I didn’t wait for Saturday to get out for some pictures this week, they were all taken yesterday. I just went out there, it was a good call. Not nice.
On Monday I’m going on a workshop being run by Plant Heritage about how to use their database system. It’s currently meaning I’m getting my horticultural fix in front of a computer, which is just as well because getting it in the garden isn’t going well at the moment. At least I’m not pinned down indoors with good weather outside.
The mild weather is bringing some things into early growth and/or flower but even without frost most of the flowers are getting trashed by wind, rain and slugs. The early show is at Rosemoor in a month’s time, I very much hope it improves by then.
One.
I had to put a hellebore in, everyone else has. This is pretty much the only decent one I have. The double white, planted a foot away at the same time, is pathetic; a couple of leaves and no flowers.
Two.
I walked around earlier in the week, admiring the clumps of deep purple Crocus tomasinianus that I’d planted this year and last. When I looked out the upstairs window yesterday though, I could hardly see them against the dark soil. These white “ordinary” crocus stood out magnificently though. They were planted years ago and were a mixed lot; the yellows are all gone and most of what’s left is white.
Three.
The Hak. macs are all but over and will get get cut down when there’s a break in the weather. They’re already shooting so the space won’t be empty for long. ‘Albostriata’ is the clump at the front, much the best for staying power. There’s a clump of Babiana just in front of it which needs moving somewhere sunnier.
Four.
This week’s Camellia is ‘Adorable’. It was raised by the same breeder as last week’s, ‘Annette Carol’, and both are hybrids of C. japonica and C. pitardii. My plant of ‘Adorable’ has been slow growing and is still quite small, though it’s too near to the path. The plant at Mt Edgcumbe isn’t so slow, so it’s the conditions not the variety.
Five.
The degree to which some things are out of kilter varies hugely but is fairly extreme in this instance. Impatiens omeiana is generally wholly deciduous and doesn’t start to appear until March. This one is up around four or five inches already. If we get a frost it will be cut to the ground unless protected. I bought another form of I. omeiana from Growild nursery which is in the greenhouse and coming up. It looks very similar to this one.
Six.
Out the front are a couple more things that are just not right for early February. I have a pot of Alstroemeria ‘Indian Summer’ which is putting up new stems and producing flower buds. Then there’s a Pelargonium which has so far shrugged off everything the weather has thrown at it. I put the Crassula ovata (argentea) into a six way back when it started flowering in early December. It’s still going.
I started a jigsaw a couple of days ago, which for me is a measure of how desperate things have become. There’ll be no gardening this weekend here. At least we’re on high ground and aren’t going to get flooded, just thumped by the wind. Plenty of reading to be done with everyone’s sixes, links in the usual place at The Propagator.
garden ruminations 
That is what my hellebores should look like. No one seems to understand that they do not do so well for all of us. Mine are only here because someone else planted them a long time ago. I would not try to grow them again. I am not quite certain what they dislike about the climate, but I believe they prefer more humidity. My crocus should also look so nice. I remember ‘Pickwick’ with the blue veins on white. I have not grown the white ‘Jean de Arc’.
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I’ve been trying to find ways to mark spaces where bulbs could go in the autumn. I’ve put some labels in but am not sure I’ll be able to find them once everything’s grown up around them.
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I was thinking to use green split canes, probably cut in half, so 9 inches long.
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I’m really enjoying your series of camellia photos. I know little about them, but I love to visit a grand old Victorian camellia house full of mature flowering specimens.
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I came late to Camellias, classic zeal of the convert syndrome.
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I had Crocus tomasinianus a couple of years ago and I am sure I planted them in the ground, thing is I can’t remember where! Haven’t seen them yet and I am not going out to look for them either! Adorable is adorable. I have a white camellia tucked in a corner facing north where she is fairly sheltered. I say fairly as the wind swirls around my garden. Like you the pelargoniums I have left outdoors (scented leaved ones) are looking much healthier than those inside the (damp) conservatory. I think I shall be chucking my pelly collection away this year. Most have died or been attacked by aphids and white fly.
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I’m finding it very hard to work out which are this years crocuses and which the year before’s. I think the older ones have come back but less vigorous and with less flowers I think. Hardly any have opened, we’ve just not had the sun. Perhaps I’ll take a year off on bulb planting, take stock. I’m about the same with Pellies, they’d be OK with just a little heat in the greenhouse probably, it’s drop the humidity. Last year was prob the worst ever for aphids on them, though not so much whitefly.
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That is a really gorgeous camellia.
