First thing in the morning our garden is entirely in shade, one of the reasons I usually take the pictures for my SoS on Friday. I was elsewhere, it didn’t happen, so my pictures were taken in shade after a wet and windy night. There’s worse to come tomorrow and Monday, much worse.
One.
Narcissus ‘Rapture’. I bought a few daffs when Ron Scamp came to talk to our garden club. We haven’t had much joy in getting daffs to persist in our garden so this is by way of trying again. I like this one very much.
Two.
Entirely reliable, and a prolific self sower as well, is Pachyphragma macrophyllum. A good workhorse plant for dry shade, it has masses of bright white flowers in spring and a lush carpet of round leaves most of the rest of the year. Equally reliable is my inability to remember its name, I have to look it up every time without fail.
Three.
I just came past my Euphorbia mellifera and noticed it was starting to flower. The scent is pleasant but the flowers are pretty dull, it’s for the foliage that it keeps its place, that and the fact that nothing else would grow where it is currently thriving. It gets cut down about every other year.
Four.
It’s very much the season for heightened vigilance. All those juicy emerging shoots that the slugs have been eagerly awaiting for months. I have a clump of Foxgloves which I’m hoping are white ones but I see Erythroniums trying to fight their way through the huge leaves. Think foxgloves, think Travelodge for slugs. Eviction time methinks.
Five.
Another unexpected flower was this spike on my Epimedium pinnatum colchicum. It was looking lovely in the half light yesterday evening, this morning it is wet, battered and hanging its head. There’ll be more. I hadn’t got around to cutting off the old foliage, which is still looking good, bit late now with lots of new leaves and flowers emerging.
Six.
Another spring classic to finish on, Honesty. This is ‘Corsican Blue’ which is supposed to be a short lived perennial. Not for me it isn’t, but it seeds around and provided I don’t allow its coarse leaf rosettes to smother smaller and better plants I’m happy to let it get on with it.
I didn’t put any Camellias in because I’d blogged about them earlier in the week; they’re the real stars of the garden at the moment. I’m quite pleased I was able to find six other things though. I have a long list of things to do in the garden today and the forecast for tomorrow is terrible, so I need to crack on. Just have a bit of pre-painting crack filling to do first; grrr, grumble.
Mr Prop, or Jetsetter Jon, has the links to the rest of us sixers, I’m guessing the main message will be that spring is in the air, perhaps even in the step.
garden ruminations 
I’m interested in that Pachy Plant! Will look it up!
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There is something that grows wild here that looks just like the Pachyphragma macrophyllum. I was told that it really is Pachyphragma macrophyllum AND that it is native. Well, that makes no sense. Either it really is Pachyphragma macrophyllum, but is a naturalized exotic species, or it is another native species that happens to look very similar. I really do not know what to think about it.
Honesty grows wild too, but only because someone here used to collect the seed when they were out, and toss them about in other locations. Now that he is no longer doing that, there are fewer every year. I am not worried about it becoming invasive, and really should be tossing more of the seed just to continue the tradition.
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The Pachyphragma macrophyllum seems quite a useful plant for shady areas. It’s a shame the flowering period is so short.
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Considerably better than nothing in places where not much will grow, is my way of looking at it. I wouldn’t grow where better plants would thrive.
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Foxgloves? slug hotel? That’s bad news, i have several. Constant vigilance required I suppose.
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I had one near some Dahlias last year, checked and cleared them every few days, largely solved my problem. Suckers.
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“Think foxgloves think Travelodge for slugs” – great phrase that Jim. I love foxgloves though so I couldn’t get rid of mine. I like that mini daff with reflexed petals. I haven’t heard of Ron Scamp but he sounds like someone I should look up. This year I have a reflexed miniature growing in a pot – it’s called ‘Englander’. It should be out by next week…
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I’m not planning on getting rid of the foxgloves but I will be peering under the beds and dealing harshly with any non-paying guests that I find there, to stretch the metaphor to breaking point. You should look up Ron Scamp, lovely man. https://qualitydaffodils.com/
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I’ve missed Pachyphragma somewhere along the line. I think it would go well under the Amelanchier, the white flowers would lift the area. Your Honesty is way ahead any around here.
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I’ve missed Pachyphragma somewhere along the line. I think it would go well under the Amelanchier, the white flowers would lift the area. Your Honesty is way ahead any around here.
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Your garden looks very advanced. The Epimedium is lovely and I would love to grow blue honesty.
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The honesty came from https://www.specialplants.net/ I wont need to buy it again. I must look at pictures taken end of Feb from previous years and see how things look this year by comparison. I was doing a monthly set of around five angles for a few years, but lapsed.
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That’s such an interesting Narcissus. Will keep an eye out for that.
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All your blooms seem very early. I love the Narcissus Rapture.
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I’m really not looking forward to this storm coming. Let’s hope the damage is not too bad. Take care.
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You too. I don’t like wind, nothing good ever came from it.
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Yes, I would love to see that reflexed daffodil en masse. Like birds in flight. May you weather your upcoming storm well, Jim.
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I do like Honesty, that reminds me to grow some in my new cottage garden. In all my years of gardening I must have come across Pachyphragma, (what a mouth full) but I had to look it up, it’s now on my plant list.
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I do like your euphorbia ( I failed seedling of this one last year, I must try again…)
And this daffodil, …what a lovely shape !
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I think I have quite a good form of the Euphorbia, it doesn’t seem to get as straggly as many I’ve seen and it readily shoots from the bottom so I can cut it back and it regrows. The daffodil is a cyclamineus type, with a reflexed perianth, if it persists I will plant more, lots more.
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I grew a perennial honesty from seed but I think the builders finished it off last year. The white biennial version does its own thing each year. Nowhere near flowering yet though. Your honesty looks very well. Going to inspect the foxgloves now!
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Yep, in a contest between builder and plant there’s only going to be one winner. I’ve a much darker honesty that I snaffled some seed of from the roadside that should flower this year. I’m revisiting things I grew as a kid.
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Such a great collection of plants, particularly the epimedium. I just can’t keep up with my wish list! Hoping you get a good day tomorrow. Mine is not going to be a gardening weekend other than any 5 mins I can grab between other things.
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Storm Freya is tomorrow’s entertainment. Batten down the hatches time.
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I have had Pachphragma for about 8 years and it hasn’t seeded at all. I would really like it to. I might split it if I can remember in a month or two.
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Remind me in a few months time and I’ll send you some seed if you like.
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I love the smell of the honey bush (Euphorbia mellifera) especially when you find a large one as in Heligan. That horticultural place you mentioned in Hayle, are they open to the general public or just trade members? I noticed on their website that some stuff is cheaper than the garden centre.
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BHGS as they would call themselves puts their retail prices on their website and sells to the public at that price. Trade customers with accounts can log on and get trade prices but they aren’t as much lower as you’d think, maybe 10-15%. When I’ve bought trade quantities of stuff they’ve given me the trade price without having an account.
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OK. Thanks for that. I may pay them a visit.
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Love the Epimedium pinnatum colchicum, especially since it appears to like dry shade. Another one to look out for! Your best line, though, was Foxglove being the travelodge for slugs!! 🤣🤣🤣
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That Epimedium doesn’t flower much but is second to none as a dense ground cover.
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Beautiful Number 6. Hope the weather is not as bad as predicted.
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