After weeks of dry cold weather we now have slightly warmer damp weather. There’s been a sense of things being held back but whether it has warmed up enough to get them moving again remains to be seen. Yet again it was a struggle to find six things to mention and I’m sorry if some of these are meagre pickings.
Six on Saturday is a meme started in 2017 by The Propagator. The idea is to record six things happening in your garden on a Saturday and post them to a blog or a social media platform, then put a link in my comments so that others can find it. There is a participants guide here.
One.
The risk of frost seems to have gone for the time being so I have uncovered a couple of plants in the garden I’d had wrapped up. This one is Podachaenium eminens, which I am trying to keep alive in hopes of it shooting from below or just above the ground. I took some cuttings too, which are making prodigious growth in the propagator, so I’m not going to lose it. I cut open the bottom of a plastic bag, put it over the plant, filled it with leaves then inverted another plastic bag over the top.
Two.
I went up to Mt Edgcumbe on Thursday for a day as a volunteer in the Camellia collection. They’d been given a new plant to put in the collection and have given it to me to grow on for a year to get it a bit bigger for planting out. It’s a variety I’d never heard of called C. japonica ‘Francis Eugene Phillips’ and I hope Mike Chelednik doesn’t mind me using his picture of it. It has no buds for this year, hopefully it will flower next spring.
Three.
On Wednesday there was just enough warmth in the sun to get my Crocus tomasinianus open; no such luck today (Friday).
Four.
Cyclamen coum are flowering but not very prolifically. Beggars can’t be choosers, here’s the best I could find.
Five.
I mentioned last week that the slugs are already pretty active and I came across a YouTube post by Robert Pavlis about using a yeast/flour mix to lure them into a trap. I’d seen similar recipes before but I have found his to be one of the more reliable online sources of information so I gave it a try. I put sugar in as well as flour and yeast. It’s a thumbs up from me. I’m not showing you the bottom of the pot, you could be eating your breakfast.
Six.
I took a shoot of Camellia ‘Minato-no-akebono’ along to a talk about Camellias I gave to St Mabyn garden club mid week. I don’t think there was a person there who wasn’t surprised by how good its fragrance was. On top of being very pretty and flowering for 2-3 months in the middle of winter. Shame the light was so bad, it’s a prettier pink than the photo suggests.
Sue’s back on Monday so it’s a good thing it’s warming up. 30°C to 9°C is bad enough but it’s been 5°C or less for weeks. They’re even promising us one sunny day next week! There may be more flowers in a week’s time. I seem to have ended up with a spare one this week which I will carry over.
garden ruminations 
Newbie here and excited to have found you! I am sure I will participate from time to time and look forward to getting to know your space and that of other plant enthusiasts! Hope you have a great week ahead!
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Welcome aboard. Another perspective is always good to have so I look forward to your opening salvo of six.
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Your pickings are never, ever meagre, and are unfailingly interesting and relevant.
Jane
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You’re very kind. Thank you.
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No struggle at all from my view point!
Having seen the nibbled nature of our snowdrops and crocuses already, I will also be making straight for that video. Lovely, lovely camellias and scent!
Here are my six:
https://wp.me/pM8Y1-9kn
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I suspect there will be a lot of people checking out that YouTube link Jim – I certainly will! I know we can’t expect February to be particularly mild, but this time last year we were in double figures and even made it to 18 degrees one of the days! Sadly that is not going to happen in 20225 and Sue will be in for a shock on her return… I like the idea of a fragrant camellia, especially one that flowers for 2-3 months and in such a pretty shade of pink – how fussy is ‘Minato-no-akebono’? I wonder how well it might grow here, as I have been considering on for the ex-holly corner.
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Minato-no-akebono seems a bit inclined to go yellowish in the open so would recommend light shade at least for the middle of the day. Other than that it seems unfussy.
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Thanks Jim, I will look out for it – any suggestions for a nursery?
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I can’t find anyone listing it. I gave Jeremy Wilson of Strete Gate Camellias http://stretegatecamellias.co.uk/ some cuttings last year or the year before so he may have a plant. I don’t think he ever got his mail order going though. I may have cuttings in my propagator, I’ll have a look tomorrow. Stervinou in France list the somewhat similar Koto-no-kaori and wholesale to some nurseries in the UK, there’s a form to fill in to find out the nearest. https://www.stervinou.fr/en/
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Hmm, sounds as if a search is likely to prove fruitless. Perhaps I should just ask if you could recommend a fairly readily available variety in an interesting pink, flowering over as long a period as possible, fairly compact and ideally with a fragrance? Am I asking too much…?
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You’re probably asking too much. It’s the “fairly readily available” that is the stumbling block. In the main wholesale growers haven’t cottoned on to lutchuensis hybrids so they’re not readily available in garden centres. Trehane Nursery are listing ‘Fairy Blush’. I’ll email you a fuller reply, I don’t want to put libellous stuff in the public domain!
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Thanks Jim, I knew it would be asking too much to have all those attributes, so it was a bit tongue in cheek! Thanks for your email, which I will reply to shortly
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Ha ha, thank you for not showing the bottom of the trap – I AM eating breakfast!
I like your plastic bag & leaves protection, I’ll remember that.
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Your new Francis camellia will put on quite a show In years to come under your care, Jim. What a fluffy beauty. I’m envious of your warmth and can only dream of it right now… https://gardensatcoppertop.com/2025/02/15/mid-february-six/comment-page-1/#comment-7882
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It will be interesting to see how that Camellia performs here. Very often we see pictures taken in much warmer climates and when they flower in our cooler conditions they are quite different. In particular the stamens often become petaloid in cooler climates.
