Two days after midwinter and two days until Christmas and we've had a week in the low to mid 30's. When I was out in the midday sun yesterday I was casting no shadow. Phew! For someone who has worked in horticulture and gardened in the UK all their lives, one of the pleasures of…
six on saturday
Six on Saturday – 9/12/2017
Maisie decided I needed some help. Not with the gardening, help to make the blog more appealing in difficult times. What is it with cats and grasses. One. Rhododendron 'Merganser'. This is the only Rhododendron we have left now, other than a couple of deciduous Azaleas and, come to think of it, a couple of…
Six on Saturday – 25/11/2017
This morning has a flavour of winter about it. Sleet showers and the sunrise getting weird through them. Car didn't want to start. Flowers are in short supply now, except for a few that I've already used recently. We still haven't had any frost to speak of so the big move in has proceeded in…
Six on Saturday – 18/11/2017
Once more I can avoid having to think too hard about items to include as there are odd little planty things going on that I can report on. We had just a suggestion of ground frost yesterday but I haven't seen any damage, even Fuchsia boliviana is unscathed. This morning's sunrise was lovely, it's cold but only just…
Six on Saturday – 11/11/2017
At this time of year you can be sure that all the better gardening magazines will have an article urging you not to cut down your grasses and herbaceous perennials but to leave them to enjoy their structure and shape when white with rime on those cold frosty but sunny winter mornings that we get…
Six on Saturday – 4/11/2017
I have to admit it's not getting any easier to find six things to include here. Time seems to be slowing down; instead of there being lots of new things flowering or shooting or going over, it's all much the same as a week ago. A sharp frost would at least draw a line in the…
Six on Saturday – 28-10-2017
Six more horticultural Saturday happenings. It's been a benign week weather-wise, the garden looks much as it did a week ago; not good but could be worse. Here's what I found for this week. One. Hydrangea macrophylla You & Me Together ='Youmefive'. Confusingly there is a You & Me series and a Forever & Ever series, both…
Six on Saturday – 21/10/2017
I have to admit that the garden is looking tatty and perfect blooms are in short supply. It's been wind and rain that have done the damage, not cold. Today it's lurching wildly from bright sunshine and fluffy clouds to torrential downpours and black skies. We barely get frost any more here, so things get cut…
Six on Saturday – 14/10/2017
Saturday again! Saturdays seem to come round quicker than the other six days. I'm finding things to put into my six but struggling to find anything diverting to say about them. Well, some of them. Six on Saturday is a meme hosted by ThePropagator, who will have six of his own plus links to several,…
Six on Saturday – 30/9/2017
We managed a few decent days this week and the autumnal slide has been put on hold. The late show is now on, Asters, Cyclamen, Nerines et al, joining the long season Dahlias and Fuchsias. When I worked on a nursery I often got the impression that customers rushed out to buy plants as soon as…
garden ruminations 