Six on Saturday – 17/2/2024

Categories six on saturday40 Comments on Six on Saturday – 17/2/2024

Where did that week go? The two dry days have been spent on my voluntary camellia collection curation at Mount Edgcumbe, leaving a succession of drizzly or downright wet days to do very little in the garden here. I tried to take a few pictures yesterday (thursday) but you could barely see from one end of the garden to the other through the gloom. I shot out when I got home today but the sun was going down and most things were in shadow. I’ve 700 pictures of Camellias I took today, but they’re not here so I don’t want to use them.

Right, to business. Business being six on saturday, created by The Propagator, whose original participants guide I modified only very slightly and which is here.

One.
Crocuses. I planted quite a few Crocus tomasinianus a few years back, mostly as I recall, ‘Barr’s Purple’ and ‘Ruby Giant’. I think these robust purple ones are ‘Ruby Giant’ and they have stood up to the weather much better than any of the others. I should get more, lots more. They’ve probably opened up on the days I’ve not been here this week.

Two.
Around the same time I planted the crocus, I also planted some bulbs of wild daffodils, which didn’t last long. To my surprise though, they evidently lasted long enough to spread a bit of seed about and I have one solitary daffodil flowering this year. So far, that is, there may be more which I’ve missed. Yesterday it had its nose to the path; today it was back up again but somewhat spattered. 10/10 for effort in my book.

Three.
I don’t have a clue how I’m supposed to manage Begonia pedatifida ‘Apalala’. It is supposedly hardy but I have covered it with a thick layer of leaves to give it more protection. What it has done, this year and last, is to start pushing new leaves through the leaf mulch in January, leaving them vulnerable to frost. Last year I got caught out, this year I removed the mulch, probably breaking some leaves in the process, they are as brittle as they look. But they are now expanding and greening up, so hopefully we either get no more frost or I carefully pile more dry leaves over them if required. These leaves are about six inches high. Fortunately slugs don’t seem too interested. B. omeiana is doing much the same.

Four.
Cyclamen coum have never taken off like C. hederifolium for me, but this group have spread a little and stayed to provide some spring colour. Camellia ‘Bob’s Tinsie’, which I featured last week, doesn’t hang on to its spent flowers but strews them on the ground to provide a floral carpet for a few more days until they turn brown.

Five.
I’m happy to let primroses naturalise where they will. They leaf out early and provide leaves and flowers in February and March, then vanish into the shade of whatever else is in the bed for the rest of the year. There’s forget-me-nots in there too and over at the back, the row of Nerines that barely flowered at all, leading me to think they’d probably mostly died, are out to prove me wrong.

Six.
Breaking all the rules, here are six more pictures from Maleny Botanic Garden that Sue sent me yesterday. She’s back home next week, to what will seem like freezing temperatures and gloom.

I do give you variety, that’s for sure. Have a good week.

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 – 17/2/2024”

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  4. The spring bulbs are lovely! The begonias stems look cool, they do break easily – like bean sprouts.

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  9. Beautiful photos again this week, and my thanks to Sue for sharing photos from Maleney Botanic Garden in Australia. What a lovely landscape! I love your photos of the Tommies and the Cyclamen. Your garden appears to still be a week or two ahead of ours here, and none of my hardy Begonias have yet appeared. You might consider putting some large pots or a plastic bin over the Begonia leaves if another freeze threatens, instead of leaves. Even row cover cloth might do the trick, if you have some on hand. I’ve had mixed luck trying to cover things with large plastic leaf bags, because the wind blows them around so much. But I agree with you- full marks to the daffodil who raised itself back up. They take such a beating in the rain. I was thrilled to find a wee Iris in bloom yesterday, so here are my six for the week: https://woodlandgnome.wordpress.com/2024/02/17/six-on-saturday-iris-surprise/

    Thank you again for hosting!

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  19. Your crocuses are looking better than mine which are flat on their backs. The new shoots of that begonia are otherworldly, like new-borns emerging all pink and pristine. I cut back my epimediums yesterday as it was an unexpected dry day and just in time as the new leaves are popping up through the leaf litter. Back to the murk today though…

    https://cornwallincolours.blog/2024/02/17/six-on-saturday-mist-n-murk/

    and I love Sue’s photos, very much like a Cornish garden (Trebah) though without those extraordinary volcanic lumps in the background (Glass House Mountains?)

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  24. The crocus are looking great – I’ve looked at c. Ruby Giant in the past but haven’t purchased them, but if you say they’re robust then they might be better suited to my garden. I have crocus this week too though they won’t last too long with the weather we’re getting.
    Anything that slugs don’t like has to be worth keeping. I hope you find a solution to your problem with the begonia. Fantastic to see Sue’s photographs – what a gorgeous place to visit. I’m sure she’s having a brilliant time.

    Mine for this week:
    https://notesfrommygarden.co.uk/2024/02/17/purple-pink-and-a-ray-of-sunshine/

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  30. Do daffodil grow from seed?! A few grew here. I had assumed that they grew from bulbs that were in soil that was removed from landscapes and dumped off the edges of the roads here. No one remembers soil getting dumped here, but this yard had been in use for a long time. Most of the daffodil look like common ‘King Alfred’ daffodil, but some are fancier breeds, although not the ridiculously fancy sorts. I would guess that if they grew from seed, that they would revert to more basic daffodil form and color. I got some daffodil in my Six on Saturday, but they actually grew from bulbs that were intentionally installed, so are not the daffodil that just mysteriously appeared.

    https://tonytomeo.com/2024/02/17/six-on-saturday-hello-yellow/

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    1. As you’ll read in Pauline’s post, our native daffodils grow from seed. I have absolutely no idea about all the rest. Are the cultivars sterile? Do they set seed and it gets eaten, or doesn’t germinate? It’s obviously possible to grow them from seed, or there wouldn’t be so many varieties. Another knowledge gap.

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      1. I suspect that most cultivars are produced by division, although that would require vast volumes of parent stock. Many modern cultivars are hybrids that are likely too genetically tampered with to produce viable seed, and if they do produce viable seed, it would not be true to type. Simple old cultivars, such as ‘King Alfred’ may be genetically stable varieties, which produce viable and true to type seed. I really do not know either.

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  33. Lovely to see your spring bulbs coming through, I have been sowing seed of my Narcissus pseudonarcissus for a few years now and from my one packet of bulbs bought a few years ago, I now almost have a drift! Love the stems and foliage of your begonia, hope the frost doesn’t get it. Thank you for showing the photos from down under, nice to know that you break the rules too!

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