A new year and the days are getting longer and we’ve had a dry week. Have I been out gardening? Well no, I think I’m turning into a fair weather gardener and it’s been too cold for pottering. Were I still a digger, it would have been perfect weather for turning over the soil on my allotment but I’ve not tugged at that nostalgia thread even once.
What has become a routine is to feed Beaver the hedgehog and see what he’s been up to in night. Since I narrowed the door of his feeding box so the cat couldn’t get in, he’s been polishing off a decent quantity of food, kitten pellets, every night.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Welcome to Six on Saturday, the meme where you simply tell the world about six things in your garden each Saturday, posting a link in my comments below so the world can find your post. There’s a guide, it’s here. Let’s get on.
One.
Beaver the hedgehog was in the feed box one evening in the week when I went out to check on things. He didn’t seem very bothered by me lifting the lid and taking his picture. He arrived on 12 December and I didn’t get to see him in the flesh until the 28th. Since the 12th I’ve amassed 325 photos and video clips on my trail camera. He’s remarkably active considering the temperature has for a week or more been close to zero at night.
Two.
I have a temperature sensor in one of the greenhouses which records the temperature inside very accurately and maybe I should get another for outside. The inside one gets down to about 2°C then gives me a sawtooth graph as it turns on and off through the night. All very high tech. Outside I rely on the Euphorbiometer. This is what it looks like at about -1.5°C. I’m still slightly amazed that as the temperature climbs it returns to normal with not the least trace of ill effects.
Three.
The lowest temperature I’ve actually measured this winter has been -2.5°C but it’s a safe bet that had I checked at ground level and at 1.5m above, in the open and under a tree canopy, that there would have been small differences. Then some plants would have caught a bit of wind chill, others not. This is Camellia grijsii, a flower just above eye (and viewfinder) level. It’s about 4cm across, with an excellent perfume when it’s not almost freezing.
Four.
Coprosma ‘Pacific Night’ is doing its colourful, glossy evergreen thing and showing no ill effects from the cold. It’s one of those plants that can get killed but not show it until spring. The bark, or more likely the relatively vulnerable cells of the cambium, just under the bark, get killed if it’s too cold, and the plant succumbs as a result.
Five.
The only thing that would make me hesitate to recommend Camellia transnokoensis to every gardener I know is that Camellia lutchuensis looks almost identical and has better scent. In time it makes a small, graceful, evergreen tree and since it has buds that are as pretty as its flowers, its season of interest is very long.
Six.
I probably bought Neoregelia ‘Mo Peppa Please’ at the Tregrehan Plant Fair back in June. I seem to recall asking how hardy it was and getting an equivocal response. My online attempts to clarify things got me nowhere, so I returned to empiricism. Suck it and see. It has stayed out, under my clump of bamboo, and so far it looks fine and dandy.
So that’s my first post of 2026, only another 51 to go.
garden ruminations 
Lovely to hear the Beaver update. Sadly, no evidence of a nesting hedgehog here this year although there has been one the last few winters. The foliage of the Neoregelia really stands out at this time of year.https://thequiltinggardener.wordpress.com/2026/01/03/six-on-saturday-03-01-2026/
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Happy New Year!
Giggle sentence: Were I still a digger, it would have been perfect weather for turning over the soil on my allotment but I’ve not tugged at that nostalgia thread even once.
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Fascinating how plants like your Euphorbia can freeze and recover so well. I understand the thoughts about being a “fair weather gardener.” I enjoy being outdoors on the colder days, but I want to keep moving (hiking or simply walking), with my hands firmly protected in gloves, and my warm winter coat wrapped around me. 😉 Thanks for the updates on Beaver. ❤
https://plantpostings.blogspot.com/2026/01/vibrant-hues-framed-by-absence-of-color.html
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Happy New Year, Jim! Thanks for hosting! Thanks especially for the hedgehog picture – what a cutie. I have had lots of rabbits in the night – saw two munching on the grass that sticks up through the snow which is not so deep anymore. I get it about the cold. I want to prune the weeping cherry while I can see its structure, and almost did it yesterday, but then it got windy and I thought, nah. I have time.
The euphorbiometer is hilarious, and I like Mo peppa. I find it fascinating that plants can live in such temperature extremes as they do. The plant pictures I have for this week were all under a foot of snow for a month, which insulated them from the worst of the cold, which included temps below -20 C. Uncomfortable for humans, for sure. Here is what I could find in the garden:
https://gardenruminations.co.uk/2026/01/03/six-on-saturday-3-1-2026/#more-19882
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Haha! I accidentally pasted JIM’S page instead of my own. Here is the correct link!
https://wisconsingarden.wordpress.com/2026/01/03/january-3-2026-six-on-saturday/
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Lovely to see flowers in January – and such interesting foliage as well. I hope the Coprosma survives! Nothing but snowy white around here!
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So envious of the hedgehog, I hope he eats a few slugs! As ever the beautiful camellias look wonderful. I must check my euphobiometer, especially as my greenhouse thermometer has failed – new battery required. Here’s to a great gardening New Year, wishing everyone much health and happiness. And here’s my link https://n20gardener.com/2026/01/03/six-on-saturday-full-moon-on-the-rise/
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I haven’t chosen the easiest time of year to move from being a lurker here to an active participant but here’s my six anyway.
I’d love to have evidence we have a hedgehog in our garden. We certainly have enough untended areas, piles of leaves and logs to make a nice home. I may have to invest in a trail camera.
https://wp.me/p88ZiK-cz6
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I wonder how cold it has to get until Beaver decides to settle down for a spot of hibernation?! I’m looking forward to seeing more of him. I love the buds of the Camellia transnokoensis – very pretty https://onemanandhisgardentrowel.wordpress.com/2026/01/03/six-on-saturday-3-january-2026/
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Happy New Year Jim, I have done very little in the garden, also. A little aimless wandering and prodding only. Every man and woman for themselves. I really needed your camellia this chilli morning, as always they are a joy. Here are my six, https://offtheedgegardening.com/2026/01/03/six-on-saturday-starting-how-i-mean-to-go-on/
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Happy New Year Jim, and many thanks for running this gathering each week. I love seeing your beautiful camellias and the white buds are really beautiful as you say. Here is my first for 2026 https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2026/01/first-six-on-saturday-of-2026.html
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Oh, I know what you mean! There are roses and fruit trees to prune, but it is difficult to stay motivated with so much rain. I could barely get out for these six pictures.
https://tonytomeo.com/2026/01/03/six-on-saturday-first-six-of-2026/
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Beaver seems to be a lovely little fellow. He’s well-fed on kitten pellets. I smiled when I read the word “euphorbiometer ” because it’s true that it’s a reference for visual “flabbiness” and a back to normal. Here’s my link for this week: https://fredgardenerblog2.wordpress.com/2026/01/03/six-on-saturday-03-01-26/
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Happy New Year, Jim.
Euporbiometer… the old reliable low-tech cold sensor. Along with that, it’s just such an interesting word!
I’ll be looking forward to any Beaver updates. I may want to convince my OH. https://paraigdeburca58.wordpress.com/2026/01/03/the-first-six-of-2026/
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