Six on Saturday – 21/1/2023

Categories six on saturday, 47 Comments on Six on Saturday – 21/1/2023

With the weather still not really conducive to gardening I’ve spent much of the week on things camellia related. Mostly that has meant sitting in front of the computer updating records in the Plant Heritage database of the Mount Edgcumbe collection. I went up to the park yesterday, taking photos of plant labels mostly, by way of an audit of the collection. Thursday for a change I visited a camellia nursery in Devon; took him some cuttings of varieties I thought he should be growing.
However, the business in hand is to find six things happening in the garden here and the problem, which will be familiar to many of you, is that essentially nothing is happening. If by any chance, there is lots happening in your garden, and you’re not already part of our gang, please join in; Post six items on a blog or tweet or whatever and stick a link in my comments section. The full, IKEA inspired instructions, are here.

One.
There are one or two things around that I’m surprised are still alive. Like these two pots of Echeverias. Left outside through all the cold and wind the winter has so far thrown at them. Not happy, but not dead either. Tough love is what it’s down to, some might call it neglect. Poor soil, no watering or feeding, full sun. If they survive until the winter, they have a half chance of surviving through it.

Two.
Sharing the top end of the front driveway is an Agave montana that I bought from Pan Global Plants years ago. He collected seed in the mountains of Mexico so it is very much hardier than the usual Agaves you see in the UK and it has always lived outside. Nick Macer’s plants at his nursery flowered last year, he posted some very dramatic pictures on Instagram. Maybe I should plant mine out, but where I put something that will grow about six feet wide with ferocious spines, I have no idea. I’m not sure how I’d get it out of its pot either.


Three.
One of the things I grow that The Propagator must get the credit for is this fern, Polystichum neolobatum, the Asian Sabre Fern. He included it in a six having bought it mail order from a nursery in Ireland. I followed his lead and am glad I did, it’s a fine plant. Post Brexit, they are no longer sending stuff over here.


Four.
Like I said earlier, I spent much of friday rummaging in the Camellia collection at Mt Edgcumbe. Here are just a couple, probably neither available in commerce. ‘Laura Schafer’ is a pure white semi double with very dark green glossy leaves. ‘The Duchess of Cornwall’ is not named for any of the Duchesses of Cornwall but for its raiser, Gillian Carlyon, who was known by that title by some. Probably had a better claim to it than the other lot.

Five.
Leaves. When the tomatoes had finished I chopped them down, then roughed up the surface of the pot, added a skimming of fresh compost and sowed Mizuna and winter lettuce. The lettuce was old seed and not very successful but the Mizuna has been very productive since way back in November. In my tunnel, no heat. Chopped up with a bit of dressing, very nice.


Six.
Sue is flying back from New Zealand to Australia today. She has been sending me a steady stream of pictures to rub in how much nicer it is out there compared to here. I’ve nothing else to show you. The thermal park is on the edge of town, along the road from the redwoods.

That’ll do. In theory there comes a point where it starts to get easier again, but I don’t know when that will be. Next week’s forecast looks a little better so maybe I’ll have a snowdrop or camellia to show next week. Have a good’n.

Published by Jim Stephens

Gardener, no-dig allotmenteer, camellia enthusiast. I love colour, it cheers me up. Retired nurseryman.

47 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 21/1/2023”

  1. How do you keep your echeverias looking so good? Some of mine get full of debris and cobwebs and old wilting petals. I realized this year that Iā€™ve never read anything about pruning/tidying established succulents. Any tips? ā€¦ Your post is beautiful and Iā€™m jealous of your wifeā€™s trip! šŸ˜Š

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  2. Hi Jim,

    Always a joy to see what you put up, it brightens the day to see what you are able to do. A lot of damage on my frost patch this year, quite dispiriting. Many camellia buds frosted brown and many leaves damaged and I fear many potted things may not recover. Something interesting, which with your experience you may have noticed before, the ability of some japonica hybrids in the same location to withstand frost without damage can vary quite a bit. The buds on many of my own open pollinated seedling camellias have not suffered as much, Could it be that they have grown here since germination and have some additional hybrid toughness ?. Quite a surprise to find flowers on the charcoal burners camellia (Tama no Ura). St Ewe is very late this year, mine has flowered sometimes in November. If only I had known in 1969 the down side of buying a property which was on flat clay farmland, too late for change now …and may be getting too old for the annual dash to Cornwall. Compensating by reading ‘Farrer’s last Journey’ and ‘On the Eaves of the World’.

