Six on Saturday – 27/1/2024

Categories six on saturday40 Comments on Six on Saturday – 27/1/2024

I probably spent longer in the garden today than I have since somewhere back in October. Searching out pictures for this six, potting lilies and hydrangea pruning being the bulk of it. The weather has turned around but even so, nothing happens quickly in January even if it isn’t freezing. I found the requisite six things and as per the SoS Charter, here they all are.

One.
Way back in July I placed an order for lilies with Harts Nursery and yesterday they turned up. I had of course forgotten I’d placed the order and thought it was the more recent Avon Bulbs order. We’d been very pleased and encouraged by Lilium leichtlinii grown in a pot and placed in the border in summer where it best fitted; after two years of that one it seemed time to try some more. I think there was an article in the RHS magazine and I went looking for some of the ones they rated highly, which led to Harts Nursery, who I’d not heard of.
I bought five each of ‘Robina’, ‘Largo’, ‘Red Velvet’, ‘Tigerwoods’ and ‘Tigermoon’. All have now gone into 10L pots except the five ‘Robina’, which I put straight into a 20L. in light of the size of the bulbs. They’re all now in my tunnel. I tipped the pot of L. leichtlinii out while I was at it, removed some of the old compost and replaced it with fresh, squashed a worrying number of vine weevil grubs and potted up two 7L pots with small bulbs that had grown from the stems below ground and from bulbils that had dropped from higher up. Here are the ‘Robina’ bulbs.

Two.
Camellia ‘Minato-no-akebono’. It’s only a couple of weeks ago that I put this in but I just wanted to make the point that a week after we hit -6 it is the best looking plant in the garden, and the best smelling. The frost damaged the flowers but they still looked reasonable from a distance; many other varieties would have been covered in dead brown blooms.

Three.
Hellebore. I bought a double flowered hellebore some years ago, collected seed from it the first year and raised a number of seedlings, most of which were double flowered. This one is about the same colour as its parent. Hellebores never do as well here as I think they should, getting skanky foliage and generally hanging on rather than thriving.

Four.
Another Camellia which I’ve shown before, C. grijsii. This is a species with small fragrant white flowers and a fairly open, twiggy habit. I’m hoping it will get 8-10 feet tall and become part of the canopy at the edge of my shady area. The leaves are small and relatively sparse so it shouldn’t cast too dense a shadow.

Five
Camassia leichtlinii. Twice I have waited until the foliage on these has shrivelled, then lifted every last one of them and moved them elsewhere. The following year they come right back. I could understand missing some of those growing in the middle of the Crocosmia but the others? Perhaps I should move them now, in the green. I’ll certainly do so with the few still left in the Crocosmia.

Six.
I resisted the allure of snowdrops for a very long time then last year made some feeble excuse to myself about improving my bloodlines and bought three. They’ve cleared the first hurdle in that all three are back up for a second season. This one is called ‘Magnet’ and I need the help of the Galanthophiles out there. I planted three bulbs, quite close together as I recall. Three have come up but they have moved. One is by the label, one over a foot away, the other in between. Do they run underground? or produce seedlings that flower in their first year, or do they just move?

I might get more done in the next few days, nothing but the occasional shower forecast and not cold either. There’s plenty needs doing, it’s a mess out there. It’ll be good for me too, I’ve been holed up too long.

Published by Jim Stephens

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

40 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 27/1/2024”

  1. Camellia ‘Minato-no-akebono’ has such a delightful flower I am very happy to see it again. I have a lot of hellebores, many grown from seed, but you do need to be patient I find. As for snowdrops, no sign of mine yet and they never seem to appear in the same place twice! I need to get out and cut some things down which should have been done weeks ago, but this wet and windy weather has kept me indoors for far too long.

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  3. Must check out those lilies, Jim, especially as I have been reluctant to try out any other than Asiatic lilies in pots, due to lack of success – on, and the ‘tree’ lilies. Snowdrops do self-seed a little distance away, where the flower and seedhead lean over, but seedlings wouldn’t flower for at least 2 or 3 years, so perhaps your bulbs have been disturbed by something… Thanks for hosting, Jim https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2024/01/27/six-on-saturday-whirling-dervish/

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  4. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Whirling Dervish? | Rambling in the Garden

  5. Hi Jim and gang, here’s my post for this week: https://notesfromtheundergardener.wordpress.com/2024/01/27/six-on-saturday-27th-january-2024/. I find snowdrops move around too – I suspect I move them myself by accident when digging. I find camassias a bit of a blessing and a curse – beautiful for the brief period they’re in flower but a floppy soggy mess of foliage soon follows, then it leaves a big gap in the border, and they seem to spread while my back is turned! I am sure there must be something I could plant with them to take over later in the season when they die back, but I haven’t found it yet!

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  6. ? sorry if this is a double post. The Camellia ‘Minato-no-akebono’ is beautiful. I didn’t know some Camellia’s were fragrant. A wonderful bonus.

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  7. A beautiful Camellia ‘Minato-no-akebono’ – had no idea that some Camellia’s were fragrant, an added bonus!

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    1. Some Camellia species are, but have not been much used in hybridising new varieties. C. lutchuensis is the scented parent of most of the recent scented varieties but they are taking a very long time to become widely available or even much known about.

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  11. Such a wonderful picture of the snowdrop, mine are all being eaten, but featured nonetheless!
    Do you thing your camellia ‘Minato-no-akebono’ would be happy in a large pot?
    But then again it would be in sun for the morning – which I think camellias don’t like. I’m looking for a
    replacement for the sad lemon tree – also featured this week – it’s going! Here’s my link

    Six On Saturday: Scraping the barrel

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  12. Pingback: Six On Saturday: Scraping the barrel | n20gardener

    1. I would say that the Camellia is probably best with shade in the hottest part of the day but getting a certain amount of sun. I don’t think it would do well in full shade unless it was of a very light nature.

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  15. Pingback: Six on Saturday: 27 January 2024 – My Tiny Welsh Garden

  17. I’m perfectly happy to see your Camellia ‘Minato-no-akebono’ again – it’s performing amazingly well after all the dreadful weather we’ve had. Your hellebore is beautiful. Not all of mine are flowering yet, maybe just as well considering the damage they’ve suffered after the storms.
    Here’s mine for this week:

    Snowdrops and Hellebores

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  18. Pingback: Six on SaSaturday. 27. 1. 24 | Lead up the Garden Path

  21. Six on Saturday: Plugging Along


    Winter is for propagation. That is why my six involve only two species that we divide and make cuttings of, directly into the landscapes that they will inhabit.
    Why did you resist the allure of snowdrops? I thought that I was the only one who did that. I did that only because, except for their awesome whiteness, I do not find them to be alluringly interesting. I am told that I would understand if I contended with cooler winters that inhibit all other bloom.
    Also, I thought that I was the only one who does not grow exemplary hellebores. I believe that they prefer more of a chill than they experience here.

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    1. I think the main reason I resisted the allure of snowdrops is that I am afraid it would lead to me wanting to get every known variety. The collecting becomes more important than the plants themselves. I have tendencies in that direction; I resist them rather than indulge them. Except I fail in respect of Camellias, Begonias, ferns ….

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      1. Any Pittosporum goes well with snowdrops, thanks for commenting here, are you having a problem commenting on my blog? I wonder what the problem is, you could try being anonymous, and just putting your name at the end of the comment.

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