Into the final month of 2025 and as one season winds down, I am beginning to see the very first stirrings of the next one. A few of next spring’s bulbs are emerging, one or two spring flowering Camellias have the odd bloom on them, new shoots are coming up on at least one Crocosmia. In the absence of deep cold or a prolonged blanket of snow, the garden never really sleeps.
I am in the fortunate position of living in Cornwall, one of the mildest parts of the UK, so it is usually possible to find something going on outside even in the depths of winter. It’s likely going to be harder for many of you but if you can rustle up a Saturday six at this low point in the gardening calendar, you can be very sure it will be much appreciated. Join us, it’s a breeze; plus my predecessor wrote a participants guide for the Six on Saturday meme years back and it’s here, slightly tweaked by me.
Onward and upwards then:
One.
Euphorbia mellifera, a reprise. A week ago I featured this for its lush evergreen foliage. I went out Thursday morning with my camera (the forecast for friday is terrible) and saw another side to it. For all it’s evergreen, that doesn’t mean that its leaves last forever, only that new ones come long before the old ones die and drop off. The oldest leaves go yellow at this time of year and eventually fall, but are currently the backdrop to the younger green leaves, making the plant look like it’s lit from within. It had to go in to a six again.
Two.
Alstroemeria ‘Summer Heat’. From the same series as the (formerly) peerless Alstroemeria ‘Indian Summer’, my second season of growing this variety has gone a long way to convincing me it is just as good. It seems to have been in flower all season through and still has several flower heads on a plant in a 20L pot. It has been outdoors since the spring, I think I kept it in my tunnel last winter and may yet move it in for the worst of this one. It will also need dividing and repotting for next season.
Three.
Fuchsia microphylla will do as a name for this plant. We grow Fuchsias under the names x bacillaris and ‘Cornish Pixie’ as well and they all look identical to me. It’s flowering away, they all are, oblivious to the weather. They’ll take maybe -2 before they get trashed and if we don’t get that, will stay evergreen and flower all winter.
Four.
Back in 2017 when I first put this Astelia in a six I was calling it ‘Red Devil’. Since then I have featured it twice and called it ‘Westland’. It will be ‘Red Devil’. If it wasn’t sluicing down outside I’d go and see if I could find a label, knowing I wouldn’t. Astelia nervosa is terrestrial rather than epiphytic like some of its close kin, and is typically silvery with a bronze tinge that sometimes approaches reddish. I saw it in Nothofagus forest at Arthur’s Pass in New Zealand. Various selections have been made, ‘Westland’ having been the first that I encountered. ‘Red Devil’ was a later selection with better colour.
Five.
I bought Molinia caerulea ‘Karl Foerster’ to replace Molinia caerulea ‘Transparent’, which, while lovely, was too wide spreading when it started to get weighed down by water in autumn. It turns out that ‘Karl Foerster’ is no different so when it began to go down a week or so back I cut all the stems off, hung them upside down to dry, then turned them back the right way for a dry grass display. I did it with ‘Transparent’ a few years back and they were good for a year before I chucked them out. I found a spot that was in sun but with a dark background and voila!
Six.
The small, single, sweetly fragrant flowers of Camellia ‘Minato-no-akebono’ are beginning to open. It’s not the happiest of plants, rather yellow and not making much growth, I’m not sure why. It has plenty of flower buds though and should flower through to February or March.
And there you have it, for another week. It’s shaping up to be an interesting week, non-horticulturally, but more on that next Saturday, perhaps.
garden ruminations 
I planted one blooming alstroemeria this fall, and your post prompted me to go out to that back corner of the garden to see if it is still blooming, but it has stopped. The plant looks very happy, though. I’m in a very temperate area of northern California and there have been a couple of winters in the last ten years when we didn’t get a frost at all. So I have lots of flowers still, though they are mostly slowing down.