    All the best,

    Mike

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    1. We’ve not had a lot of frost damage down here, all things considered. There was some leaf browning on one of the Mt Edgcumbe sasanquas and there are a few flowers now opening where there was evidently damage done while in bud, but minimal really. I have Ackerman’s ‘Beyond the Camellia Belt’ book and he has a great deal to say about the very many factors involved in hardiness. I get very irritated when people treat it as a simple matter of minimum temperature. I learned at great expense (the nursery’s, not mine) that camellias in pots are vulnerable to freezing and always protect the few I have in containers. ‘Tama no ura’ is in flower in the collection but doesn’t have much of a white margin. One of two Yuletides that were planted in 2003 flowered for the first time this year, perhaps responding to the hot summer. Most plants have a heavy bud set and weather permitting it will be a floriferous spring among the Camellias.
      Good to hear from you, Jim

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      1. Yes Jim,

        There was not much that Bill Ackerman didn’t know about site selection, and even he lost a lot before found survivors, but some of us have run with the hand we have. I remembered particularly your nursery experience of frozen pots, sadly to conserve energy I have had to isolate the greenhouse frost protection and see what survives. Adapting to the situation is part of the interest, and when showing it’s not a level playing field. Many have acres and ideal conditions and some struggle with pride to produce just one perfect bloom. There will be fewer decent ones on my plants this year, it’s -6C in the pots at the moment and only those that catch the sun may get above freezing. My ground probe shows only +2C.

        Cheers, M

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    1. Even in relatively cold years we don’t get very punishing winters in my corner of the UK. There were a couple of dozen camellia varieties in the park with flowers on them, but almost nobody there to see them.

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  11. Sue’s photos are lovely, although I would not enjoy the rotten egg smell at Rotorua. The plants though bring back memories of South Africa, without the stench. I’ve just managed to slice through my Agave plant (attempting to remove rotten leaves at the base – duh!) is it possible that it will grow if I replant it? Fortunately there are a few pups left in the pot.

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    1. I noticed, and kept quiet about most of the plants that Sue had photographed not being NZ natives. I wouldn’t expect the Agave to regrow, though I’m often surprised by plants doing unexpected things. The pups will get a boost though.

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  19. Here is the link to my Six for the week. https://hairbellsandmaples.com/2023/01/21/six-on-saturday-w3-2023-the-bugs-are-out/
    I do like the first Echeveria, and the pink Camelia with it splashes of white on some of the petals. Your salad looks good too. I enjoyed looking at your wife’s photos from NZ. I think you will be glad to have her back home again and to catch up on all her exciting news. When does she leave Australia?

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  20. Pingback: Six on Saturday: 21 January 2023 – My Tiny Welsh Garden

  25. Iā€™m entranced by the two camellias which are so pure and beautiful. Also loving the Agave montana. Perhaps I could have one of those in a pot here, if I could ever find one.
    It was a little difficult finding things to photograph in my garden too, because sudden heat on top of massive rain caused damage and things are only beginning to recover.
    Lived not far from Rotorua in my childhood and can still remember that sulphur smell!
    Hereā€™s mine: https://janesmudgeegarden.com/sos-january-21-2023-summer-garden/

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  26. Pingback: SoS: January 21, 2023. Summer Garden. – Jane's Mudgee Garden

  27. Well, you got about as many pictures of redwoods as I did. I sort of got a picture of a redwood, . . . it just does not happen to be visible. Hey, I got a picture of a bunch of logs, and some of them are from redwoods, and there are many redwoods in the background of other pictures. Actually though, I send six explanations of why I have not been sending horticultural pictures since the storms started here.

    Six on Saturday: Excuses

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  29. Of your 2 pots of echeverias, I like the first: mine stayed outside too (but I sheltered them anyway -frost free). The photos of your wife are amazingā€¦ Indeed she must have had a good time there. Does she have the right to bring back small things despite strict customs laws? (cuttings I don’t think…, seeds maybe? Too bad, because she could have had new plants for her greenhouse) https://fredgardenerblog2.wordpress.com/2023/01/21/six-on-saturday -21-01-23/

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