Six on Saturday – 22/11/2025

Last night saw our first real frost, still only around zero, a long way short of the minus 12 my sister had up north of Aberdeen. Half the garden would be dead if we’d had that here. As it is, damage was slight. Even so, there is a lot less happening, i.e. flowering, this week as compared to last. I’ve managed to scrape a few bits together, the light on a sunny day at this time of year is a great help.

One.
Coprosma repens is a fairly uninteresting shrub, the only merit of which is an almost unmatched toughness in coastal exposure. It has large glossy roundish leaves somewhat like Griselinia. There are however, a good number of variegated and coloured leaf forms about. Even in Cornwall I have found them only borderline hardy, certainly in the condition they are in when they leave the nursery; basically pumped up and soft. Toughen them up with a year or two in the same pot, watered but not fed, protected from frost but otherwise exposed to the elements, and they become several degrees hardier. I don’t know what this variety is called, it’s cold and dark out, I’m not going to look for the label. This will stay out all winter and I expect it to survive.

Two.
Begonia ‘Connie Boswell’ is essentially a house plant. This one is growing under my bamboo so probably escaped the frost, just. Last winter I covered it with leaves and left it out. This year, when I get around to it, I will lift it and pot it. Ragged and tattered as it is, backlit by a low sun it’s rather lovely.

Three.
Swimming in the same pool of sunlight was this Hosta, even more ragged than the begonia. As it happens, it is the variety ‘Halcyon’, grown for its steely blue leaves. Not a trace of blue remains yet I’m taking its picture now, having largely ignored it since the spring.

Four.
Coleus argentatus (syn Plectranthus argentatus) is still looking too good to chop down. It is quite tender but I was surprised when this plant was untouched by a frost earlier in the week and only lightly damaged by last night’s, whereas another plant maybe 5m away was completely blackened by the earlier episode. We take cuttings and overwinter small plants, this one will not be brought inside and won’t survive.

Five.
Miscanthus nepalensis has probably been in one of my recent sixes but it is so good it’s going in this set too. Looking back it turns out to have been the end of August so here we are nearly three months further on and it’s still looking fabulous.

Six.
Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Izu-no-hana’ flowers at the normal time that hydrangeas flower, in July and August, but will sometimes produce a very late bloom too. In both form and colour it looks far too delicate to have come through the last week’s weather as well as it has.

It looks like we’re back into rain and wind for a while, so there may not be much gardening going on next week. I managed to get a fair amount of seasonal tidying done in the last couple of days, so I’m pretty much where I want to be at this stage of the year. As ever, indeed more than ever, we’d all love to hear from anyone out there who can come up with half a dozen items of interest from their garden. There is no rule says you have to post six things every week; I struggle in the winter even with a largish garden over stuffed with plants. Check out the participant’s guide if you’re tempted.