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Wonderful Camellias again. I just don’t think of them as fragrant. Oddly, I have no slugs here and rarely see a snail. Thanks for hosting. https://theshrubqueen.com/2025/02/15/six-on-saturday-in-the-works/
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Until comparatively recently, the only fragrant Camellias were the musky sasanquas and a handful of species. Not all new developments in plant breeding are welcome but I’m very happy with this one.
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Like Fred, I am going to use the trap idea. Have a lovely week next week with Sue.
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She’s going to be grumpy until she’s over the jet lag and the massive temperature drop.
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I always enjoy your beautiful camellias. Today is no exception. Your crocus and cyclamen are also delightful.
Here is my Six. Alas, we are expecting some dreadful cold here next week.https://mensgardenvestavia.wordpress.com/2025/02/14/setback-14-feb-2025/
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Pretty camellias (as usual). I think I would have liked some of the scented ones here, but I don’t have any shelter. I have used yeast (with sugar and water, but not flour) and it does work, but not as well as beer traps! Slugs definitely prefer beer. I used nematodes last year, one in April and another in September when the slugs breed. I am hoping that has made a difference.
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I must try side by side beer and yeast traps (I’m never going to run out of slugs for such trials) and see which is better. I also wonder whether a yeasty beer like a cloudy wheat beer would work any better than other sorts.
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This could turn into an interesting trial. Cheap lager vs Doom Bar. Wheat beer vs Guinness. Fresh yeast vs dried. It’s definitely the smell that attracts them.
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Interesting about the yeast/flour mix as a trap for slugs. I use beer in a shallow container, and that works, too. Beautiful Camellias! Thanks so much for hosting.
https://plantpostings.blogspot.com/2025/02/six-on-saturday-in-sunroom.html
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Slugs do like beer! 🍺
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Your amusing sentence had me giggling: “I’m not showing you the bottom of the pot, you could be eating your breakfast.”
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Your camellias are always a treat! We finally got s decent snow – when it gets light out, I have some shoveling to do! I like it though. Everything looks fresh and cold. Here are my six:
https://wisconsingarden.wordpress.com/2025/02/15/february-15-six-on-saturday/
Have a great week!
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I’d recently seen a YT video about the flour/yeast slug brew as well. Good to know it works, think we’ll all be doing it this year!
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Even though you say the pink on the camellia is not so good It does look wonderful. My crocuses are still being quite tardy, perhaps giving me time to get a new anti-slug recipe brewing! My sympathies to Sue, what a change! Here’s my link https://n20gardener.com/2025/02/15/six-on-saturday-chill-winds/
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Hope the slug traps continue to do well.
Here’s a six form me.
https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/2025/02/15/%f0%9f%8c%b1spring-teasers-sixonsaturday-gardeningx-lovegardening/
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Thanks for the video link of the slug deterrent – if that works here I’ll be eternally grateful! The camellia you’ve been entrusted with is a beauty and I’m sure you’ll nurture it well. The crocuses are looking lovely in the sun. Mine are not flowering yet. Here’s mine for this week:
https://notesfrommygarden.co.uk/2025/02/15/first-six-of-2025/
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Hi Catherine, I’m not able to access your site at the moment – maybe just me but just wanted to let you know
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Thanks for letting me know. Are you getting any message when you try to open the page? I’ve just had a look – the last comment was at 10:56am and yours above was 10:58am. I hope it’s just a blip, but if you don’t mind, maybe you could try again when you have time and let me know if there’s still a problem. The home page is: https://notesfrommygarden.co.uk if you try that first. Thanks! 😊
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just tried again and message is server cannot be found. I’ll try again later.
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I’ll have a watch of the video in a bit. Thanks for sharing (and thanks for not sharing a photo of the contents of the trap!) That last Camellia is another beauty https://onemanandhisgardentrowel.wordpress.com/2025/02/15/six-on-saturday-15-february-2025/
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When is the last frost day? A slight bit of frost is technically possible here. I sort of believe it just because it can get so cool overnight. Cyclamen coum looks good. I have seen it only in pictures, but have not seen it fill in completely. It seems like it is supposed to be sporadic. Yours actually seems less sporadic than most, and it also seems less sporadic than Cyclamen hederifolium. Crocus tomasinianus (or however it is spelled) is also rad. These are my Six.
https://tonytomeo.com/2025/02/15/six-on-saturday-scion-exchange/
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Where we live there isn’t a meaningful last frost date in that it can be any time from new year until the end of May. I was pleased to find a 2yo seedling of Cyclamen coum ‘Porcelain’ with a flower on it in my tunnel this morning. I didn’t have my camera but that could be one for next week. As a species it’s a bit dumpy; somewhat lacks the grace of many other species.
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Some coastal climates in or near Los Angeles lack a meaningful frost date because they lack frost. At least your climate gets some. In any climate, the last frost could be any time prior to or a bit after the average last frost date, because the average last frost date is merely an average. I am unfamiliar with cyclamen that are not Cyclamen persicum, but I believe that I still prefer Cyclamen hederifolium. Cyclamen coum appeals to me because it is reliably perennial, but I get the impression from those who are familiar with it that it is less interesting than Cyclamen hederifolium.
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Thank you for sharing this video showing how to trap slugs. It’s a good tip that I didn’t know and I think I’ll eat ice cream soon (which is rare at this time of year): I’ll do some tests and in my opinion it will be positive. Regarding the Podachaenium, your cover method with a double bag is interesting, I take a note too. https://fredgardenerblog2.wordpress.com/2025/02/15/six-on-saturday-15-02-25/
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