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I suspect that after Dennis the Menace has finished it’ll be was a gorgeous camellia. Still, there’s lots of buds still to come.
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I love the Camellia. You have reminded me there is a camelia festa in Monchique. I should go and have a look.
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I just watched a bit of a YouTube video about their 2017 festival, looks pretty good.
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I always enjoy your Camellia photos. I must plant more crocuses next year. Mine have been disappointing so far.
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I was thinking that it’s now that I need to mark where the bulbs I buy in summer need to go, else I plant on top of what’s already there. I haven’t done it yet though.
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GREAT SIX! Thanks for sharing!
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A lovely selection as usual Jim. Stunning hellebore, camellia and crocuses. I am intrigued by the Impatiens omeiana. It looks like great ground cover.
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I did a blog on my Impatiens omeiana’s a while back. https://wordpress.com/post/gardenruminations.co.uk/6416 They get a foot or so tall so a bit more than ground cover.
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Jigsaw, blimey, things are bad. Might be a board game or two here, come to think of it. I could go out and prick out some seedlings but I’m afraid to open the greenhouse door! Might blow away.
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Things are bad enough for me to have finished a 1000 piece jigsaw in 3 days and still to think it was time better spent than being outside.
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Your “adorable” is just that! Everything looks good in your garden to me!
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It doesn’t look too bad, from a distance! A bit battered close up.
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You might only have one Hellebore in bloom – but it’s a stunning one. Hopefully your others will surprise you soon. I can see why your Camellia has been named ‘Adorable’ – it is a beauty.
I’m really surprised that you have managed to keep a Pelargonium alive outdoors! Mine have been in the greenhouse for months, and every time I see the forecast going down to around 4C, I head out and wrap them up in fleece. 😁
Enjoy your workshop on Monday – I don’t think it’s going to be gardening weather, so the course timing is good.
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Absurdly, the Pelargonium outside is looking much better than most of the ones inside, which have all gone mouldy in the relentless damp.
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You always have a lovely Camellia to show and the Hak macs look like they’ve done well.
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The Haks have stood up pretty well considering the winter we’ve had so far. They coloured up around mid November so that’s about three months of colour when you need it most and they’re still very nice and in the case of the gold and variegated ones, colourful, for most of the rest of the year. Just a gap of a month or so now until they come up again.
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What a beautiful camelia. It must be loving all the moisture, The flowers are holding up very well despite the rain and wind.
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That Camellia gets a bit of shelter from the west, the ones with flowers on that don’t are a mess.
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Your potted plants seem to have withstood the winds — is that a dwarf pine of some sort on the left?
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The Pine is a form of Pinus parviflora but sadly the label is long gone so I don’t know the cultivar.
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There is a lot of horticultural frustration around, I feel it too, desparate to get out there and on with it! Lovely camellias as always. The impatiens is a favourite and yours is doing very well. Enjoy your PH course.
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I can’t bear to think about doing gardening to earn a living in this sort of weather. At least on the nursery we could find indoor work through the bulk of the worst weather. Must be frustration verging on despair at times.
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It is very hard.
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Thumped by the wind — how descriptive! We’ve had lots of wind in the North Carolina mountains, too.
How many pieces are in your jigsaw puzzle? Grandson David and I just finished one that had 550 pieces. We like them easy enough to finish in a week or so. Hope you can get outside again soon.
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1000 pieces, Cockatoos of Australia. Just the sky left to do.
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I won’t allow the grandsons to bring a puzzle into the house if it has more than 750 pieces. That’s great that you have the eyesight for a big one.
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Finished now, in three days. My eyesight’s holding up for now, thankfully.
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It took you only three days to finish that 1000-piece puzzle??? Please tell me you spent three days on the sky alone.
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Seeing this big carpet of impatiens, I imagine what will give what you have sent me! I was hesitant to put them outside, I’ll wait a little longer
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I know that if mine gets frosted, it will come back up again. What is more of a problem is that if they get dry in summer they go dormant and you don’t get any flowers as they come late summer.
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Ok thanks for the tip. I will have to keep them moist. ( the soil)
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I have to admit I am falling out with Hellebores rapidly. If the ones that I planted this year show no signs of coming back then that is it. Those crocuses dazzle as does the Camelia. Mine has showed no signs of flowering this year. Sorry to hear you are having a bad time of it with the weather down there. We have not escaped up here but being in the east coast the Pennines, Cheviots and Southern upland take the brunt of westerly storms.
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The frustrating thing about Hellebores is that I know of gardens within spitting distance where they are superb and I don’t know where I go wrong.
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