Gardening

Six on Saturday 16th November 2019

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Is it officially still Autumn? It doesn’t feel like it (especially not as I have a man in my porch fitting a smart meter meaning the gas is turned off hence no heating!) It’s soul destroyingly Wintery.

Anyway, I went wandering in the garden this morning to snap some pics for a Six and the sign in my greenhouse seemed very apt.

I think I’ll start in the greenhouse for number one. It’s chilly in there as is corroborated by both my posh and accurate thermometer …

… and my pretty but slightly less trustworthy thermometer.

The cuttings are having a very similar reaction to the cold as I am – a bit lacklustre and definitely not as happy as a couple of weeks ago!

A fellow blogger advised me a few weeks ago to keep them fairly dry but not bone dry, but, despite not having watered them for well over a month they’re just not drying out at all! I need a heated greenhouse, but that would send the new smart meter into spasms of panic I fear!

Conversely, the Gazania and the two Fuchsias (one hardy, one not but I can’t remember which is which) seem quite happy with their surroundings.

I’ll have to ask my Mum which is which when I see her as she took the cuttings. It’s not going to hurt having them both out of the cold given how small they are.

Meanwhile, back outside we have today’s number two, which is two Cordylines looking beautiful.

They’re both in planters, the green one stands proud at the back of my birthday planter and the pink one is nearer the house in my patio planter. They give some welcome interest and much needed colour to the sleeping garden!

There are still a few plants desperately soldiering on and producing colourful petals to cheer the gloom. For number three I’m going to share my Erysimum.

This was from the sale table in Notcutts in Summer 2018. I planted it out last Spring and it did well all through this Summer. I’m not keen on pink, but this pink is rich enough to delight the senses.

Number four was a recent purchase that was planted out towards the end of the Summer.

Fatsia Japonica, whose leaves have something of a look of a giant Marijuana plant! How do I know this, you may ask with a knowing smirk? Well, you try going to the Caribbean and not seeing Marijuana leaves depicted on every piece of tourist tat for sale! Anyway, there’s nothing illegal about this lovely specimen. It’s supposed to get pretty big and it’s grown quite a few new leaves already so here’s hoping.

For my penultimate point I’m using a photo that I took purely because I liked the way the rain looked on the leaf.

This is a cluster of leaves on my Scarlet Patio Rose. I love how the leaves are tinged with pink, picking up the pink of the emerging shoots below and the blurred Heather in the background, and the rain droplets that reflect the light and accentuate the leaves’ veins.

I’m going to end on a festive note which I think is acceptable given that the big day is only five and a bit weeks away.

Holly! We have an abundance of it in the garden which can be painful when it gets too big and requires pruning! None of the Holly bushes flower or get berries which I think must mean we only have one sex of Holly bush resulting in absolutely no copulation at all, and therefore no offspring.

Right, I’m off to do something that doesn’t require gas or electricity now I can see exactly what it’s costing us! While I’m freezing to death in the dark why don’t you pop over to check out more Sixes on the Propagator’s blog.

Six on Saturday 2nd November

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I’ve a feeling Six on Saturdays will be few and far between for the next few months. It feels like we haven’t had a dry weekend for months so I’m not able to get out and do any proper graft, which means I’ve got very little gardening news to share. I wonder if the Propagator notices fewer people joining in over the winter, or if I’m the only fair weather gardener around.

Anyway, it finally stopped raining so I took the opportunity to squelch up the garden to see what’s going on.

1. Most of the annuals have resigned themselves to the fact that their season is over (which is more than I have!) and they’ve almost visibly breathed their last and deflated! The Coleus which looked almost regal all through the Summer is clearly a plant after my own heart and hasn’t taken kindly to the couple of frosty mornings this week.

It’s so sad because the colours were so glorious.

2. However, all hope is not lost! A quick peek in the greenhouse shows that my cuttings are coping ok with the downturn in the weather. My thermometer showed 9.2° in there today, just a slight change from the recorded high of 47.2° over the Summer!

Also in the greenhouse are two teeny tiny Fuchsias and a Gazania.

The two Fuchsias are cuttings that my Mum gave me last Christmas. They lived in our porch until we built my greenhouse after Christmas and then I transferred them there until it was warm enough to put them outside in the Spring. I remember Mum telling me that one of them is hardy and one isn’t ….. the problem is, I can’t remember which is which! I’ve played it safe and put both in the relative warm. The Gazania was from the sale table in Notcutts in Summer 2018 and I fully expected it to die before Christmas 2018 but half of it survived the Winter. It didn’t rejuvenate to its former glory so I’m hoping a Winter in the greenhouse might save it again for next year.

