The weeks are flying past and it’s time for Six on Saturday again! I’m watching a garden programme on QVC as we speak, and am trying to restrain myself from buying everything!
The last item that I bought from QVC is first up this week. It’s Daphne Rebecca!!
Clearly, she doesn’t look like much in this photo, but I have high hopes! QVC has promised me that she’ll have beautiful vibrant blooms and she will live happily in her barrel planter for years to come. She arrived as a tiny plant and her barrel planter was included in the price. I planted her up last weekend because too long in this house and anything green is likely to get chewed by a little furry friend which isn’t generally good for either of them! I was slightly concerned that the cold would kill little Daphne off, so I’ve kept her in the greenhouse. I was still a bit apprehensive that I might find a murder scene when I went to check on her in the greenhouse this morning, but she looks ok – phew!
Just outside the greenhouse is this little euonymous which self seeded at the top of our garden. I think it’s a euonymous anyway. I rescued it and it’s in a pot now waiting to get big enough for me to plant it on somewhere. It caught my eye this morning because it’s developed a lovely pink tinge. Anyone who reads my blog regularly, or who knows me, will know that I don’t ‘do’ pink, but this pink looks lovely against the green.
Next, imagine, if you will, that you’re wandering away from the greenhouse (with relief at not stumbling upon a murder) and meandering over the gravel bistro to check out the plants on there and then gasping with delight, because, look ……
…. Since last week buds have appeared on my camellia! This is a tiny camellia that was new in autumn 2020 and it didn’t flower last year. I had one bud but that’s as far as it got. My mum said maybe it didn’t have enough water so this year I’ll make sure I rectify that. It’s a white camellia (I know that because it had the remains of a flower when I rescued it from a sale table). My aunt has a white camellia and hers is already flowering, but maybe this is a later one (fingers crossed!). Something appears to have been munching its leaves over the winter but it looks pretty much healthy.
Continue your meander around my garden, and head for the big planter and peek over the edge.
Look! Lots of tiny little sedum cabbages! I was very pleased to see these. I mentioned last time that something (I suspect cheeky squirrels) has been digging in this planter and I wasn’t sure what had fallen foul of the digging. Well it appears that the sedum has triumphed over the squirrel Nutkins!
Let’s continue up to the patio and we’ll check out what’s new there. Hoorah – cyclamen buds!
I’ve been very envious of other people’s lovely cyclamen posts on Instagram and was becoming despondent because mine were just masses of leaves, but looky looky, they’re getting going! The eagle-eyed amongst you might notice a joyful daffodil poking its nose through at the top of the photo too. Hoorah again! Spring is on its way!
Finally, pop through the house with me (that’s allowed now) and have a quick look under the hedge in the front garden.
The rhododendron is gearing up to bloom as well. There’s a lot of pink (or potential pink) in this week’s post which is odd for someone who hates pink, but I’m much more partial to it in nature. This rhododendron is baby pink which is my worst kind of pink, but the flowers are so intricate and beautiful that it gets away with it. If I’m honest, any hint of flower, whatever colour, makes me happy at the moment because it’s proof that the seasons are doing what they’re supposed to.
I know I always moan about winter, but I can see that the end is in sight. I can see the plants making progress towards blooming every week at the moment, so whilst from a distance the garden still looks asleep, when you get up close you can see the miracle of nature happening right before your eyes. On that note, I’ll leave you, and all that remains to say is don’t forget to check out the Propagator for other posts.
Green Girl Gardener 
Are Euonymous shrubby or ground cover plants there? I ask because to us, until recently, they were all shrubby cultivars. Ground cover types only became popular a few years ago. However, the shrubby types started out as ground cover, with creeping stems that lay on the surface of the soil. They do not get shrubby until they find something to climb, and then reach the top of their support, just like English ivy. Ground cover cultivars are merely juvenile forms. Shrubby types are adult forms, without juvenile growth. Therefore, even if you seedling grew from the seed of a shrubby type, it is likely to creep over the ground for a while.
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They seem to be both here. I have an established shrubby one but this one is ground cover. Maybe I’ll give it a support to climb.
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Glad to hear you experienced little storm damage. Excellent descriptions of the hellebores. I enjoyed seeing the “stages” of the one above. The hebe looks quite promising. As you say, the color of the below hellebore would pick out its tips nicely.
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