Six on Saturday – 27/12/2025

Last post of the year. Unsurprisingly the garden this week has not been the main focus of my attention and when I went round this morning to see what I could find, it wasn’t much. We still haven’t had significant frost so a lot of things that should be dead are not, which is far from saying they’re looking good. A bit of a struggle then, to fulfil the brief, which as most of you will know, entails posting pictures of half a dozen things from your garden, on a Saturday, with a bit of accompanying explanation. If you’re unsure, check this post out. Onward.

One.
It’s a month since I put Camellia ‘Show Girl’ into a six, time for a re-run. Peaking at the turn of the year, as befits a hybrid between an autumn flowerer and a spring flowerer. The magnolia to the right of it is now bare of leaves but all summer it has cut off direct sun to the camellia, to the detriment of bud production on that side of the bush. Our neighbours to left and rear are getting a far better display than we are. I’m beginning to think the unthinkable about the Magnolia.

Two.
Coleus (was Plectranthus) argentatus, has never survived this late without getting killed by frost. I have no desire for it to survive, I have young plants in the greenhouse for next year, waiting to be planted out in fresh compost in this same pot. This lot will go through the shredder in due course.

Three.
In June 2020 I did a post on vivipary, with particular reference to Skimmia ‘Bowles Dwarf Female’. This is when seeds germinate while still inside the fruit, not a regular occurrence with the Skimmia, but in that year many seedlings were so produced. I sowed some of them, or rather I pricked them off into cells, and this is one of the seedlings six growing seasons down the road. It has buds of its own, which I haven’t looked at closely, but which I suspect will be female.

Four.
Yellow archangel, Lamiastrum galeobdolon is a British native but the silver leaved form argenteum is a garden escape. I regard it as a weed and have been trying unsuccessfully to rid the garden of it for 35 years. Just once in while I spot a new shoot with fresh silver and green leaves livening up a shady corner and have to grudgingly admit to it holding its own at this time of year. I’ll yank it out later.

Five.
Watsonia borbonica subsp. ardernei is a superb white flowered Watsonia which I drooled over at an NGS open garden a couple of years ago, then snatched eagerly from the owner of the same garden at an NGS plant swap some months later. I planted it out in spring and it appeared to go downhill right through the summer. All is well though, it is meant to go partially summer dormant and now in winter it is growing away strongly. I’m hoping it will prove hardy and that I will get tall white flowers in late spring. By coincidence, I have just arranged to visit the Mount Edgcumbe Camellia collection with some friends on Monday, among them that same garden owner.

Six.
Essentially I have run out of things to put in this post but when I was going around I took a couple of pictures just because the light was doing something interesting, so these are Hydrangea ‘Cap Sizun’, becoming skeletonised and catching the sun.

Another year draws to a close, replaced by a sparkly new one. You pretty much have to be an eternal optimist to be a gardener, we launch ourselves at a new year in the hope that it will be the best season ever. There will be something in the garden for which that will be true but most things will just do their normal thing. A year later and that one overperformer will be dead. To everyone who has chipped in with contributions this past year, thank you so much. Happy New Year to you all.