Brrr! I’m not keen on this. Sue’s the sensible one, on her way to Australia. I’ve had a full-on Camellia week; Leonardslee and Nymans gardens on Monday, looking at camellias. Tuesday I was taking part in a round table review of AGM’s (Award of Garden Merit) for autumn flowering camellias at Wisley. Wednesday evening I spoke to the Cornwall Hardy Plant Society about camellias. Thursday I was at Mt Edgcumbe showing people round the camellia collection. It’s nice to be looking at something else for a Saturday six and I’ve resisted what small temptation there was to include any camellias. I’ve also decided that I’m not going to show piles of blackened mush, the aftermath of some of the coldest nights we’ve had here in years. Finding six things was a challenge, but now that I’m in the driving seat, not one I had the option of ducking.
This may not be the week to inspire you to join in, but if you are inclined to, the brief is to post six things from your garden and put a link to your post in the comments below. Alternatively join in on Twitter or Instagram. There’s a participants guide here. Onward and upward.
One.
Correa ‘Federation Bell’. This is just the sort of plant that I get nervous about when it’s really cold. Will it survive or won’t it? It has very good drainage, in poor soil and full sun. That should have toughened it up a bit. If it lives it should flower all winter. The Plectranthus to its right has had it, I’m going to have a mountain of shredding to do next week.
Two.
Fuchsia microphylla or bacillaris, I can’t tell the difference. A weird colour in early morning sun but came through last night without a scratch; I’m less confident about tonight which is forecast to be a couple of degrees colder. More often than not it comes through the winter with leaves and flowers intact; it could be a “not” year.
Three.
Violas. These have gone deeper into the winter in passable shape than ever before. The leaf spot that they normally succumb to is starting to take hold, I don’t know whether cold will favour the plant or the disease.
Four.
Nerine ‘Pink Triumph’. I don’t really have anything to say about this other than it is flowering in my greenhouse now, growing in a pot.
Five.
Coronilla valentina ‘Lauren Stevenson’. If you’re thinking I put this in a recent six, you’re right; though not as recent as I thought, 29th October. It’s just about the only thing flowering freely in the garden that is totally unbothered by the cold. The scent has been seriously damped down though.
Six.
It’s perhaps because we’ve only had our first frosts in the last two nights that the oak tree still has a lot of leaves. I would rather like them to all drop now, December seems very late for leaf fall. I have a suspicion that’s the sort of thing I say every year though.
That wraps up yet another six. It looks like the cold continues for most of next week so six next weekend won’t be any easier. The forecast for tonight is for -4°C, which is colder than I can remember for a few years. Even by UK standards it isn’t very cold, but not having had much frost in recent years I have been pushing my luck on what I grow and risk leaving in the ground. My expectation is that I will have things survive that were expected to die and vice versa. I will learn a little from the experience but I doubt I will learn not to repeat the risk taking next year. Stay warm.
Hi Jim. I guess it depends on how far north of Brisbane Sue goes for warmth and dry.
On the eastern seaboard, we have had the worst year with rain and serious flooding.
In NSW, Victoria and South Australia, much of our productive farmland is flooded which actually will affect the quality and quantity of food in the stores.
The farmers of course, are in dire straits.
Here in eastern Tasmania, we have been perpetually slopping round in mud all year, our veggie garden is so slow and lamb and mutton prices have dropped because the market is being flooded with stock that farmers are unable to feed. On our farm, we’re currently lamb-shearing and will have to shed each day’s shorn lambs for a night in the barn as its cold, windy and wet. This is an absolute first.
We’ve had about 32 inches on the farm thus far and prior to climate change, we would have between 12-20 inches PA. That extra 12 inches is stopping any harvesters from getting onto paddocks. Tough times.
Meantime, my garden looks as English as an English garden can!
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32 inches is very close to our normal and it’s when it deviates wildly from it that we feel the pain. Our crops and growing methods are geared for what we are used to and while people are very adaptable, it’s all so erratic now you don’t know what it is you’re trying to adapt to. Not that farming underwater ever seem likely to catch on.
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Fingers crossed your plants make it through the cold spell. I was away until yesterday evening so I’ve not got a post for you this week.
PS We had -15 the first year we moved here. There wasn’t much in the garden anyway, and even less after those temperatures. It made me wary of planting anything less than fully hardy, although I probably have planted a few more tender things over the years unintentionally.
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I don’t think I’d have much left after -15.
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I am impressed with your selections for such a cold week. I haven’t lift the fleece in our greenhouse for 4 days now. I hope that your correa comes through. I always look longingly at it on other people’s blogs.