3. There are a few sun-lovers that are hanging on for dear life!

One of them is a Calendula that I grew from seed in the greenhouse.

All of the Calendula grew very lanky, not sure if it was something I did wrong, but they did, and still are in this case, produce beautiful blooms.

4. My Fuchsia Delta Sarah is out performing itself.

This was my favourite Gardeners’ World Live purchase. I bought the biggest one I could find after my previous one didn’t survive the Winter, despite it being hardy. So far so good, it’s still full of buds and is looking quite happy.

It’s really hard to take decent photos in this perpetual half light. With flash they look surreal but without you can’t see the colour at all. Roll on Spring!

5. Unlike me, my Eupatorium thrives in the Autumn. It shoots up in the early Summer and then spends August and September waving elegantly in the breeze, but by the end of October when everything else is preparing for a long snooze (at best) the Eupatorium comes into its own.

The jagged dark green leaves stand out against the purple stems and then, the piece de resistance, the fluffy, cloud-like flowers crown the shrub royally.

6. Outside our kitchen window I can see my beautiful Berberis. This time last year I thought I’d lost it. I planted it out in the garden and all its leaves dropped straight away leaving bare spiky twigs. I dug it back up and put it back in its pot and kept my fingers and toes firmly crossed and in the Spring it rewarded me with some fledgling leaves.

Through the Summer it thrived, although perhaps didn’t quite regain its former glory, but now that November’s here the leaves have turned autumnal.

I really wish Autumn didn’t make me so Eeyoreish because I’m so busy feeling gloomy that I forget to appreciate all these beautiful colours. I’ll try harder!

Six on Saturday 19th October

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Here I am! I’ve been AWOL for a few weeks so I’ve made a special effort to take some pics to share. I find my enthusiasm for being outside wanes considerably at this time of year so I’ve spent next to no time in the garden recently. I wandered out this morning to check my cuttings (they’re fine) and had to avert my eyes from everything that needs doing.

Anyway, on to my Six. Don’t forget to check out the Propagator’s blog for more Sixes.

1. Fuchsia

The hardy Fuchsias are still going strong.

The top one is Delta Sarah and was new this year from Gardeners’ World Live. I had one last year which didn’t make it through the Winter, but this one’s bigger so hopefully it’ll cope better.

I’m not sure what variety the bottom one is. This did make it through last Winter and flowered beautifully all Summer. It’s in a pot outside our kitchen window so I can see it every day.

2. Autumnal Blueberry bush

The Blueberry bush had a very successful season. I got loads of yummy blueberries, which surprised me because the year before it did nothing! Now the season’s over its leaves have turned the most beautiful red. This is also outside our kitchen window so I see it every day.

3. Rose Hot Chocolate

This Rose did amazingly well this year too with loads of repeat blooming. It’s in the shade but it doesn’t seem to mind. It’s still trying to give me one last flower now. Don’t know if this will come to fruition – guess that’s all down to the weather in the next couple of weeks. Maybe I should chop it and bring it inside. I’m planning to prune it quite hard once it’s definitely finished because it’s got quite leggy so I guess it might not be happy with me next year.

4. Wet Marigolds

I hate Winter weather, but I do appreciate how pretty the rain can make the garden. I think these wet Marigolds, which are in my wheelbarrow planter, look almost like leather after a recent downpour. They’re all still going strong at the moment adding some brightness as I gaze out of our back windows.

5. Berry watch

Three different colour berries.

The top shrub we inherited with the house so I’m not sure what it is, but it has these lovely orangey berries every Autumn/Winter. Maybe it’s a Pyracantha?

The second is my Callicarpa Bodinieri that I bought about this time last year. I couldn’t resist the glorious purple berries so I had to have it. It doesn’t seem to have grown very much yet, but it could potentially get pretty big in time. I hope it does so I get even more of those beautiful berries.

The last plant is also reasonably new. It’s an Ilex Verticillata. It had red berries when I bought it sometime at the beginning of the year, it had them all through the Summer, and it still has them now! I think it’s a bit confused because it’s only supposed to fruit between October and November!

6. Patio Planter

Last but not least, an update on my patio planter with which I’m so in love! I’m so glad I made this planter to cover the ridiculous gap in the patio. As you can see, everywhere’s wet and the falling leaves make it seem so Autumnal and gloomy, but there are my Stipa, my pink Cordyline and the four Hebes just stoically getting on with the job of looking divine and cheering my day. There’s even a couple of Begonias in there that were left over when I planted my hanging basket that are still going strong. This is definitely one of this year’s success stories.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend folks. I’m off out later to catch up with a special friend who I haven’t seen for far too long.