I wonder what proportion of my SoS posts start off talking about the weather; most of them for sure. We probably just about hit zero Thursday night and by the time this post goes live at 7.30am, I shall know whether we hit the BBC’s -4°C or the Met Offices’ -2°C or neither of them. Except I won’t know unless I put the sensor outside instead of leaving it in the greenhouse, the temperature of which is more important. So much worry about something I can do little or nothing about, beyond what I’m doing already.
The garden is looking like gardens do in the UK in December, not great. I’ve stuffed lots of leaves around and over things like Begonias and Impatiens that I’m leaving out. All the things in pots that we want to keep alive are in one greenhouse or another. The sky is blue, it’s cold, there’s a lot I could be doing out there but being inside appeals more. Six things happening out there now is the brief, or challenge. Same old same old; take your pics, post your pics, link your pics in the comments below. Rules is here.
One.
Camellia sasanqua ‘Paradise Little Liane’. I became somewhat excited to find that the plant of this variety in the National Collection at Mount Edgcumbe is flowering this year for the first time. It must have had something like ten blooms over six to eight weeks. My plant is in the front garden, flanked by ‘Navajo’ and ‘Paradise Belinda’, and it looks like this. Yeh, I know; smugness doesn’t become me.
Two.
Musical plants, without music, has been this week’s occasional pastime. Plants from outside come into the greenhouses, plants from the greenhouses come into the house. Just some, we need a little room for ourselves and the cats. Begonia carolineifolia is now in the bedroom. It may well go back to the conservatory when this current cold spell is over. Sometime over the winter it will flower, one for another six. Comes from Mexico and Guatemala. My plant is three feet tall from the floor, so a bit of a beast.
Three.
At this time of year such visual pleasure as a garden provides comes in the shape of sunlight catching a dying leaf or some such. Sunlight picks things out like a spotlight and turns the ordinary extraordinary. Colour-wise, the sunlight is warm and reddish, the shaded spaces cold and bluish. As ever, it is the contrast that excites our senses. The subject matter can be any old pile of junk. Or Molinia ‘Transparent’ and Hosta ‘Devon Green’
Four.
Yesterday (Thursday) we woke to find snow falling. What could be nicer than a lovely panorama of the garden in the snow? Well a panorama not in the snow, for starters.
Five.
By the time Camellia season arrives, all the other seasons are done and dusted. The first couple of blooms on each variety goes into a Saturday six because the first blooms are “what’s happening”, but then because I try not to repeat myself, the main show goes past without a mention. This is Camellia sasanqua ‘Navajo’, which I put into a six on October 7th, when it had just started flowering. It hasn’t stopped, though you’d be forgiven for thinking it had, given the lack of coverage. It’s what we look at out of our front window.
Six.
Most things in the garden are looking a bit, or a lot, past their sell by date. So how come the freshest looking greenery on display is also the most delicate looking? How cold will Corydalis cheilanthifolia need to get to turn to mush. I’m hoping not to find out.
See you next week, stay warm.
garden ruminations 
Asking gardeners to not talk about the weather in gardening posts would be rather silly, though, right? The majority of us definitely do start that way for a reason lol. Your camellia collection is exquisite, as always, it’s okay to be a little smug 😉 Also, amused by the musical plants. My office (on the other side of town) regularly gets filled with plant overflow during the cold season. Especially since we have one cat who is a plant serial killer, so there only limited areas in the house safe from her. On the plus side, between the aquariums and the potted plant jungle, the air quality in that little apartment-turned-office is utterly amazing.
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Every right to be smug, the Camellias are beautiful.
Nothing from me this week. It’s been frosty all day and also rather foggy. I forgot to take pictures earlier in the week as an insurance.
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Happy December, Jim. Your Camellias are eye candy indeed, and more so since they bloom so beautifully during the most challenging weather. I enjoy them without so much competition from other things in flower. Your Begonia is a show-stopper, too. Beautiful leaf. We had cold weather this week, too, but no beautiful snow. A lovely post this week, Jim, and I love the challenge of finding beauty in unlikely places. Here are mine for the week, and of course, more Camellias: https://woodlandgnome.wordpress.com/2023/12/02/six-on-saturday-the-wheel-keeps-turning/
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Your Camellias are doing a wonderful job, colour is a scarcity for many of us in December. The hosta leaf is an impressive colour, also the Molinia. Great before and after shots of the garden, it’s amazing the difference one day can make. It’s been -4C here almost all week, and we had a heavy fall of snow last night. Brrr.
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One night of frost has wiped out most of the flower colour so now I’m more reliant than ever on foliage.
