Six on Saturday – 23/12/2023

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Winter equinox is now history, the days are getting longer, currently about a minute a day longer. I went out with my camera to look for positivity, signs of growth in the gloom. I’m very pleased to say that I found them, so, notwithstanding the fact that they are not at all photogenic, I picked out six for this weeks SoS outing.

One.
Hylotelephium x mottramianum ‘Herbstfreude’, aka Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’. Always one of the earliest perennials to start showing its hand for next season and with its little glaucous rosettes, not unattractive even so far away from flowering. Some carpeting alpines look quite similar much of the time. It was Chelsea chopped last year and will get the same treatment this year, perhaps a week earlier.

Two.
Clematis always surprise me with how early they start to make new growth and how resistant to cold and wet it turns out to be, such that come February I find myself cutting away shoots with 6-12 inches of new growth. This is Clematis viticella ‘Polish Spirit’, growing up a Magnolia, which is leading the pack.

Three.
It’s not just autumn sown annual sweet peas that are happy to grow in winter. I planted Lathyrus grandiflorus a few years back and it has spread all over the place. Shoots, some as much as a foot tall already, are popping up and will sprawl over whatever they can find to support them. So long as they are not smothering anything, I’m happy to let them, it’s a plant that’s tough enough to just rip out any inconvenient bits with no fear of losing the whole thing.

Four.
Not all plants are equal. Or is it plants are not all equal? If this dandelion thinks it can wheedle its way into my affections by flowering on the shortest day then it has got it all wrong. I’ve largely stopped regarding them as a particularly bad weed on my allotment, I just periodically slice off the rosette of leaves with my hori-hori so they rarely flower, shred it and call it mulch. In the garden I will probably do the same if digging it out is made tricky by other plants being too close. Taraxacum officinale, so that I have something to italicize.

Five.
This Camellia grijsii is all about things to come, in that this is the first bloom of the season and it has been wrecked by the wind we’ve had the last couple of days. The plant is pickled with buds though, promising a couple of months of not especially showy small flowers with possibly the strongest perfume of any that I know of as hardy in the UK.

Six.
Last but not least, Cyclamen repandum. This is a spring flowering species the leaves of which come up at the turn of the year. It lends itself to growing where other things will occupy the same space all summer, not least because it is happy to have its corms buried quite deep, to six inches or so down. The plants that produced the seed that has germinated here have not themselves been there very long and haven’t produced a massive flower display, so the germination rate on the seeds must be excellent. I must make more of an effort to harvest some pods before the seed is dispersed so that I have more control over where they end up.

There you have it. I followed the rules participant guide, got my six done. One more to see the year out, then into 2024. Shaping up to be a consequential year, more so than some of late. It’d be a good year to join our little band of well grounded gardening folk and doing so couldn’t be easier.

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Published by Jim Stephens

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

42 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 23/12/2023”

  2. Isn’t it curious that we can look at a photograph of ‘Taraxacum officinale’ and think it’s a pretty flower, until we realise it’s a dandelion?!! I have not noticed new growth on anything in the borders yet, but there are new shoots on several of the viticella clematis. Thanks for hosting – I have been busy (not unusual!): https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2023/12/23/six-on-saturday-god-rest-ye-merry-gentlemen/

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  3. Pingback: Six on Saturday: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen | Rambling in the Garden

  8. Wonderful signs of new life! Yes, the days getting longer is definitely something to celebrate. The early Clematis buds always amaze me, too. Most years, I’d be way behind you, but this El Nino year is very warm, even for us in the Upper Midwest U.S. Happy Holidays!

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  10. You have quite a lot going on in your garden, Jim, and I love that you included the Sedum buds and dandelion. Sedum is such a rewarding plant and I sometimes forget its winter promise. Our Clematis, growing against a brick wall on the patio, is showing a bit of new growth, too. It is always very optimistic. But it is a long time yet until spring. In some ways our summer flowers still linger, even a sheltered Lantana which amazes me every morning with its persistent flowers. Here are my six for the week: https://woodlandgnome.wordpress.com/2023/12/23/six-on-saturday-solstice/ Merry Yule to you and yours!

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  11. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Solstice – Our Forest Garden
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    1. I think I commented elsewhere that I find it hard to imagine gardening coming to a complete halt with months of snow cover and/or frozen ground. It slows down here, but never entirely stops.

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    1. Dandelions must be one of our showiest wild flowers as well as one of most troublesome weeds. A popular line with their defenders is that they are an important nectar source for insects, but I’ve rarely seen any on them. Admittedly that might be down to lack of insects and not the dandelion’s fault. I don’t have a love/hate relationship with them, more a fellow traveller relationship.

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  21. Pingback: Six on Saturday: 23 December 2023 – My Tiny Welsh Garden

    2. A simple rule that no new name may be longer than the one it replaces would help. Cyclamen repandum seems to be the only cyclamen species that is happier when planted deeper. My self sown C. coum all stay right on the surface but are usually under a carpet of leaves.

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  28. I needed to look up Lathyrus grandiflorus. (Your posts sometimes compel me to look up something unfamiliar.) The description seems to be similar to that of Lathyrus latifolius. The floral color is different. Lathyrus latifolius is naturalized here. It can be nice, but often gets into situations where it is not wanted. I want find a white specimen. I grew a few copies a few years ago, but those in cans rotted with all the rain last year. I did not mind because I could always grow more. . . . However, the original specimen was buried by a mudslide. I must now find another.
    Gee, I do not mean to leave such long comments. These are my six:

    Six on Saturday: Colorful but Inedible Berries

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    1. Your posts get me looking things up often enough, glad to get my own back for a change. L. latifolius comes in pink, red and white but grandiflorus only in strident magenta; that’s the sum total of my knowledge, assuming I’m right. Is it even knowledge if it’s wrong?

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      1. Yes, if you ‘know’ it, even if wrongly so, it is ‘knowledge’. Lathyrus latifolius is almost always that weird magenta pink here. It is only rare white or lighter pink. I have not yet seen it in red. I really like the white, but also like the magenta pink because it is familiar. I relocated some of the white closer to the garden here, but a mudslide buried it last winter. I must find some more now.

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  30. Pingback: Six on Saturday. 23.12.2023 | Lead up the Garden Path

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