit slowly.  He was right.

Like Jekyll, it's a challenging read for a sluggish brain, but definitely not because of dated prose.  Bannerman tosses Latin names through the sometimes historical, sometimes biomedical, often botanical & even gossip-ical.  It's become my favourite gift this year.

For all you visual gardeners, the photography in this book'll take your breath away.

That's my week reduced to Six.

Now time to scour the Special Plants catalogue.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  See you next time.

Twas the Weekend Before Christmas . . .

Six on Saturday is a weekly diary hosted by The Propagator & contributed to by gardeners from all over the world.  Check out Mr P's comment section & the Twitter hashtag #SixOnSaturday for more links.

Back gate too swollen to latch.

Rain.  I've had enough of it.

The week's been full of pleasant surprises, but let's start with a good ole rain moan.











1.  The big planter.

I got this planter during a Mr BigNoseDog health scare, the old guy being a hefty 16 years old.  He bounced back, unaware of all the fuss.  The planter got planted without his good self.

The planter is metal of some sort, with a different sort metal insert plus a plastic lining meant to prolong the insert metal.  You can see that the inside metal liner bends & waves - artistic self expression, undoubtedly.  All the above had drainage holes, so I did as I was told & used the three layers.

Of course, the planter flooded in all this rain.

Drainage was achieved via a few holes punched in the black outer shell with a behemoth nail, then drilling through the nail hole to create a 2nd hole in the inner shell.  A planter I wouldn't recommend.


2.  More blackberries.

A garden can never have enough blackberries - gives hope of them making it off the cane & into the kitchen.

With the addition of 2 more plants this week, that should now be about 40' of blackberries in this garden.  There's still a coupla naked panels left on that fence line, but I'm showing a little restraint.


3.  More castor seeds.

You may remember that I dead headed my castors to prevent them murdering me.  Then I learned I'd have to be proactive to be murdered.   Dead heading ceased, a few seeds were gathered, frost arrived.

Then I noticed this happening on what I'd assumed were spent flowers.  Instead, there turned out to be a good dozen ripe seed clusters like this one.

The things I find by not over tidying the garden in winter.

O joy, thy name is castor seeds. 


4.  Bergenia buds.

Other SoSers've featured their bergenia buds, some further along than mine.  These were transplanted last month, so I'm happy indeed that they're now in bud.

They're actually the normal quite-pink bergenia colour, but no matter when I took the photo - morning or avoe, rain or shine - the camera always gave them this faded rose tint.


5.  Nigella squatters. 

Love in the mist took over the laburnum's pot last year, & so got themselves evicted.

Or so I thought.  There appears to've been some self seeding.  They stayed in bud for yonks last year before blooming, so I expect the same again.  The foliage looks quite good despite several frosts.


6.  Paperwhites.

A few weeks ago, I'd lost hope the Paperwhites would show themselves.

For the most part, they still have not.  But there's always that one.

Cleaning the cracks.

And that's all for this week.

If there's any celebrations in your near future, I hope they're full of good people & good food.

Until next time, thanks for stopping by.

Scraping Bottom

Six On Saturday is a weekly garden diary hosted by The Propagator.  For links from gardens all over the globe, check out his comments section & the Twitter hashtag, #SixOnSaturday.

Cleaning the bird feeder.

This week's SoS is scraping the barrel bottom for news.

There's plenty to do in the garden these days, but sharing it's nearly the equivalent of talking about emptying the dish washer.

The most interesting part of my week concerns the bird feeder, so let's start there.







1.  The big scary acorn feeder.

Last week, a woodpecker thoroughly inspected one of the trees outside my bedroom window, which inspired me to get a peanut feeder - an act accomplished before pricing peanuts.  I didn't know some peanuts aren't safe for wildlife, but safe ones cost.

I'm happy to facilitate woodpecker survival, but not until after Christmas.  Now I have an acorn feeder stuffed with suet balls cut in half.

The birds were terrified of it.

Day 1, no visitors to any part of the feeding station.  No birds waiting on the fence or neighbour's gable.  Day 2, I scattered seed on the ground & called to the pigeons who stoically remained on the gable.  Sparrows who usually filled every hole on the fence lattice, now complained loudly from 2 gardens over.  Day 3, dive bombing of the feeding station commenced amongst all birds, with intermittent ground feeding.  A brave pair of  robins did a dash & run at the basket furthest from the Scary Acorn.  Day 4, the usual feeding frenzy inexplicably resumed.

Day 5 & there doesn't appear to be any sampling of suet yet, though.


2.  Still planting.

The winter aconite & Russian snowdrop bulbs arrived.  They're now in pots where they'll hopefully multiple enough to be shared with the flowerbeds next year.

These are from Farmer Gracy who uses all recyclable packaging.  So the very last bulbs for this winter.  Promise.  Not sure the same can be said about bare root plants, though.

Astilbe Look At Me, actually ordered in August, delivered & planted this week.


3.  Playing the musical pots game.

It's that time of year where things are checked to see if they need new pots, then their old pots are passed on to whatever is ready to go up a size.

Here we have some of the players in their new pots - a skinny acer with a dead pear tree support, the spider fatsia & a coupla young hydrangea.


4.  Pulmonaria?

I don't tidy the garden much in autumn/winter, letting wildlife hide & feed where they may.  The dying plants often reveal some volunteer or other.  This spotted fella below, however, must've been here when we move in last February, living amongst the golden rod & only now making itself known.

  Pulmonaria, do you think?


5.  (nee) Sedum.

The sedum came with us when we moved here, so not a surprise, but a friend returned.

If you look closely, most of the rosettes are little natural cups with water droplets in them.


6.  Naked owl.

During summer, this owl sits up to its eyes within the akebia quinata.