Since the ice hasn’t melted in parts of our garden, I am indeed posting frozen flowers. I suspect I’ll be doing a lot of clearing up at the end of next week too.
https://wp.me/pM8Y1-8NN
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I haven’t grown any pansies for a couple of years as they kept going horribly black and dying and I haven’t dared try since. I haven’t even looked at my Fuchsia microphylla which I think is ‘Pixie’ to see if it is OK. Basically I dash out in the morning to hang up the bird feeder and dash out in the evening to bring it back in again, empty! Too cold to hang around outside, though I did spot my yellow osteospermums optimistically flowering again…
Sue has the right idea, I wish I was flying over to Australia, my son lives in Brisbane and it is a lovely 30+ degrees there – possibly too hot and humid for me, but I could sit out in their garden and drink cold NZ wine.
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Her plane just landed at Brisbane. One thing is certain, she won’t be complaining about the temperature. This problem with pansies seems more common than I thought. I thought it was just me and wondered what I was doing wrong.
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Do you have family in Brisbane?
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Sue’s son, his partner and their daughter live about 50 miles north of Brisbane. Sue just called, she’s arrived.
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It’s lovely up there. I’m hoping to go over next year, but dread the actual flight.
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You have had a Camelliafest this week. Nice to see the other lovelies hanging on, I love pansies and Johnny Jump ups and enjoyed seeing your Nerine, which I think should grow in my garden but refuses to. Here is my SOS from South Florida, thank you for hosting. https://theshrubqueen.com/2022/12/10/six-on-saturday-porch-pots-2/
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The weather here in the American South is quite warm this week but that shall end next week. As for now, there are still a lot of beautiful blooms. Thank you for hosting. Even though it is more difficult to find good photos to post, it is worth the effort.
https://mensgardenvestavia.wordpress.com/2022/12/09/six-on-saturday-10-december-2022/
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Love the violas! Everything here is blanketed in white. It is quiet and peaceful once the snow plows finish. Not terribly cold, so I imagine the snow will mostly melt before the next round.
https://wisconsingarden.wordpress.com/2022/12/10/december-10-2022-six-on-saturday/
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That Correa looks fantastic! I know almost nothing about Australian plants, so this is a completely new genus for me. Time to do some reading.
My garden is looking sad and brown after several hard freezes, so I six this week from a bonsai show I attended last Saturday.
https://sweetgumandpines.wordpress.com/2022/12/10/six-on-saturday-72-december-10-2022/
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How anyone can write about gardening in winter is amazing to me! You are fantastic — truthful and witty I saw a headline that England was expecting extreme cold and wondered how it would affect you. Now I know. You and your garden are winners. Good luck for the coming week.
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We don’t get really cold winters where I am, which temps us into growing a lot of tender plants, with the attendant risks. The unpredictability and variability are a constant challenge, which is not altogether a bad thing.
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You do wonders, and I’m always amazed. We were in Cornwall for Easter one year, and we drove through a terrific snowstorm. It was exciting for us and probably something quite rare for natives.
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I’m always amazedthat you always manage to find so many beautiful, maybe not quite hardy, flowers for us all to enjoy, even after the temperature drop this week. We had snow this morning which is unusual for Devon in December, but it has now all gone thank goodness.
My six snowy views are here……https://www.leadupthegardenpath.com/
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It rained, turned to snow and stopped, all in about five minutes this morning. It’s raining now but close to freezing. Glad I don’t have to drive anywhere.
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Interesting to read about your reviews and other camellia goings-on, Jim, and I have to admit to being increasingly tempted by coronilla – perhaps I could overlook its yellowness because of its desire to flower when it does… Thanks for hosting – my frosty six are here: https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2022/12/10/six-on-saturday-brrr/
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There is zero risk of a colour clash with the Coronilla at this time of year and Lauren Stevenson is a paler yellow than the usual forms.
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I shall seek it out, I think – how attractive a shrub is it when it is not flowing?
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It’s a bit wayward, I’ll trim it at some point. Otherwise an attractive greyish leaf.
