A week can be a long time in gardening. A week ago everything seemed in remarkably good shape considering how late in the year it was; now the weather has at least caught up with itself, if not running slightly ahead. We’ve had frost and snow and are forecast gales and lots of rain. Suddenly finding six things to blog about has become a lot more challenging. But we like a challenge, don’t we? The intrepid band of garden bloggers who subscribe to the Six on Saturday meme are not put off by a little adversity, are they?
Perhaps you are considering joining in, relishing the challenge of swimming against the tide, in which you might care to look at the participants guide. A warm welcome is assured. Onwards.
One.
For precious little reason other than that is defying the weather and doing something, here is Begonia tengchiana. I’ve had it for years, growing in the shade of my big bamboo and covered with a smattering of dry leaves in winter. It makes about 18 inches of leafy growth and puts out a few undistinguished flowers in November, just in time to disappear until spring.
Two.
A lot of time earlier in the week was spent packing all the frost tender plants around the garden that we didn’t want to lose into greenhouses, where they will be kept just above freezing and hopefully survive. Here is the lean to greenhouse at the back of the house, the one we grandly call a conservatory. It gets to do a lot of conserving in the winter, keeping plants alive. It’s not a cosy garden room with comfy chairs in which to quaff a G & T.
Three.
It hasn’t been cripplingly cold, barely down to freezing, and we’ve not had a lot of snow and it didn’t stick around long. It’s still taken a toll. Here is the same Camellia sasanqua ‘Navajo’ I included last week. Flower-wise it peaked on Monday; Thursday it had to endure snow, hail and rain and today there aren’t many flowers left. It has buds to come but not a lot.
Four.
Going round the garden today I spotted a first flower out on another Camellia, the species Camellia lutchuensis. This is the one that is being used quite a lot to produce perfumed hybrids and even today, with the temperature only a little above freezing, it was quite fragrant. It’s also shaping up to be a graceful and pretty large shrub (or small tree if I live long enough), upright, with slender branches, small leaves and abundant flowers.
Five.
The grasses that stand tall and architectural deep into winter in other peoples gardens have a tendency to flop in Cornwall’s wet and warm climate. They grow tall and lush and soft and fall about like drunks. Like this Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light’. To be fair, it hasn’t done this before; on the other hand, it wasn’t being asked to hold up a foot of snow, more like half an inch. I nearly included a picture of its emerging flowers in last week’s six. It might be salvageable but I’m not even going to try until storm ‘Bert’ has passed through.
Six.
Ricinus communis cv. Raised by one of our small local nurseries which isn’t big on names. I planted three seedlings to bolster my embryonic jungle garden. They weren’t keen on standing up from the get go. They look quite good now that everything around them has given up trying.
That’s yer lot for this week. Stay warm.
garden ruminations 
The Conservatory looks great! We had first frost this week, too, but no snow forecast yet. My six are three plants (one with frost damage) and three animals: https://sweetgumandpines.wordpress.com/2024/11/23/six-on-saturday-87-november-24-2024/
(An obvious error in the URL, because I was squinting at the date on my watch without wearing glasses)
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Goodness, Jim. Despite the winter you have so much still going on in your garden
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Things are looking mighty good in Cornwall for having already endured a first snow! Good job on working everything into the conservatory. We’ve both been moving things in this week and hope your back feels better than mine. Cold winds are blowing most everywhere it seems like, and I’m happy to see your Camellia came through the snow so well. Here are my six for the week, still growing and still waiting for that first dip into frosty weather: https://woodlandgnome.wordpress.com/2024/11/23/six-on-saturday-still-growing/
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Ok I’m here now. We see pretty things sheltered from the cold… the coleus seems to have caught cold, right? I like the begonia to the right of the red banana tree, you’ve already introduced it to us. Didn’t the ricinus ( #6 ) freeze? Mine is sheltered in the greenhouse right now.
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haha, I love the comparison of grasses to drunks! And your conservatory is wonderful, it’s holding lots of tenders!