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It’s lovely to see what’s still flowering in your garden. I like the look of the Alstroemeria, an the Fuchsia is beautiful, too. I didn’t know that they could be evergreen in certain temperatures.
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The alstroemeria looks more red than orange, and sounds as if it’s one to look out for. I have been toying with keeping my Indian Summer in a pot to try and extend the flowering season, but perhaps it won’t help much being that much further north. The fuchsia looks really pretty – how hardy is it? What an intriguing trick with the grass! 😀 I have doubled up on memes today at https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2025/12/06/a-week-of-flowers-day-six-on-saturday-stars/
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My mother grew Fuchsia microphylla in Surrey for many years with no problems. It was killed to the ground most winters but came back in spring.
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Hmm, we are at least 100 miles further north than Surrey though…but I still think I might try this one
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I particularly love your Fuchsia microphylla and the camellia today. Lovely to find plants to share and enjoy in gloomy December.
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You are very fortunate, indeed, to be able to garden year-round. I remember seeing a beautiful display of ‘Karl Foerster’ at Kew Gardens during a visit there many years ago. Your Camellia is lovely, too. I’m just a bit too cold for Camellias here, although I’m going to try again to keep a potted one that I can bring into the sunroom during the winter. Thank you for hosting this wonderful meme!
https://plantpostings.blogspot.com/2025/12/winter-fruit-in-snow.html
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Not much color here, so I enjoyed the Alstromeria’s pop of red and the delicate camelia. Your grass arrangement looks great, glowing in the sun. I also liked the rainbow in your header. My world has gone white, with more on the way today (thank you snow-gods, for doing this on the weekend so I am not up at 4 am shoveling on Monday morning). We may have nearly 20″ on the ground by tomorrow, when combined with the total from last week’s snow. Everything is quiet and peaceful. I do love the snow, but not when commuting. Have a great week!
https://wisconsingarden.wordpress.com/2025/12/06/december-6-2025-six-on-saturday/
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My garden is SO soggy. It’s so heartening to see the still-happenings in yours, Jim. Always appreciate the up-beat tone too.
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That’s a very pretty camellia. Yesterday was truly awful weather and today it’s blowing a hoolie. There’s been no gardening from me this week.
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I’ll have to remember the clever trick with the grass display as they’ve already been beaten and splayed by the wind and rain here this year. The ‘Summer’ Alstroemerias seem to be very tough though I planted mine in the border and they will need rounding up in the spring. Beautiful Camellia.
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You have sold me a Molinia Karl Foerster! I love that golden colour and what an ingenious way to keep it through winter! Thanks Jim!
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So much to unpick here. I will start with the fuchsia, I am glad I am not alone in thinking all the diddy ones look very similar/the same. Whatever it’s name it is looking tip top. Great grass hack! Interesting about the alstromeria, although I love Indian Summer I am getting a little bit bored of it. I might seek this one out. Lastly, the bashful camellia flower is just beautiful. Stay dry! Here are mine https://offtheedgegardening.com/2025/12/06/six-on-saturday-on-repeat/
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You definitely saved the best till last, the camellia is stunning. I scraped together a six this week, it’s here: https://mysanctuarygarden.wordpress.com/2025/12/06/six-on-saturday-06-12-2025/
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There is always something to get pictures of in the garden. If it can not be flowers, it can be bark, silhouettes of bare deciduous trees, fallen leaves, evergreen foliage and so on. Wouldn’t you know it though, I happened to cop out and take pictures of cheap annuals for this week.
https://tonytomeo.com/2025/12/06/six-on-saturday-common-color/
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That’s a good idea for the Molinia; I admit I hadn’t thought of it. How tall is it? Certainly taller than the Stipa.
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That’s a clever idea with the grass display – ‘Karl Foerster’ looks fantastic all lit up by the sun. Great featured photo too https://onemanandhisgardentrowel.wordpress.com/2025/12/06/six-on-saturday-6-december-2025/
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