Six on Saturday 11.03.2023

Posted on March 11, 2023 by Pauline

After being warned quite a few times that we were all going to experience snow here in the South West and not just on the high moors, it was a welcome relief when it turned out to be just rain, even though a lot of it. Further north there have been dreadful problems with the amount of snow that has fallen.The plants in the garden certainly appreciated the rain, they have all perked up and look a lot happier, lots of new plants have opened their flowers for the first time in some areas, mainly the woodland and the rockery.

No 1.

Not a new flower by any means but the chaenomeles by the back door is still flowering its head off, looking better than ever, maybe due to the wood being ripened last summer in the heat that we had.

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Six on Saturday. 4/03/2023.

Posted on March 4, 2023 by Pauline

Another cold week, with not much sunshine this time, even more cold to come next week with maybe some snow when the cold air from the Arctic meets the warm air from the Equator over the south west of the country, should be fun! Winter has certainly not finished with us yet. My six for this week are as follows……..

No 1.

More wildlife thinking that my plants are for them to nibble! I saw a rabbit in the garden the other day and went to check on my newly planted Acers in the redesigned area at the top of the garden. Sure enough the acers and a Prunus Kojo no Mai sucker that I had moved last year had all had a prune thanks to the rabbit so barricades were promptly made. Not a pretty sight but needs must for a while. The wild arum will be removed soon.

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Six on Saturday. 25.02.2023.

Posted on February 25, 2023 by Pauline

After having a mild spell for a while, we are now starting another cold spell. Lots of new bulbs have popped up and I hope they don’t regret it! Snowdrops are still presenting well in the woodland, some of the earlier “specials” have gone over but the wild ones are making everywhere look very white at the moment, which is rather nice. I think we have another week of freezing temperatures at night time, but hopefully it will be a bit warmer during the daytime. I don’t think this will stop the bulbs from flowering, they should be in flower for longer though which is a good thing. My six for this week are as follows……..

No 1.

At last my Camellia is flowering, usually this one starts in November, but not this time, it has been hanging onto its buds all through the winter until now.

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Six on Saturday. 18.02.2023

Posted on February 18, 2023 by Pauline

What a difference 2 or 3 days and 2 degrees makes, I now have crocus popping up everywhere and opening for the bees, other little bulbs are popping up in the woodland and on the alpine scree, none of these were in evidence when my visitors came on Tuesday, but then, that is the risk you take when you show people round at this time of year. If you would like to take a tour round with my visitors, then please visit my previous post. I will start my six with a couple of problems though which I found the other day.

No 1

There has been a rather brutal muder in my garden, I found this pile of feathers in the bog garden border and think it was probably a wood pigeon and maybe a visit from the sparrow hawk which I haven’t seen for a long time or maybe a fox.

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Coffee, Cake and Snowdrops.

Posted on February 14, 2023 by Pauline

I woke to a very misty morning and just had to hope that the sun would come out as promised and burn the mist away. It was still dull while we had our coffee and cake, but then suddenly the sun came out and we quickly rushed outside to see the snowdrops and friends. It is amazing how much warmth there is in the sun in February, the birds were singing, the snowdrops opened their petals and the bees were buzzing round us as each snowdrop was examined and photographed. So, come along with me and see what my visitors saw this morning.

The first flowers that they saw were the quince, Chaenomeles, by the back door. Very much admired!

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Six on Saturday. 11/ 02/ 2023

Posted on February 11, 2023 by Pauline

Another week of freezing nights and mostly sunny days, a lot of the mornings have seen the snowdrops and hellebores collapsed to the ground, but by lunch time they are bright and perky, standing upright once more. I was getting on really well with clearing the rockery until I somehow did something to my ankle, and no, I wasn’t gardening at the time! Walking on the flat is fine, but even walking round the woodland is rather painful so I don’t think I’m up to balancing on the rockery yet for a while, my visitors next Tuesday will just have to put up with an untidy end to the rockery! In the meantime, here are my six for this week…………

No 1

My first Narcissus this year, not Rijnveld’s Early Sensation as hoped, that still doesn’t have any flower buds for me, I think I need to split them and spread them out. I think this is Narcissus  johnstonii or Queen of Spain. The purple in the background is Cardamine quinquifolia.

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Six on Saturday. 04/02/2023

Posted on February 4, 2023 by Pauline

I saw my first bee of the year yesterday, it was working through all the flowers on Galanthus Magnet which were open for business. The week has finished with reasonably mild weather for the time of year, but the forecast is that it is going to be colder once more with frost again at night time, I just hope all my flowers can cope! Having just done a post about the woodland and all my winter flowers, I saved 6 of the photos for today, they are as follows…………

No 1.

This is Galanthus Snow Fox. Not bought from Avon Bulbs but from my local garden centre when I was there to buy the bark chippings for the woodland. I had to pass the table where they were and and just had to bring a pot back with me! I just couldn’t resist the lovely inner markings as well as the green mark on the outer petals and this bulb at the front had 2 stems coming from the same bulb!

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Welcome February 2023.

Posted on February 1, 2023 by Pauline

The weather this last week has been milder, thank goodness and working in the woodland, in the sunshine, has been an absolute pleasure. I finally got all the leaves cleared from where the special snowdrops are planted, pulled up miles of ivy that had spread far too far and weeded it all. So far, so good. I then needed a leaf mould mulch to be spread over all the beds and also bark chippings to be laid on the path round the woodland to finish it off. A quick email to Joseph, who has been doing odd jobs for me since he came and repaired my roof tiles and conservatory roof last March, he had a look at what I wanted and came last Monday to do it all. It now looks beautiful, all ready for the ladies in the village to come on February 14th.

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Six on Saturday. 28.01.2023.

Posted on January 28, 2023 by Pauline

We have just had another week of heavy frosts each night, but now the weather is warming up slightly and by next week we might be up to double figures! It has been cold out tidying the woodland but a lot of work has been done, fingers and toes eventually making me go back inside and make myself a warm drink or two. This week I have been weeding and am well over half way, hopefully more will be done this weekend. Just the leaf mould to be put down as a mulch and then bark chippings to be bought and spread, this will be done by Joseph (my roofer, who now does the odd job for me now and again) while I can then get on with tidying the rockery. My six for this week are as follows………

No 1

Galanthus Angelique on the rockery.

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Six on Saturday. 21.01.2023

Posted on January 21, 2023 by Pauline

Well, that was a cold week and Wednesday such a strange day, I think we had every bit of weather just in one day. I woke up to snow, then we had a bit of sunshine, rain which then turned to sleet, then more snow, followed by more sunshine, which was when I got some gardening done, then some hailstones so I gave up and came in! Lots of snowdrops are flowering now, but severe frost every night has them lying on the ground each morning and some days, because the temperature hardly rises,  it takes a long time before they perk up again. I still have some of the original snow left, in areas where the sun never shines at this time of year. In the meantime, here are my six for this week.

No 1.

Iris reticulata Pauline is always my first reticulata iris to flower. She is spreading nicely and now forming a nice spash of purple on the scree. She didn’t like the cold or the snow!

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