How can January have felt like such a drawn out slog while it was happening but seem to have gone in a flash in retrospect? Can it really be February already. Once again I find myself having to make excuses for my supposedly all year round garden, which hasn’t changed an iota since a week ago.
It’s definitely the Six on Saturday challenge at this time of year. A challenge to find anything in the garden of any possible interest to anybody and for none of them to be things I’ve already posted in the last couple of weeks. Find six such items and you’re hot to trot for a six on Saturday post, should you be minded to join in. The participants guide is in the same place it always is, right here.
One.
If all you see in this picture is a patch of muddy ground with a few nondescript leaves then I’m afraid you’re reading the wrong blog. What it shows is the fresh new leaves of Cyclamen repandum braving the cold to emerge in January, interspersed with a few flower buds and lots of newly emerged seedlings. It’s really exciting! I’m also seeing lots of seeds lying there that haven’t germinated yet.
Two.
When the botanist named this Crocus sieberi tricolor was he (it’s a pretty safe assumption it was a he) seeing purple, white and yellow, or purple, yellow and brown, disregarding white as not being a colour? Or just shying away from calling it quadricolor because the marketing people wouldn’t like it?
Three.
I’m finding it increasingly hard to remember the names of some of these once a year things. Chrysoplenium macrophyllum doesn’t have much to say for itself the rest of the year and disappears under the Astilbes and Filipendula it shares space with from spring until autumn.
Four.
Camellia grijsii is a Camellia species with small (3cm) flowers that, while not especially prolific, are sufficiently strongly scented to perfume the air for yards around. Sometimes; not today unfortunately. Too cold maybe?
Five.
I may have to revisit this when it’s properly doing its thing but this is its first flower head of 2025, only a couple of inches out of the ground and backed by fresh new leaves. It’s another plant the name of which just won’t take root in my memory; I have to look it up every single time. Trachystemon orientalis. According to Wikipedia it’s commonly known as Abraham-Isaac-Jacob. Not in this house it’s not.
Six.
Number six and it’s a toss-up between a slightly out of focus picture of slug chewed snowdrops or some more pictures sent by Sue from Roma Street Parkland in Brisbane. I know how disappointed some of you are going to be when you find I’ve gone for the latter. Perhaps next week? Oh, I know, the header picture, always a great dumping ground.
Have a good week.
garden ruminations 
I do love those single, serene camellias. How excellent that it is fragranced as well. Here is my rather late addition to the group: https://gardensatcoppertop.com/2025/02/01/february-1/comment-page-1/#comment-7876
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Lovely photographs. I am looking forward to my crocus beginning to push out of the soil.
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Oh, lovely! There’s so much going on there, and not much here (Midwest U.S.)…no blooms for sure, although, as you note, much is going on at and below the soil line. But we have no snow blanket for perennial plants this year, while our temps have been very cold (several days from -12C to -20C for highs). Reading and seeing your blog and the others is helpful therapy. 🙂
Beth @ PlantPostings
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I know from William Ackermans writings on Camellias that Snow cover can be the difference between life and death for Camellias. Hardiness isn’t a simple numbers game.
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Definitely lots of interesting things appearing out of the ground here too, although possibly not as interesting as your spicks and specks. I am certainly intrigued by Abraham-Isaac-Jacob and will now need to seek him out and find out more, despite his clumsy name – is he fussy where he grows? I don’t know about you, but I would rather be in the UK than Brisbane, whatever is growing here or there! My six are here: https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2025/02/01/six-on-what-day-is-it/
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Nothing will induce me to call Trachystemon Abraham-Isaac-Jacob, in fact I wish I’d never learned that is called that since I’m bound to remember it when I can’t remember its proper name. It’s the very opposite of fussy about where it grows; one of those plants recommended for dry shade, not because it requires it, but it will tolerate it and still perform.
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Haha – I was only teasing, Jim!! 😂 Thanks for the lowdown on their preferences – I will definitely add some to the garden…and learn their proper name! 😉
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“not in this house” ha ha ha! It’s so heartening to see the emerging blooms. Beautiful Camellia!
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Ohh, wonderful Camellia, again. I love emerging seedlings always. I think that is a “Nora Grant’ Ixora from Sue, though there are a lot of named varieties and who knows what they have come up with in Australia. https://theshrubqueen.com/2025/02/01/six-on-saturday-post-snap/
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For some reason WP had decided to unsubscribe me from your blog! Maybe because I haven’t joined in for several weeks. January has seemed forever to me as I was hit by flu on the 3rd and it knocked me for six. The garden is beginning to look hopeful though, and I can see lots of clematis plants in need of cutting back, seems a shame to cut off all those new shoots. And yes, the slugs are already feasting on the bulbs, time for some beer traps.
