Saturday 18 January 2020

Stormy Weather

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.



A little damp after Mr BigNose's walk.
Storm Brendan sent the patio sofa into the calendula, which took it quite well.  The garden walls protected most everything else, letting plants get on with their wintering.

The winter garden's so different to itself in other seasons, making it endlessly interesting now, sometimes surprising.

My family don weak smiles at my too-many tales of old friends showing new growth & long lost bulbs suddenly appeared.  (There was, however, real joy amongst the cooks that the garlic was up.)

So, much as I like them, 6 things this week that aren't bulbs or new growth.



1.  Rose, Tough as Nails.

I haven't a clue what this rose is really called, as it & 4 others were here when we moved in.


They border the front lawn, which is where our neighbour's recycling ended up, courtesy the 50+ mph winds sending their bins AOT.  It boggles the mind that, after Brendan, these gals look so fine.


2.  Romanesco, again.

I decided to harvest one of the heads prior to Storm Brendan, just in case.  (The others weren't damaged.)


I'm not a cook - store bought tortellini is a culinary challenge for me - but I didn't want to wait for the cooks' return to try the romanesco.

A web search directed me to Nigella's recipe for serving it with a rosemary & garlic oil.


Certainly tarted up that tortellini.


3.  Glad tidings.

Speaking of the romanesco, the row of glads growing amongst them've only just now died back.


This is the first time they've survived into the New Year, & I'd put it down to the romanesco protecting them.  However, these glads below are at the edge of the raised bed, so less protected by big ole brassica leaves.


And equally less dead.


4.  Clematis Winter Beauty.

This got planted at the end of summer, & it's grown about chest high (on me).  I love the foliage.


There are minuscule buds on it, so hopefully there'll be clematis blooms in my future.


5.  Critical evidence.

A motion outside the kitchen window made me witness to a medium sized, dull coloured bird lifting off the ground.  It looked too slender to be a pigeon, which isn't much in the way of identification, especially since I didn't see its head.

Oddly, there wasn't another bird to be seen in the back garden.  I opened the door to absolute bird silence.  Sparrow hawk, thinks me.

Later, when cleaning up the neighbour's recycling from my front lawn, I found several of these in the grass.


While checking for debris out back, I saw this on the public footpath.  If you can't tell, those are the small body feathers of some bird or other, possibly of a very white complexion.


Most of our pigeon visitors are storm-cloud grey & the 2 white ones are still very much alive, not to mention ravenous.  If there were a murder victim, which seems likely, it's not one of our crew.


6.  Witches in red.

First up, what was sold to me as witch hazel Jelena.  She's very red, as a few Jelena seem to be in image searches.  However, the Jelenas in other SoS posts are more orange, so I'm not sure she was labelled correctly when she came to me.

I do like her quite well.  When she's in leaf, she nicely hides my pot store.


Here below is her cousin, loropetalum, whom I prefer calling lorapetalum.  After being brought to task for doing so, I only use that better name in private.

You get your money's worth with loro - she tends to bloom twice a year, spring & autumn, plus her foliage is beautiful.  This is her first spring flower to open.  If she's true to her nature, there'll be many more.


Quite a difference in the depth of red between the 2 witches.


Wind-drunk obelisk.


That's all for this week.  Now that Brendan has gone home, it might be a good day for moving the hemerocallis.  But I shan't be too hasty deciding.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Look forward to seeing you next time.


19 comments:

  1. A murder mystery Six on Saturday! I accidentally disturbed a sparrow hawk that had got a wood pigeon on the lawn last year. Wished I hadn't as the hawk flew off and the wood pigeon took it's last few breaths and I was stuck with a dead body. I picked the poor thing up and started to sneak over to the green opposite us but spotted a mother with toddler playing so did a quick 180. I went back under cover of darkness and disposed of the feathered corpse in a thicket, feeling decidely shady.

    That Romanesco recipe sounds and looks delicious.

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    1. Your wood pigeon murder doesn't sound very nice for you. A lose/lose all around for you & hawk, altho a fox may've been happy w/the carcass. Nothing wasted in nature. The recipe was very simple, yet really delicious. I left out the lemon zest, as it didn't sound nice to me.

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  2. Your six is like a game of cluedo this week! Was it Storm Brendan with the recycling bin? The red witches with a head of Romanesco? No! It was the Drunken Obelisk.....in cahoots with Lora Petalum. What a fun read.

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    1. And to think I put that obelisk back on its feet!

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  3. A lot to think about this week. I am so impressed by both the romanesco and the meal, looks delicious. I always have know Jelena as deep orange, but what does it matter, yours is beautiful! And now you can name it yourself, or even after yourself. Although you do already have Lora-petalum, it could get confusing ....

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    1. The recipe was prefect, & even more appreciated because I'm not used to making things taste good. I also do love the red of my 'Jelena', better than the orange (& the orange is quite wonderful), so we'll stick together.

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  4. This romanesco meal seems to me quite tasty ...! You did well. Congratulations !
    For your information, the most beautiful of my cauliflower has frozen. Pity...
    (I smiled while reading the "Lorapetalum "... good idea to rename it in a few years: to be proposed to scientific committees)

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    1. While I'm pleased to've won the Great Brassica Race of 2020, I'm gutted your best has frozen. Since you say 'most beautiful', I hope that means you've other, less attractive ones that've survived. Way too funny, approaching a committee about the name change.

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  5. A tour de force in the Kitchen to be sure, lovely to enjoy that Romanesco.

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  6. I have never heard of romanesco, but I have heard about Nigella and I wrote a post about her one Christmas! https://thecadyluckleedy.com/2016/12/20/christmas-foods-and-traditions-cooking-with-nigella/ Your dish looks very appealing! Loved this post this week, one of my favorites!

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  7. Hi Lora - Your romanesco is a triumph and looks tasty. It's not one I've tried and I've just remembered a neighbour gave me seedlings that I never got round to planting out. I'm very disappointed in myself having seen yours. Your witch hazel looks like one I have called 'Diane'. It's a stunning red one.

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    1. When I'd image search 'red witch hazel', I always got the loropetalum, so was hoping someone would give me a name. Doing the search using 'Diane' does seem to throw up many w/the same tone. Jelena is a nicer name, but Diane is a better colour. The romanesque have literally taken months to ripen, but maybe because I'm growing them in winter. My neighbour tried during summer & hers bolted so, maybe requires a bit of weather luck.

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  8. You are so funny Lora. I love your posts!

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  9. I forgot all about Storm Brendan then I realised I drove in the bloody thing back from Glasgow at 10pm last Friday night. I have seen Sparrowhawks in my garden once knew a while. One youngster flew into my shed window got up looked around and I am sure it said “you did not see that right” as it flew off I a squint trajectory.

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    1. Wow, that hawk was lucky not to've broken its neck. Perhaps that experience'll keep it from eating your birds.

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  10. I'd not heard of Loropetalum before - there's always something new to learn. I love the red witch hazel in the photo above it too.
    Lovely to see Rosa 'Tough as Nail's' laughing in the face of the storm.

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    1. I think I discovered the loro by accident 3 summers ago, then lost it in a move because it was mislabelled. When it bloomed, I realised it wasn't what it said on the tin. Mine is a compact bush with lovely red/purple foliage that blooms twice a year in those wonderful nearly magenta flowers. Wonderful for a small garden.

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