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I’m sure you’ll find plenty of interest for your camera lens, you always do.
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The camellias are real troupers to flower in your snow! The Navajo is very pretty. 🌸 I love your snow panorama.
Here are my six –
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Gorgeous Camellias. I like the hosta turning photo, interesting what change makes us see sometimes. I have been in Florida so long snow freaks me out! Thanks for hosting https://theshrubqueen.com/2023/12/02/six-on-saturday-florida-keys-adventure/
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Your camellias are definitely the stars this month and I love the sun on that hosta. Though driving yesterday was difficult with the low sun hitting my eyes and making seeing the road almost impossible.
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The snow looks lovely – a light dusting can be nice. Our snow did not amount to much, but there is enough that I should scrape the sidewalks clean before too long. We will have more tomorrow and it doesn’t do to let it get packed into hard ice. I am featuring my Tillandsia today, brazenly adding a seventh picture figuring I would be forgiven since my last few posts did not manage to come up with a full six. Winter is upon us!
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The camellias are beautiful. As the garden plants exceed their “sell by date”, the appearance of camellia blooms refreshes the soul. We now have sasanquas which will be followed by the japonicas. The red berries on the hollies are becoming more noticeable. The shy cardinals are now being seen more often since so many other birds have migrated.
Here are my six for this week.
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I heard that you had snow in Cornwall this week. Lovely camelias.
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We didn’t get much and it was all gone by evening. I think Devon had more.
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I would say you are justly proud rather than smug, well you deserve to be both! Those Camelias make for a truly beautiful winter garden when grown as well are yours. Here are my six this week: https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2023/12/six-on-saturday-2-december-2023-chilly.html
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Your smugness is entirely deserved. The front garden must look wonderful. The molinia is also looking great. My six is very much a winter die back six with confessions on things that have not yet been done. https://n20gardener.com/2023/12/02/six-on-saturday-frosty-finger-time/
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The camellias are right at the back of the front garden, specifically positioned to best be seen from indoors, since they are flowering at a time of year when I’m indoors a lot. For the rest of the year they’re just a dark backdrop.
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You have every right to be smug. I think it looks good on you.
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Too kind, you’ll make my head swell!
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Had thought I wouldn’t have anything to photograph today, but the frost thought otherwise. Love the first photo of your beautiful camellia.
my six are here……….https://www.leadupthegardenpath.com
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I love your Camellias Jim and sad that I can’t enjoy them in my limy Cotswold clay. It’s freezing here this morning so fingers crossed for all the young plants I left outside to cope for themselves! Here are my Six https://davidsgardendiary.com/2023/12/02/six-on-saturday-108/
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It was minus 3 degrees C out there earlier and looks rather foggy. Not had any snow though (thankfully). I think plant related smugness is fine especially in this case – Camellia sasanqua ‘Paradise Little Liane’ is a show https://onemanandhisgardentrowel.wordpress.com/2023/12/02/six-on-saturday-2-december-2023-a-final-floral-hurrah-part-2/
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‘Little Liane’ is looking decidedly less paradisical today, sadly, and I’m a little less smug and a lot less snug.
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Nice photo with the snow! But it was really the begonia that caught my eye this morning. You’re right to bring it indoors with the cold snap these days. (-4.5°C this morning here. ) https://fredgardenerblog2.wordpress.com/2023/12/02/six-on-saturday-02-12-23/
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Snow worries me. I thought it would be fun to experience, but when I finally did in Oklahoma, I learned why those who are familiar with it are not so keen on it. There has been no snow in the Santa Clara Valley since 1976. If it were to happen again, it would be a horrible mess. Snow sometimes falls on the summits of the surrounding mountains, but if it falls too low (elevation), it breaks limbs from the redwoods and firs that are not accustomed to it. We got a mild frost already, and very weirdly, it happened before it happened in some other climates that actually expect frost normally. I am too embarrassed to share pictures of the minor damage, so I just posted pictures of flowers instead.
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I suppose that when you get snow in places that don’t normally get it, you’re going to get the wet soggy stuff that no-one wants. We’re never going to get dry powdery snow here, it’s never cold enough. The thing I hate most about frost is the smell of mushed vegetation.
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That is unpleasant even on a minor scale.
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And yes…I do start with the weather this week… I heard about the cold snap in the UK. Hope your snow has gone.
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That winter/summer shot is a good idea. We can look back/ahead to warm sunshine.
Here’s my bit from frosty SE Irish coast…
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Errrm, you do realise the summer/winter shots were a day apart, Wednesday and Thursday this week?
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Oh… I replied without having take it all in. 😜 I any case, the effect is great!
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