I envy Sue in Brisbane (where my son and family live too) but I’m not sure I can fact that horrendously long flight ever again, so thank you for some downunder colour.
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How fun to find new growth.Here I haven’t as yet found any..it’s there just not showing yet.
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I love seen new green growth! The Brisbane photos are amazing! One forgets that it is always warm somewhere!
Here is is dry dry dry, and though it has been a little warmer, but once again, I return to my photos from Birge Greenhouse. Orchids today, except maybe the last photo which does not look like an orchid, so probably something else. We might get soem snow in a few days, but then it will warm up again. It should not be doing this, and it is not a kindness – one gets acclimated to cold slowly, it seems, but a single warm day and your body rejects the cold. The orchids are nice and make me remember the warm humid environment in the greenhouses. The smell of growth. Enjoy!
https://wisconsingarden.wordpress.com/2025/02/01/february-1-2025-six-on-saturday/
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It is interesting to see your cyclamen grow directly in the ground. I’ve always thought of them as a pot plant. I grow mine in pots
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I was amused with your whole post. I copied the first paragraph, and then I found your wit in every section. I will just paste the first laughter – producing thing here .
One.
If all you see in this picture is a patch of muddy ground with a few nondescript leaves then I’m afraid you’re reading the wrong blog.
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Yes, Jim’s style suddenly changed this week, I wonder whether he has been missing Sue, and was enjoying a little drink as he was writing this. I too was most amused by this first entry of his.
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I’m not much of a gardener, but I love the way Jim writes.
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It’s tough but you always pull something out of the bag! A lovely crocus and the joy of seeing cyclamen seedlings, with such pretty leaves. Slug chewed snowdrops abound here too!
Here’s my link https://n20gardener.com/2025/02/01/six-on-saturday-new-shoots-and-leaves/
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There’s a lot more colour happening in your garden than in mine. Do, please, revisit the Trachystemon when it’s at its peak. Great pictures for number six – I’m dreaming of sun filled days……
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Almost all the colour is just single blooms; it doesn’t amount to much except in close ups. It’s set to change with mass crocus and Camellias and I can’t wait.
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The Crocus sieberi tricolor is a beauty. I’d not thought about its name before – you raise an interesting point! https://onemanandhisgardentrowel.wordpress.com/2025/02/01/six-on-saturday-1-february-2025/
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Well I thought it was an interesting point but you’ll have seen how much trouble it got me into with Tony! I was aiming for slightly interesting, not deeply controversial!
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I love the No 1, I am in your camp there, looking beyond the brown for seedlings, and even looking into the future for what will appear etc. and I had quickly to check that I had not misnamed my cyclamen but the tell tale white line was not there. They must be somewhere else in the garden and not up yet. Get a good look at my cyclamen in the post and do correct me if I am wrong: https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2025/02/six-on-saturday-1-february-2025.html
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Well, I loved #6 ! …with all those gorgeous photos from the southern hemisphere! However, I have to say that this tricolor crocus is very charming and attractive. Here is my link for some news from Normandy. https://fredgardenerblog2.wordpress.com/2025/02/01/six-on-saturday-01-02-25/
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” . . . disregarding white as not being a color?”!? Not only is white the combination of all wavelengths of visible color within white light, it happens to be my favorite color. I could go on about the definition of white, and how it is both the opposite and same as black, and how it actually qualifies as a color, but I will spare you. By the way, neither pink nor brown are real colors. Pink is merely a tint of red. Brown is merely a shade of orange.
You certainly got more than Six for the Saturday. It is three times Six, for a total of Eighteen! Gee, mine show only forest, with a few distinct trees, but no real garden subjects. Here they are.
https://tonytomeo.com/2025/02/01/six-on-saturday-this/
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I give in already!!! White is a colour. Black is a colour except when it is purely a lack of light, in which case it is not a colour. Tints and shades and hues and my head hurts.
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Are you aware of the difference between gray and grey? (tee hee) (Well, both are both shades and tints, but that is not what I am getting at.) Gray is a color. Grey is a colour.
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Now you have me thinking about why American English spelling has diverged from British English spelling, or vice versa. I don’t have time for such distractions just now.
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Oh, I am sorry. It is not worth the bother.
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