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More colour from you this week. The oak leaves are hanging on here too. But what a lovely colour they have in the sunlight. The coronilla looks amazingly happy, all power to it. Here’s my link https://n20gardener.com/2022/12/10/six-on-saturday-br-r-r-fr-r-r-osty/
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I bet like me many people have been looking up Correa ‘Federation Bell’. Your plant is an absolute beauty. Here are my six: https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2022/12/six-on-saturday-well-and-truly-frosted.html
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I did! 🙂
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There’s lots of black and brown mush in my garden too. Even the hanging baskets I put into the greenhouse look sorry for themselves, they lasted all winter there last year. Some pretty colours still in your garden. https://grannysgarden229242407.wordpress.com/2022/12/10/six-on-saturday-10-12-2022/
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It’s -7 here at the moment, with a balmy high of -1 in the forecast. Sunny though, so a good day for leaf raking! I also have oak leaves yet to rake off a few pathways and perhaps mulch up…
https://wp.me/p50zvt-2LA
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No flowers on my Coronilla yet but seeing yours fills me with hope. The Pansies and Violas in my pots are also showing a few black spots. The RHS site says that it’s most likely that plants were infected before being purchased. Great! Would seed raising them be a better option? Does anyone know the answer?
https://thequiltinggardener.wordpress.com/2022/12/10/six-on-saturday-10-12-22/
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There’s no obvious nearby source of infection for my violas, so they may have been infected when I got them. Then again, there are self sown viola tricolor all over the garden which may harbour disease while not being very susceptible themselves. I know I’d get short shrift if I took them back to the shop!
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I like Violas better than Pansies, but last year they went over very quickly, so it is interesting to hear about the disease that they may succumb to. Here is my six
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There’s a bit about Pansy leaf spots on the RHS website. I may try spraying them again but it didn’t seem very effective last time.
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I love the Correa and the fuschia, best of luck with them in the cold snap. My garden blog is here: http://www.balmerino.net/geekygarden
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Those fuchsias are really pretty. Hope they pull through the cold snap.
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The Fuchsias always survive and shoot again, but some years the tops are killed and some years they’re not, mostly the latter in recent times.
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Glad to hear you are keeping busy! We westies are not used to these frosts, so many in a row! It is every plant for themselves at the moment. I expect it will be a while before we know who made it and who didn’t. Love the coronilla, I wonder if I could squeeze one in. I’m not sure which my diddy fuchsia is either, there seem to be quite a few that look similar. Hope Sue brings some warmth back with her, but no rain. Here are mine https://offtheedgegardening.com/2022/12/09/six-on-saturday-earth-stood-hard-as-iron/
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Every casualty is a lesson learned and a space for something new. You have to try to find a silver lining, though it ain’t easy.
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Like Jane, my correa died in a pot from excess humidity… I will try again. Yours is beautifully flowered! Temperatures have dropped here too, more than December of previous years. It seems that January will be abnormally warmer by +1.5°C compared to normal…. https://fredgardenerblog2.wordpress.com/2022/12/10/six-on-saturday-10-12-22/
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I suspect Correa would be happier without a lump of very moisture retentive potting compost around its base, but they’re always pot grown. The weather is nuts. Two minutes ago it was raining heavily, now it’s snowing. Overnight was clear and very cold.
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Mine are rather mundane this week. It is a long story. I did not get out much today, and did not get pictures earlier. Well, in the end, there were not six good pictures to select from. I sort of slapped some together anyway.
Our violas just went into the landscapes this week. We do not use many bedding plants. Changing them is sort of an unpleasant job though, since it involves removal of bedding plants from the previous season before they are completely finished. These new violas should last until warm weather in spring. Gee, now that I think of it, we got a few pansies also.
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That Correa is a beauty, I hope it makes it through the winter. It’s nice to see a flowering Coronilla. Having chopped down the one in the back garden in preparation for a new fence, I’m finding myself missing its mass of pale yellow blooms. The darker yellow flowered variety out the front has yet to flower https://onemanandhisgardentrowel.wordpress.com/2022/12/10/six-on-saturday-10-december-2022/
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The Correa looks OK this morning but it’s not a soft think like a Salvia that dies instantly; if it goes it will be slow and painful. Coronilla is fine too, and amazingly my Rhodochiton is looking unbothered at the moment. It’s good to find a few things that have fared better than expected.
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Seems like we’re all being subjected to odd weather. My Correa in a pot died from too much water! My violas have now died (as have a lot of other things) from sun and wind.
You have been busy. Hard working, as I said In my post.
Here are my six: https://janesmudgeegarden.com/a-change-in-the-weather-sos-december-10-2022/?_thumbnail_id=3524
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Our weather isn’t really being odd except insofar as normal has become odd. Unusual is the new usual.
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Well, I have some camellias again this week…your violas are so pretty. They always look like happy faces. Here are my six – it must have been 23C on our decking this afternoon.
https://thistlesandkiwis.org/2022/12/10/six-on-saturday-10-12-22/
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