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I love to see a stuffed conservatory! It’s hard to tell if the weather is ahead of itself – thinking about my ‘autumn’ flowering snowdrops, it doesn’t seem to be the case, but it is nearly December and there has still been a fair amount going on, until this week anyway, so who knows. It is what it is, and gardeners are used to taking what Nature has to offer in their stride. Thanks for hosting, as always https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2024/11/23/six-on-saturday-not-a-lot/
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I do love a tall ornamental grass bowed over by wind, heavy rain or snow. They can look quite graceful and poetic. As long as it bows back upright again. No snow here yet!
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My “conservatory” serves the same function. It is a place tender plants have a chance to survive the colder days of our winter. When it is zipped and the small heat lamp is on, it is life preserving for those plants.
The blooming season is over. We will have frost this week. It is Thanksgiving week and I am grateful. I am especially grateful for this group.
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How large is your greenhouse? Do you ever have pests in there?
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The greenhouse in this weeks six is 10 x 14.5 feet. We have other greenhouses. Yes, we get pests, slugs, root mealy bug, mealy bug, red spider mite, aphids and vine weevil mainly. It can feel like a constant battle sometimes.
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I secretly wish I had a glasshouse, or in my climate, maybe a sunroom where I could also have lots of plants. Ah well, at least I do not have to worry about my native plants getting too crazy. I will scatter some collected seeds this weekend to see what may come up in spring. Spring will be a time of editing the native garden. My blue eyed grass is now hidden by everything else and deserves a more prominent location. It will be the start of a large cluster. I love the camelias – I was surprised to see how large some camelias get. In Seattle, at the University of Washington arboretum there were trees probably 15-20 feet tall. I love the glossy leaves and bright flowers. They bloom like crazy, don’t they? Well, here are my five – six was stretch this week with everything about done.
https://wisconsingarden.wordpress.com/2024/11/23/november-23-2024-six-on-saturday/
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Camellia lutchuensis was one of the oddities that we grew a few of for those who know what it is. Most of our Camellia were popular garden cultivars that we actually sold significant volumes of. It would have been nice if some of such oddities were not such oddities, but instead were more popular. Ricinus communis is naturalized around some urban areas here. Its foliage is sort of a dingy brownish green. Garden varieties are either brighter green with pinkish new foliage or dark bronze. Do you know if it repels flying insects? These are my six: https://tonytomeo.com/2024/11/23/six-on-saturday-weeding-pilferage/
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You’ve done well to find six in your garden – I cheated! https://mysanctuarygarden.wordpress.com/2024/11/23/six-on-saturday-23-11-2023/
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You did well. I have risen to the challenge with four views of the uglier side of the garden as I’m still transitioning between the new shed, arrived, and the new greenhouse, to come. The Ricinus is very lovely and how good to have a succession of camellias waiting in the wings. Here’s my link https://n20gardener.com/2024/11/23/six-on-saturday-storm-preparations/
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The grass does look a little forlorn, but I do think your Camelia in the front garden is looking quite impressive and you have such a good view of it too, Here are my six: https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2024/11/six-on-saturday-23-november-2024.html
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Zantedeschia aethiopica is one that I would love to have in the garden here, but each time I try it fails. You came up with a great six this week, it’s amazing what can be found even this late in the year.
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Thanks for a lovely selection! Those jungly ricinus are a lovely way to wrap up a year of amazing garden highlights. Here’s mine for this week, with frosty lawns and fallen leaves. https://doingtheplan.com/2024/11/23/six-on-sat-23-nov-24-hydrangea-frost-and-an-owl-at-the-lantern-parade/
See you guys in the spring 🙂
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Thanks for the walk around, Jim… I haven’t ventured out to my jungle lately, so it was good to get outside, if only virtually…
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I will read later your post and all others but here is already mine. https://fredgardenerblog2.wordpress.com/2024/11/23/six-on-saturday-23-11-24/
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Those leaves of the Ricinus are rather impressive with the sun shining through them. https://onemanandhisgardentrowel.wordpress.com/2024/11/23/six-on-saturday-23-november-2024/
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There’ll be no sun shing through them today, that’s for sure!
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