Six on Saturday - Its nearly Christmas

Christmas day is set on the calendar but the weather is more likely to dictate what is happening in the garden, and even then each plant may react differently.  What we have had this past week is very low light and lots of blustery weather. I'm joining in with Jim who is in charge of the SOS festivities, where we bring and share our feast, and where gatecrashers are welcome so long as you bring a six pack from your garden, otherwise lookers in are welcome and comments are always appreciated. 

1. As many of you may have realised I love cyclamen, and even have a few pots to drop round to a friend as a sort of Secret Santa, on my next walk.  I have yet to collect Cyclamen coum seed, but the ants do a good job of spreading them.  It has probably taken three years for the pattern on the leaves to evolve on this one. Here the slim dark green Christmas tree radiates light in the form of paler lines and is completely different to any of the others in the Conservatory bed. 

2. Many of us in the UK are now in the tail end of storm Pia, but still the top of the Pittospurum garnettii is seldom on the vertical.  The link shows the plant only three years ago!

3. There may be better forms of this yellow flowering Jasmine nudiflorum, but since it flowers here from November onwards, I am reasonably happy to keep it, more so because the little birds like to gather there as they cue up for the bird bath,

 4.  I may have mentioned during the last week or so that I was getting frustrated regarding the loss of labels particularly for my snowdrops.  I addressed that problem during the week, and made a a concentrated effort.  Many were found, but had to be washed and with the aid of maps of the garden, and peering intently at faded labels, rewrote quite a few.  I also found that some labels on plants given to me by Brenda, the writing was still clearly visible.  She recommended Staedtler permanent Lumocolor, Fine tip and I've since been looking at reviews for garden pens.  Any tried and tested recommendations?

Relabelling snowdrops

5. Viola tricolor is one of those lovely little plants that easily comes up from seed, and from its position in the veggie patch right in the middle of the row of parsley I guess it arrived there courtesy of the ants again. The original seed arrived from Jim himself in 2021, and I've enjoyed it wherever it pop up.

Viola tricolor

 

6. There is no frost or snow on the horizon, so the little patches of white can be no other than Primula juliae White Wanda, or Primula 'White Wanda', or even Primula x pruhoniciana 'White Wanda'.  

They are yet to get into their stride, and for some reason or other, I took it into to head to remove all the old leaves.  It really does shine out in the gloomy weather.

When we meet again, we shall probably have all been out in the garden enjoying the fresh air and exercise, with hopefully more to show.  Happy Christmas to SOSs around the world.