Six on Saturday – 9/3/2024

Categories six on saturday58 Comments on Six on Saturday – 9/3/2024

I’m up at RHS Rosemoor for the first show of the season, the Early Spring Show. A day of talking Camellias with like minded people. The last couple of days have been really windy so the competitors are going to have their work cut out getting show perfect blooms. They will rise to the occasion, they always do. It’s left quite a few things in my garden looking rather the worse for wear too, but at least things are starting to move a little quicker now. If you feel inspired, please join with us in posting a snapshot of your Saturday garden, post six pictures and put a link in the comments below; full details here. To business.

One.
Magnolia ‘Vulcan’. Sometimes, especially when the first buds start to break, you get a sense of how good this Magnolia might be in ideal conditions. It has something of a reputation for murky coloured flowers in the UK and they do tend to open a strong purple then fade to a paler, greyish version. The wind did it no favours.

Two.
I’ve been living with a monumental triffid of a plant in my bedroom since the autumn. It would have survived on just above freezing in the greenhouse, but I felt it deserved better. It’s rewarded me by coming through the winter in fine fettle and flowering. It’s Begonia carolineifolia. From floor to top of flowers is 90cm.

Three.
There always seem to be a lot of plants about the place that are never going to go in the garden for various reasons but which are way too good to throw out. I usually find someone to take them on eventually. When you have propagation capacity, it tends to get used; and who ever takes one cutting, and usually they all fail or they all take. Camellia ‘Sugar Babe’ and Camellia ‘Taylor’s Perfection’ are typical. I need to grow them on a bit more, on top of the four years since the cuttings were stuck. That last is another reason I persevere with them. ‘Sugar Babe’ is a miniature with flowers just 5cm across. ‘Taylor’s Perfection’ will make a big rangy bush and isn’t in the National Collection, so that’s where that will go when it’s big enough.

Sugar Babe
Taylor’s Perfection

Four.
Sharing the glasshouse with about forty small Camellias and much else is this Tropaeolum tricolor, which as Noelle has mentioned when she’s shown hers, is hardy outside. This one is in too small a pot and would get blown over outside, so it gets stood outside when the weather is fine, then put back inside. I put a tuber in the garden last year and never saw it again, due I suspect to slugs.

Five.
The impression I get is that the Chionodoxa forbesii bulbs that I planted a couple of years ago have mostly split into bulblets and also produced vast numbers of seedlings. I have grassy leaf growth and short flower stems with only two or three flowers to a stem. I perhaps should add a few larger bought bulbs each season. They’re another favourite with the slimy assassins too.

Six.
Not all of the ‘passing through’ plants are things I’ve grown myself. I was given Camellia ‘Nuccio’s Bella Rossa’ by a Camellia enthusiast in Devon who wanted me to give it to the National collection. He’d picked up three of these plants for about three quid each and they weren’t in the best of condition, so I figured I’d need to nurture it until it was big enough to survive the rigours of park life. It has flowers 11cm across, deep red formal doubles. I’m afraid to say it didn’t even get glasshouse space but had to take its chances in my tunnel up on my allotment.

That’s yer lot. I’ll set this to publish at 7.30 in the morning, which only just gives me time to check it’s posted properly before I’m off. See you later.

Published by Jim Stephens

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

58 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 9/3/2024”

  1. Pingback: Six On Saturday: Discoveries – Our Forest Garden
  2. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Follow-Through – Our Forest Garden
  3. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Plant Police? – Our Forest Garden
  6. Pingback: SoS: Seed Share – Seeds Glorious Seeds! – Piglet in Portugal

  8. Glad I am not the only one living with begonias in the bedroom overwinter šŸ˜‰ ! What great form Camellia ā€˜Nuccioā€™s Bella Rossaā€™ has. The tunnel approach did you proud! And your greenhoused Tropaeolum tricolor is absolutely stunning. Think I’ll be looking out for one of those now.

    Here are my six: https://wp.me/pM8Y1-952

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. I’d hoped the slimy assassins would keep the hedgehog well fed and give your plants a fighting chance of survival, but it sounds like you need a family of hedgehogs to keep them at bay!
    Thanks for hosting, Jim.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. That Tropoaeolum is gorgeous.ā€‚Your plans for the Chiondoxa might be what I need to do for my little Roman hyacinths, though perhaps they are just in need of a first good division this year, what with loads of leaves but not as many bloom stems.

    Thank you for hosting SoS!ā€‚Here is my post:

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  13. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Undercover | Rambling in the Garden
  19. Pingback: Six on Saturday – Off the starting blocks | Frogend dweller's Blog

    1. There are a lot of pictures of the darker red camellias that get deleted, still, after all the years I’ve been taking them. They get under exposed, over exposed, come out a totally different colour from the real thing. Thank heavens for digital cameras, If I’d been using film I’d be broke several times over.

