Green Girl Gardener

Yet again I struggled to find anything to take photos of that I thought anyone would actually be interested in looking at! I persevered though and I hope someone finds some interest in what I snapped away.

First I decided to include my Hellebore ‘Christmas’ again because this really is its time to shine. I think this is its second winter since I saved it from a sale table and it’s doing really well. It did flower last year, but I think it only had one or two blooms. This year, as you can see, it’s got loads of flowers. It’s a shame it’s being bashed about by wind and rain but it’s forging on regardless.

Next I have two comparison photos of my Coprosma. I relocated this towards the end of Summer for the second time and kept my fingers crossed that it would survive ok. It seems to be doing alright, despite being in the shadow of next door’s jungle. When I bought it, all the leaves were the glorious red of the left hand photo, but the new growth seems to come through much darker (but still glossy and lush) as shown in the right hand pic. I guess it won’t have done much growing during the last couple of months (but at least it hasn’t done any dying either!) so I’ll be interested to see how it does come the Spring and Summer.

• 

• 

I still don’t know what this is, and nobody seems to be able to identify it for certain, but I love it! I could do with digging out a photo from when I brought it home from B&M Bargains to see the comparison. It’s quite slow growing, but I’m pretty sure it’s significantly bigger. Not bad for a 50p bargain, or whatever it was.

All of this was new during lockdown #1, pot and all. I had to venture into the world of plant delivery when the garden centres were closed. The Cordyline has definitely got bigger, but the Verbena has multiplied about a million fold! It was a tiny plug plant when it arrived in a pick and mix six pack. There is/was also a Dianthus under there but I guess that probably hasn’t survived the elements. To be honest, I didn’t expect the Verbena to, but survive it has. Whether it flowers again remains to be seen, but lets hope so because it had the most beautiful and vibrant shocking pink flowers all through the Summer.

Penultimately, here’s some hope of good things to come. Strawberry plants! Here’s hoping we get lots of sunshine (soon please!) and a bumper crop this year. Shop bought just aren’t the same, especially out of season when they’ve come from far flung places. This certainly doesn’t only apply to the strawberry patch, but I could really do with some dry (and preferably warmer) weather so I can get out and clear some winter debris.

I shall finish with a bit of garden hardware, if you will! I bought this from Webbs of Wychbold (AKA garden centre extraordinaire!) when it felt safeish to be in one in between lockdown #1 and #2. It was buy one get one for half price, and I wish I’d got the two now instead of one. I’ll most likely put some more fruit and/or veg in this one, but it would be good to have one for wild flowers too. The daily Covid figures do seem to be going in the right direction, so maybe it’ll feel safe to go to Webbs again in time to sow some wild flowers.

There’s my Six for this week. I really hope something interesting starts to happen in the garden soon (and everywhere else for that matter!!) so I can find another six things for next week. I’m spoilt for choice in the Summer! Speaking of which, if you’d like to be spoilt for choice of Sixes to read, check out the Propagator’s blog. In the meantime, have a great weekend, and I’ll check in with everyone again soon.