I thought WordPress was being a bit odd yesterday and this morning when I went to publish my post the draft had vanished. I’m doing a Saturday rewrite. Yesterday was just a bit frosty, today is brisk and breezy with rain not far off. Our cats go a bit mental when it’s windy. I’ve been out, nothing has changed. I sowed seeds yesterday, they’re not up yet.
One.
What is up is Crocus tomasinianus, along with Asphodelus albus. The crocus have largely refused to open and who can blame them, there are no pollinators on the wing so why bother. This is yesterday’s picture, with frosting; today is the same with no frost but wind driven movement.
Two.
Camellia x williamsii ‘Debbie’. Camellias make an early flush of growth, pause, then either produce a flower bud or a second flush of growth, usually much longer than the first. I would normally cut the second flush growth off in autumn but wanted to get more height on this bush to block the neighbour’s view, so I left it. Such flowers as there are can just be spotted amongst the foliage.
Three.
Another Camellia, this is C. japonica ‘Bob’s Tinsie’, one of Nuccio’s finest. The stamens have become petaloid, a not uncommon feature of camellias but when I looked it up on the ICS register there are a few pictures of it with fully formed stamens, pollen and all. It will do that in hotter climates sometimes; typical camellia weirdness. You can see the (normal) stigma in the middle.
Four.
The Tete-a-Tetes we have growing in pots are up and flowering. Of the ones I planted in the ground last year I’ve seen no sign.
Five and six.
Up in the top corner Magnolia ‘Vulcan’ has continued to recover from me cutting it down and has a good crop of flower buds which are about at the stage where a sharp frost will kill them. Barring that, in a few weeks I will be posting pictures of it flowering, which in five years of SoS posts I’ve been unable to do. I had the same Tete-a-Tetes on the Magnolia post and even in pots they’re a shadow of what they were two years ago.
Underneath the Magnolia is Fuchsia excorticata, flowering and beginning to make new growth. It has room to grow here, so we should see more of its peeling bark when it gets bigger. Camellia ‘Show Girl’ is still strutting her stuff in the background but ignore her, she’d make it seven.
Spring is on the way and the pace of warming up and day lengthening is increasing. I’d better get something done before the rain starts. I’ll save checking everyone else posts for that eventuality.
garden ruminations 
Lovely camellias and little tommies. They will open up without the sun but it has to be 10C which is when the bees are flying! I have to admit my Tete a Tete are now flowering, they started this week.
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Just shows how long it’s been below 10C then, they opened today for the first time in weeks.
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What a beautiful cat on your landing page. Magnificently fluffy.
One day I hope to see crocuses in the flesh, but it hasn’t happened yet. Good luck with the magnolia!
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Fluffy certainly, but magnificent, not so much. She gets knotted up something terrible, hates being groomed and has bare patches where the knots have been shaved off. She’s quite endearing though.
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WordPress seems to be a complete pain this week, several people have commented. Those camellias are beautiful…..as always. I have a patch of those crocuses, I didn’t know their name before. They aren’t the bold colours but very welcome none the less.
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WordPress “improvements” always seem to require hours of fumbling to get to grips with and hours more updating things that no longer work. On my Camellia blog, with lots of permanent content, it’s a real pain.
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Love that cat on the pergola! Crocuses have a hard time, no sun to open and now wind and rain to flatten them. Some of my little daffs are open, not sure if they are tete-a-tete or not as I didn’t plant them, the ones in containers are still making their minds up.
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The cat’s curled up on the chair behind me, she won’t be going out today. It’s not crocus weather, that’s for sure.
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You have blooms, and we may get snow tonight.
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If you don’t mind my saying, I’m happy with it that way round.
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I don’t mind at all, since I love snow. There is only a 38% chance of precipitation, so my goes are not high. I hope you get the weather you want.
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Hours of wind and rain wasn’t on my wanted list but it’s what we’ve got.
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Oh, I remember that magnolia. I likely told you at the time about our Magnolia lennei ‘Alba’ that died back below the graft. It came back well, but is now common Magnolia lennei from the understock. There is also a ‘Vulcan’ magnolia here, with very good form, but no bloom because of the shade. I do not mind, since I am none too keen on the color anyway. I do like the vigor and form of ‘Vulcan’.
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My Vulcan isn’t a very pleasing colour either but I’ve left it a bit late to replace it with something better. What would I go for now? So many good ones to choose from and my books all out of date.
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Not very pleasing? Most people like that rich color. I thought I was the only one who found it to be a bit too rich. Even though we used to grow magnolias (with the expectation that they would somehow become more popular than they were), I am not so keen on them in my own garden. I prefer them in the larger landscapes at work, where they can be appreciated.
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I’ve only ever seen pictures of Vulcan growing in other climates but here it tends to have a greyish cast and doesn’t get either the reddish or deep purple tones he has in warmer climates.
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Really?! My observation is . . . sort of similar, even here in our warmer climate. To me, it looks sort of brownish. It is reddish or purplish, but with that odd brownish color to it. Regardless, it is a remarkably rich color. I can understand why others like it so. I just am none too keen on it. I sort of expect magnolias to have subdued pastel colors.
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It will be interesting to hear whether it looks much the same here as there when it flowers. I just have to get a picture that captures it accurately and that’s not always easy.
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May the frost fairies spare your magnolias. My tetes a tetes are also very late.
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No frost for the next couple of weeks, I’m cautiously optimistic, though gales are nearly as bad where it is.
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Lovely seeing all the Spring buds and those Camellia are so pretty, clever plants!
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Tete a tetes not up here yet either. That magnolia looks ready to explode with flowers, that will be lovely but in the meantime of course the Camellia is stealing the scene.
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Yay that Spring is arriving for you! The daffodils are a lovely display, and the magnolia buds will soon be bursting, adding to the spring colour! I love the photo of the cat!
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My ‘Tete à tete’ are not showing colours yet but it shouldn’t take long for those (in pots). Stunning red camellia! I love it !
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Nice camellia, but then I have come to expect that of you. The tete a tete I planted are only just above the ground, they did go in a little bit late. Vulcan looks like its going to be stunning, I will cross fingers for no more frosts but I’m not sure that will work.
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I’m not sure crossed fingers work well but it’s the thought that counts, so thanks for that.
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