Chocolate Weekend

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.

I quite like the art in our family calendar with its monthly witchy themes.

April, it alleges, is meant to overwhelm us with seasonal change.

Rather than being overwhelmed, I'm gleefully catching up on projects meant for last autumn.

So let's do this SoS thang.





1.  Clematis reveal.

Last week left you on the edge of your seats, wondering what the first of the Thorncroft Lucky Dip clematis would be.  Rumour has it, some of you've been driven to drink by suspense.

Clematis Tae, it is.  Sadly, it has only 1 flower.  Next year.  Next year.  Can you imagine the impact it'll have?


2.  Brunnera Jack Frost.

This guy has been blooming for weeks, but keeps getting pushed to the back of the SoS queue because my camera washes out the blue.  In this snap, some flowers around the edges show true.

I've got 2 of these in the garden.  Since coming to us 3 summers ago, they bloom like crazy every year.

For anyone not familiar with Jack, his leaves get much larger once he's done blooming.  He's great for shade, & looks fabulous under-planting shrubs.


3.   Salix helvetica (aka Swiss willow).

This old friend is bursting with new foliage & catkins.

The leaves are fuzzy at the moment, but'll turn a silvery green.


4.  Edging the walk.

One of those chores not done last autumn.

While I'm not overly keen on straight lines, I do like a tidy path.


5.  Weigela neglect.

When cleaning up a flower bed, I found this poor little guy.  He's got beautiful foliage & dark purple flowers when they come, so you'd think he'd've been better treated.

And indeed, he'd gotten planted in a nice, prominent place when we first moved in last year.  As the summer progressed & his blooms spent, my attention strayed to flashier, taller plants.  The bed got extended to accommodate them.  Next thing you know, weigela'd been forgotten at the back.

I'm just no good.

To prevent this happening again, I've lifted him until a more suitable spot is found.


6.  Scavenging.

Despite snatching a picnic basket out of the bin man's hands a few weeks ago, I don't usually sort through my neighbour's rubbish.  However, when I saw this poor fellow on the kerb, I stepped in.

It'd be easy to come up with a sorrowful tale about a Christmas tree in April, especially during a pandemic.  I'm going to believe this was left after a student flat got cleaned out.  In addition to the bulbs & that thin wire of lights, the tree's covered in gold glitter.  A bit blinding when the sun hits it.

The needles are incredibly fine & soft.  New growth is visible in the first photo, but the tree's also covered in little brown cones.  Perfect.

Here it is, re-potted in a spare bucket. 

Quarantine buds, El Punko & Mr BigNoseDog.

So that's my week.

My spidey sense tells me there's chocolate hidden somewhere in this house.  Wonder if I'll have to wait until tomorrow for it?

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Hope to see you again real soon.

Good health to you!