Six on Saturday 19 December 2020

Our  Director for the SOS production of "Six things in our gardens each Saturday" is allowing the back log of bulb planting get to him, I think at this stage, he ought to call in other members of the back room team to help, don't you?

(1) Just thought I would get in a little preview of the Christmas present I bought myself.  No compost is allowed near these until after the day.  If I gave myself cart blanche to do gardening things then nothing else would be done.  I have shopping, baking etc to get on with!  Oh and today visiting a good cider place, cider tasting and purchases for our 'local Christmas'.  A big plus is that whilst Mr S tastes and discusses cider, I can catch up with my friend Angela who is a talented artist and professional gardener.

 (2) I got carried away with the tidying up the snowdrop and cyclamen stage bed, and trying to remove all the leaves from the two rose bushes, almost ended up all her lines cut with a full prune.  I say to myself that the bare root rose trees come looking like that, so time will tell if I have been a 'naughty' gardener. I've just heard that our local Rocky Mountain Nursery has a large batch of rose trees waiting in the wings. Well as one well known supermarket is saying in their adverts, there is no naughty step for me this year, and I would much rather have a plant or two than a box of chocolates.

(3)  I have to get out in the limelight as soon as it stops raining, even if I can only manage a few lines little walk around.  On these dark days, there are some plants that stand out, not because of their wonderful evergreen colours, but with the strange season, they are later to die down. It is as if the spotlight has been directed on Thalictrum delavayi splendide, (that is her stage name) or she has just blanched at the thought of other plants having exited, leaving her all alone. She has only just coloured, so I hope it means she has stored a lot of energy ready to send up several flower stems next season, and may well be the leading lady come June or July. (Fred, our lovely French contributor, may be thinking I have been at the brandy. But no! This is a skit, parodying Pantomime: a type of Christmas Farce, which many British people love), and both adults and children to go to the theatre to watch over the Christmas period) Fred, is there something similar in France?

(4) I have a little nut tree evergreen, or maybe as there is as much stage make up pink and cream, I should describe it as a 'not deciduous' shrub.  I would say it is amongst my top five shrubs in the garden.  It lights up this dark border, even when the sun is hidden behind heavy clouds.  What a star! Lophomyrtus ralphii Little Star. 

(5) Just on the edge of the picture above are the Primula alpicola var alba.  Within a few days they have also turned yellow, and will 'melt' away into the wings to appear ingénue like in late spring.  I divided them after flowering and moved them.  Again I have high hopes of a good performance during the summer season.  Here they are a little further away from the bird feeder, as they had been in the high bird footfall area, and prone to damage as they emerged.

(6)   Mr S and I  have decided 'no gifts' to each other this year. However we shan't be totally without the Christmas morning surprise presents, as yesterday a postman delivered a box of lovely presents from our family, all beautifully wrapped. With a different one for the birthday. Some wrapped up presents feel like a lot of bumps, and sets one guessing. This little plant is just a mass of bumps at the moment.  Can you guess what it is? Answers next week. 

Good job we have lots of very happy Christmas get togethers under our belts, and Mr S and I shall chat about them on the day.  Oh yes, we shall.... and hopefully there will be a good Pantomime from a previous year on the TV.  Wishing everyone: girls and boys, and gardeners everywhere,  A Happy Christmas.