The time of year has come when he struts his stuff.

Partial return of the sparrows.

That's my Six for the week.


So glad you stopped by.


See you next time!

Surprises

Six on Saturday is a weekly garden diary hosted by Mr Propagator.  For links from gardeners all over the globe, check out Mr P's comment section & the Twitter hashtag, #SixOnSaturday.

Doodle Pool plants.

It's been a week of surprises in the garden - yes, can you believe it?  Garden surprises in the middle of winter.

Some were merely disappointing.  Some were rather ugly.  And some were most welcomed.


So let's do this thang, starting with Disappointment.











1.  Saffon.

Two winters ago, I planted 30 saffron bulbs in October & by November, had 30 blossoms to harvest from.  Last year, the bulbs multiplied well, but only 3 - 4 of them bloomed.  And now there's this year.

As you can see, there are a few more than 30.  But nary a bloom.  Some research is in order.


2.  Paper whites.

Last year's Paper White narcissi were absolutely delightful in bloom & smell.

I replanted them several weeks ago, & this is how they repay me.  Mega bummer.


Now, from the Disappointing to the Ugly.


3.  Nettles.

When we moved here in February, a single nettle grew just behind where we put the Doodle Pool.  Since nettles're supposed to add goodies to the compost, I let it stay.

And here we have my nettle crop with the trowel on top for scale.  All this from one tiny plant.  Not pretty but hopefully nutritious.


4.  Speaking of compost . . . 

The last few months, I've neglected harvesting the hot bin because there was so much tomato plant compost to recycle.  This time of year, about the only thing that goes into the bin are coffee grounds & kitchen waste (plus the occasional nettle crop), so it gave me a bit of a surprise when the lid wouldn't close.

The bottom hatch opened up on some seriously compacted compost.  The photo below was taken after it'd been hacked at by various sharp garden tools - a delicate process in itself as the bin is made of thick styrofoam.

Lesson learned.  Do not ignore the hot bin.


Let's end on the Most Welcomed.


5.  Strawberries.

A few weeks ago, some SoSers were raving about a strawberry called Summer Breeze Rose.  Their praise didn't tempt me because, although I like strawberries, I don't like them enough to make space for them.

And then Summer Breeze went on sale.  An SoS recommendation being on sale.  I didn't stand a chance.

When they arrived, one of them was in bloom with more buds, which made me think they'd been in a tunnel or glass house somewhere.  I potted them up & put them in the potting shed where no pollinators'll be visiting, but at least I'll see the buds open.

Don't they look like hirsute hula dancers?


6.  Romanesco.

The romanesco was meant to be one of my Disappointments, but when I pulled back the leaves, look what I found.

That's the knuckle of my index finger in the left side of the photo, so you can how teeny it is.  Will there be romanesco for Christmas, do you suppose?

Brass buttons, frosted.

And those are my surprises for this week.

As always, thanks so much for stopping by.

See you next time!

Tail End of November

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

Sprig.

Thanksgiving's behind us & Advent hasn't yet started, but there's always Six on Saturday to bring joy to the week.

We've got foliage.  We've got late blooms.  We've even got something about being untidy.  And then there's a new arrival!!!!!


So let's do this thang.






1.  Black Swan update.

In last week's post, the Black Swan's leaves were turning yellow/green & outlined with frost.  Quite a change from summer's dark purple foliage which presumably gives it its name.  This week, the leaves're copper with lightly purple veins.  This is one beautiful tree in all seasons.

The tree itself has been confirmed as a weeping copper beech.


2.  Smoke bush.

The smoke bush didn't flower this year.

But it's making up for that now.


3.  Expanding the not-so-shady border.

Last week, a few SoSers discussed making compost, most specifically tidy looking compost.  I figured I can't be the only person who doesn't have the health or <insert resource> to create fastidious gardens, so thought I'd share how  a few months of untidiness helps me get creative in the garden.

I mapped out the area using our ubiquitous wool sheets straight onto the lawn.  The original border ends about 12" in front of the hellebores (top of photo) & in front of them, the wool sheets are still visible.  On top of the sheets, I dumped fresh garden waste (the middle section of the bed), using anything that isn't prone to resurrection, including smashed bits of the white Halloween pumpkins. 

Once the garden waste looked properly dead, I then piled recycled compost on top of it (bottom of the photo).  I planted that section up as I went, but can take my time composting the rest, as it won't be planted until spring.

It actually looks worse in real life than the photo suggests.  Based on experience, though, the expansion'll look like it's always been there by next summer.  Might even be tidy!  😉


4.  Honeysuckle.

This honeysuckle grows up the wall behind the Japanese anemone, & is still small enough to be protected.

On the BigNose Walk, we see mature honeysuckle toppling over walls & unprotected yet still in bloom.  Guess the abundance of brick in this neighbourhood is well suited to giving honeysuckle a long season.


5.  Salvia Amistad.

One of the s. Amistad cuttings, all of maybe 4" tall, has produced buds.

It's doing really well or getting ready to die.  Either way, I thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a bigger pot.

I then put it in the newly bubblewrapped potting shed, hoping to slow down the growth until spring.


6.  Invincible Pear.

The pear tree is here!  According to both dogs, the packaging smells terrific.  The tree's called Invincible because it blooms twice in spring, which gives you insurance against late frost.  I love a pear tree in bloom, so this is double the pear blossom joy.

The nursery is Chris Bowers & Sons.  You can see the good smelling packaging is also mostly environmentally friendly.  The bare root was contained in a heavy plastic bag.

And here it is in its new home, the wisteria's old pot.

I can't wait to see both Invincible & my other pear, Louis Bonne, blooming next year!

Single flower.

That's my Six for the week.

Thanks for stopping by.  See you next time!