      Like

      Reply

  23. The Begonias make good winter companions, don’t they?ā€‚Yours is very handsome with such interesting leaves and stems.ā€‚They seem to enjoy being inside with us, though mine always take off much better once they are back outside in softer weather.ā€‚Yours looks perfectly happy where it is.ā€‚Thank you for sharing the Camellia babies, all lovely.ā€‚Is ‘Taylor’s Perfection’ a japonica, or a reticulata, or something else?ā€‚I’m amazed at the size of its flowers on such a tiny plant.ā€‚What do you give these toddlers to eat?ā€‚The flowers are gorgeous on all. You have inspired me to finally join the American Camellia Society and my welcome packet arrived yesterday.ā€‚This should be fun and I expect to learn a bit more about these wonderful shrubs.ā€‚Here are my six for the week, mostly woodies:ā€‚https://woodlandgnome.wordpress.com/2024/03/09/six-on-saturday-bud-break/

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I was given a copy of Camellia Nomenclature today, was that part of your welcome pack? ‘Taylor’s Perfection’ is “A putative hybrid of unknown parentage” according to the Camellia register, which also lists it as a williamsii, so making assumptions about its parentage. J. Taylor is credited with four camellias raised in 1974 in New Zealand, all of unknown parentage, then one more in 1984. ‘Mary Phoebe Taylor’ is the only one I’ve seen a mature plant of and it’s pretty stunning.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Jim, if Camellia Nomenclature is a booklet, then no. However, it is advertised for sale for about $23.00 US in the Camellia Journal. I received the latest journal, several brochures and pamphlets, a welcome letter and an ID card for free admission to certain gardens.
        So the parentage of ‘Taylor’s Perfection’ is a mystery. Perhaps like most people, the reality of its presence is more important than its pedigree. It certainly is lovely. Is it also fragrant? It should also be a stunning shrub in its maturity.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. No fragrance. It’s astonishing how many top camellia varieties were open pollinated. The raiser presumably knew which variety the seed came from, if they bothered to record it, but not the pollen parent.

        Liked by 1 person

  24. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Bud Break – Our Forest Garden
  26. Pingback: Six On Saturday: Old friends | n20gardener

  28. Your camellia has spectacular blooms!ā€‚I’m thinking I need some Chionodoxa in my life and will plant some bulbs for next spring.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  29. Pingback: Six on Saturday: 9 March 2024 – My Tiny Welsh Garden

  30. You have the patience of a saint to persevere with your little camellias. True, they are lovely, but I think I might not have the stamina to stick with them through their long journey. Top marks for your grand efforts.
    Camellia ā€˜Nuccioā€™s Bella Rossaā€™ is a stunner – the flower is perfection and I feel just a wee bit envious of your Tropaeolum! Mine for this week:

    https://notesfrommygarden.co.uk/2024/03/09/blooms-in-the-breeze/

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. The longer I keep these little plants going, the harder it is to ditch them. To grow things like camellias from seed and have to wait many years till they flower, then chuck them out because they’re no better than varieties already out there, is clearly beyond a lot of people, which is why there are so very very many that are so similar.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  32. Camellia envy again!ā€‚I have a pale pink semi double, I don’t think it is quite the same as Taylors Perfection, must try and take a photo as I’m sure you will be able to identify it for me. Your Tropaeolum is amazing, so big! I’m sure you will have a wonderful day at Rosemoor, it seems such a long time since I was there.

    My six are here…………………………..https://www.leadupthegardenpath.com

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Your confidence in me being able to identify your camellia is misplaced, though I’m always happy to try. Get a picture of the leaves as well, that sometimes helps, but pink semi-double leaves a lot to choose from.

      Like

      Reply
  34. Pingback: Six on Saturday. 9. 3. 24 | Lead up the Garden Path
  36. Pingback: Six on Saturday | Marching on – Cornwall in Colours

  37. ‘Vulcan’ was one of several cultivars of magnolia that we grew in the late 1990s. I did not like it at the time, not really because I dislike the cultivar or magnolias, but because we were not adequately equipped to grow them well. One specimen inhabits the landscapes here but is nearly twenty feet tall, and has not bloomed yet. If it ever gets around to blooming, the flowers should last as well as they can within its sheltered situation. Of course, that does not mean much. Bloom is brief. I do not know what to think of the foliar color. I remember that it is variable, and can be somewhat gloomy. The form is nice, but some prefer more irregular form for magnolias. That nasturtium does not look as I imagined it to look. I thought that the flowers would be bigger. I suppose they look bigger in pictures that are provided by those who want to sell it. Here are my Six on Saturday.

    https://tonytomeo.com/2024/03/09/six-on-saturday-shabby-spring/

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. The nasturtium flowers may be a bit smaller than usual because the plant has been too dry, but not by much. There were only a very few Magnolias in the show today, but what Magnolias they were! I could dig mine out and plant a better variety but it’s not an ideal spot, too windy, and I’d likely not live to see it do much.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Deciduous magnolias are not as simple as they seem to be. Some may tolerate wind slightly better than others, but not much. I do happen to like the form of ‘Vulcan’. It is not as floppy as others. I could prune it more.

        Liked by 1 person

  39. That Camellia ā€˜Nuccioā€™s Bella Rossaā€™ is a beauty up close. I’d hope to replicate the carpet of Chionodoxa that my mum had in her old garden – a mass of pale blue loveliness. Alas I don’t even even have a bare thread scrap of carpet sample of them and those that do flower are, as you mention, got by the slimy lot. I hope you have a good day at the RHS Rosemoor early spring show https://onemanandhisgardentrowel.wordpress.com/2024/03/09/six-on-saturday-9-march-2024/

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment