Six on Saturday - 21 December 2024

Take it from someone who has gardened since being able to move around ie crawl, not even  the shortest day, where in the UK I heard that we have 7 hours 49 minutes of light (of course that depends on the latitude), is not a barrier to going into the garden and being in the fresh air where plants or maybe lack of plants catch my eye. For many more plants please visit Father Christmas Jim himself for more gardeners' views of Six on Saturday.

Here are mine: 

1. Galanthus plicatus 'Three Ships' was added to the garden in 2023, and I am delighted that it is up for Christmas 2024, named for the Christmas Carol ' I saw Three Ships'  by John Morley who found it growing under an ancient cork oak at Henham Park in 1984.  Hopefully next December there will be three bulbs flowering and then I shall be able to say I see Three 'Three Ships'.

Galanthus plicatus 'Three Ships'

 2. Over on the Amelanchier the Mistletoe continues to grow, but I am yet to find out whether it is female or male. Should it flower next year, I'll be able to tell, for now it is just a curiosity. Well it is a curiosity for me, since it is just at eye level.  In many trees in the locality you can see great balls of the stuff, but they are high up in the canopy of the trees.

3.  Sometimes it is a question of just being out in the garden at the right time to observe that even rain drops dripping from grass leaves  can be a thing of great beauty.

This grass was given to me by a friend and I have no idea of its name.  I like to move the pot around the garden.

 4. Two pots of Tropaeolum tricolor with some of my sticks and copper wire structures are trying to catch some winter light.  Should freezing temperatures be forecast, they will be moved back to the shed for some protection.  Their thin and brittle stems are starting to wind their way up. I do have two matching pots, and at least I ought to use those next year.

Tropaeolum tricolor

5. The golden baubles clipped balls of Lonicera nitida 'Baggensen's Gold in the front garden have been kept neat for the first time by regular clipping, which I came to enjoy more that tackling the long growths. Just keeping them trimmed regularly meant that I could just brush the clippings under them, rather than bag waste to send out with the green bin. As I go round the garden I enjoy remembering which plants I propagated by cutting and these are amongst the ones I grew myself.

6. I clipped ivy from our narrow side alley to make up our Christmas wreath. Now that I have also picked enough to decorate our living room, I can get on with the job of trimming it well back, and it won't be long before the robins start their nesting...as they are already starting their territorial shenanigans in the garden.

If I had but a Holly Bush I would have had the theme for another Christmas Carol! I used to have a great Holly Bush in my previous garden, and maybe it is time I looked out for one here?

  

  

Six on Saturday - 14 December 2024

 Mr SOS himself will probably say that I am in too mischievous a mood today and that I have pushed the boundaries to the extreme.   This week I am thinking outside the box a little as it is getting harder not to repeat six things I may have mentioned only a few weeks ago. It has also been so damp, with very low light levels, for a couple of days we were mist bound with long bouts of 'mizzle'. 

1. Don't these deserve a special first place? I had decided during the year to travel more lightly during the winter, by this I mean not overwinter so many tender plants. I have relinquished many of my pelargoniums.  However since this one is just braving on so well, it is a keeper for the next season at least!

Pelargonium 'New Century Salmon'

2. Pseudowintera colorata Red Leopard  is making an appearance as with 'winter' as part name it deserves to elbow its way to second place.

Pseudowintera colorata Red Leopard

3. Now I am stepping outside the box ie outside from the garden.  During a walk above some low wall,  I could see some rather fascinating fluffy seed heads, and this one was striking a peak photogenic pose.  Big cheer for anyone getting the right answer in the comments.  I did peer over the wall and recognised the plant.  Sadly I had just cut down the flower stems in the garden and will be sure to leave them standing to see if the conditions in the garden and the variety are similar. Wouldn't that make a good question for a Gardening Club Christmas Quiz?

4. There may not have been much damage in the garden, but outside my box there were high winds catching tall trees, and I was particularly sad to see the damage to this Cedar outside 'Cedar House' on The Liberty in Wells.  Earlier this year there had been a lot of decay identified and it was to have been felled.  The storm certainly found its weak points.  When I went to have a look most of the boughs had been removed off site, but the marks on the road and pavement evidenced the force with which the heavy limbs came down.  

5. I dislike light pollution and sadly live with a surplus of streetlights even  on the quiet road that we live on, and have grown to wonder why gardens etc are lit up.  It must have started a long time ago, but recently it seems to be part of the Christmas Season for large gardens. We popped into the Palace Gardens in Wells, and were suitably amused for a little while, and enjoyed a different view of the garden.

Guess the plants time again

6. If you frightened off the wild life then you have to recreate the scene: deer and swans...

Hopefully the dank weather will be out of the way for a few days.  Already the sun has come out, the washing hung out and the robins are singing setting out their breeding territory.

The Last Roses of the Season In A Vase on Monday

Just as the storm Darragh was starting to throw heavy winds on Friday I went out to pick the last rose buds. I didn't think they would come to anything, but just one day in on the Saturday they were starting to open.

I had booked myself if some time ago for a lesson in Botanic painting with Claire Corum at our local art gallery, and having paid a fairly hefty price, was waiting anxiously for a cancel or postpone email.  As it did not come, I ventured out making sure I didn't walk under any scaffolding etc.  I normally cycle into the centre but felt the gusts were too strong so walked. In the end there were just two students including myself who turned up, and the day went fast.  We studied and learnt how to take measurements to translate onto the page, then painting techniques, which include up to five layers of paint.  In just one day I could feel my powers of observation improve, and came home with some drafts as well as this painting of a sprig of mistletoe, which still need some more work which includes adding more layers of watercolour to build up depth richness in colour.

I could quite understand if you thought this was a vase from the summer, so here are the roses one day further on, taken in my kitchen against a slate serving platter.  The roses are a little more open on Sunday afternoon along with a couple of sprigs of mistletoe. I am sure you will recognise Roses Grace, Munstead Wood and Iceberg.

I am linking in with the creator of this weekly meme, who has fought on to post today despite serious connection issues.  Well done Cathy.

Six on Saturday - 7 December 2024

 From the garden Six things posted to meet up with others led by Jim over on the his blog called Garden Ruminations.  

As I do my first draft on Friday evening, on my phone comes a very official severe weather warning regarding Storm Darragh. It was a little strange. Will the warning prove to have been over the top? As I post this Saturday morning before breakfast and having been awake since two I can confirm that for this area it was not over the top.

I would rather have nature's warning via the beauty of morning sunrises as spied from the back window yesterday. But then not everyone would have seen the wonderful sky or understood its significance.

After breakfast yesterday, I went out and moved certain pots to avoid any breaks, parked buckets and empty pots in the shed etc., and generally rather enjoyed a couple of hours pootling around the garden.  In the beds, several of the early spring bulbs are coming up, and getting down on hands and knees, and removing some of the ground cover plants that have encroached a little too far and to find even more shoots were piercing through in places, where I had forgotten I had planted bulbs, was a such a joy. This end of year season where almost everything on the surface has finished and there are evergreens to admire, the anticipation for the spring fills me with a calmness which is quite surprising.   

Let us get on with Six things from the garden, before I get the Red Warning from the boss Jim, who gives us bloggers quite a leeway regarding posting six things from our gardens :

1. Covered in dew this self seeded poppy, is just pretty enough not to be rooted out.  I can't even recall its name, but I am hoping someone may identify it.  It is probably the Welsh sort.

2. When I cut anything down or prune any plants, I look on it as an opportunity to use the woody bits around the garden.  Sometimes they come in very handy as plant supports. 

Instead of using string which can end up rotting all too soon, I use copper wire which Mr S stripped for me from some redundant electric wires he would have sent to the tip.  I use them as ties and also to form a lattice which the plants are very happy to wind through.  When it is time to discarding the framework, the wire is easily recovered wound back up ready to use again.  

3.  A little flash of colour is most welcome, and so this Primula auricula 'Old Cottage Blue' in its pot is now on the shed shelf. I have such a soft spot for auriculas and it is possible to grow them even in a small garden with little protection.

Primula auricula 'Old Cottage Blue'

4. When it comes to winter ground cover the silver leaves of Cyclamen hederifolium take some beating, and being so close to the ground they can take any amount of wind.

Cyclamen hederifolium

5.  The Willow is late to turn but is now finally starting to drop its leaves, and by the time it has been subjected to winds even in this sheltered corner, the wind will probably have striped it bare.

Salix matsudana 'Tortuosa' 

6. Pittosporum Tom Thumb being rounded and just below a metre high is bound to survive the winds unlike the tall Pittosporum I cut down last week.

Pittosporum Tom Thumb

Quince preserves and memories

 A few weeks ago some choice Quinces arrived at my favourite Wells Fruit and Veg stall up on the Mendips. The display was small but with perfect large fruit, and I was fortunate to visit on a day when they had them. After paying, I carefully laid my two large fruit on the top of my full basket so as to bring them home in pristine condition.  With their sensuous shape and colour and still partly covered with their fur, they were laid in pride of place in the centre of the dining table and much admired over a couple of weeks or so. 

If you have had quinces before,  you learn to observe them for the moment of maturity to arrive.  Having cooked with them before you also know just how hard the fruit are and just how long they take to cook.  I was not in the right frame of mind to go on and be inspired to make up a dish to do them justice. Not wanting them to be wasted I decided to cook them and freeze the fruit and the decision on what to do with them pushed further down the line.

On my chopping board I simply cut the washed fruit, into segments, removed the central part where there tends to be the larger grittier parts, and place the unpeeled fruit chunks in a stainless steel dish with a little lemon juice and just a little water.  This I put onto the trivet in the pressure cooker with a little water in the bottom  and gave them about eight minutes.  In the cooking period the fruit had turned from its creamy colour to a beautiful translucent muted deep peachy colour. A knife test said fine, and when cooled the whole dish covered went into the freezer.

I needed the space and out from the freezer came the cooked fruit a couple of days ago to defrost gently in the fridge, with its skin so soft it would have been pointless removing it. Quince Cheese is all that I felt like making.  For once I didn't feel inspired to make anything with flavourings or spices, but with the finest shavings of a Sicilian lemon rind and its juice, with sugar in the ratio of 450g sugar to 600ml pureed fruit, as per Marguerite Patten. The fruit was pureed down with the stick blender, and then the melange patiently stirred until a thick consistency was achieved. 

In amongst my stash of empties, I found some little jars where the whole cheese will slide out onto the plate in just perfect of portions to be sliced and used with cheese.

I can't remember when I had my first taste of quince or when I first saw my first quince tree, but its existence must have seeded itself perhaps through poetry or through reading historical novels.  My eye is drawn to them in old tapestries, Japanese art and Botanical drawings and  I love the beauty of the trees as well as the  flowering quince shrubs, which is a totally different type of plant;

In gardens I seem to be able to spot them and admire them at any time of the year, however when hanging with golden fruit they are easy to spot. I remember the beautiful trees at Kelmscott Manor during a delightful visit with my friends from Kenilworth WI. At Kenilworth Castle there were some young trees planted on the bank at the approach to the formal gardens which I used to admire almost weekly.

My fried Penny (RIP) would bring me some lovely fruit from her garden, and I cannot pass a quince but remember her.

Friends Bearing Fruit 2014

Quince Prepared for the Freezer November 2015