Six on Saturday - 27 March 2021

The clocks change tonight, and that means even more hours in the garden. I have now changed to making our main meal mostly at lunch time.  With all the zooms in the evening, this suits our current days, and it means we get to eat at a reasonable time too. Although I am waiting for our Amelanchiers to bust out fully, daily walks have become blossom watches.  For some sedentary blossom watching, a peep at some of the posts and indeed The Prop's blossom, following down the rabbit hole will be worth while. 

1 Sometimes a plant 'will grow on me', for now I am rather underwhelmed with
Tulipa turkestancia, When it is cold and sunless the flowers close and with the outer petals a pale grey green they are indistinguishable from the leaves.  Maybe when it gets a little warmer, and I can 'bond' with it by getting close up, my opinion may change.  Already I am finding tulips to order for next year...but I shall give this one two or three seasons  to 'improve'. Maybe when the sun comes out and shows me its yellow centre?

2 Another bloom which only gratifies when the sun is out is little clump of pink Anemone blanda Pink Star, of which I bought two and planted them out in the garden last February. It sulks if it is too cold or cloudy, as it has been quite often over the last week. Only one clump came up, the second has quite disappeared as have all the blue ones I have planted over the last few years.  All the blue ones that I planted over the last two or three years have disappeared. I may have just chosen the wrong place, or something has eaten them, or they have inadvertently been removed by me.  Frankly I am not that fussed!

 3.  I have just rescued this plant by removing the pile of leaves that was surrounding it and under which its stems had become soggy and damaged: Corydalis cheilanthifolia.  I blame the hedgehog for this as it has made a big pile of leaves against it and the stone wall behind. I think it is time to propagate this one and have it in several locations to see where it is happiest. I shall try and capture some of the seed rather than dead head it. After mid-summer last year, I started to get some unusual flowers.  Having consulted 'Bleeding Hearts, Corydalis and their relatives' by Mark Tebbitt & al, I read that "in shady situations, under stress, or late in the season, it may disappoint you with small cleistogamous flowers, which lack a spur".  

4. Primula Lilac Lace needs tlc and regular division to keep it going: here in a mixed tub at the foot of a clematis, these extra little bits, which were surplus were planted rather than chucked last November,  are proving the point; aren't they are small and dainty.

5. For now my new Cyclamen repandum is just outside the back door, where I can admire it each time I look out.  In the narrow side alley it only catches a little light towards late afternoon, when its elegantly twisted long and slender petals seem to glow with deep but delicate self assurance.  I wish I had bought more!

6. Robust but non the less hanging on for dear life this succulent nestles in a pocket within a piece of  lava.  All week we have been watching from time to time the live webcam on Iceland ad the eruption from the vent keeps building up and within a short time the classic volcano cone is getting higher and higher, but the vent has since expanded to take over the smaller adjacent fissures. 

Echeveria Elegans seems to be at home, on the stone conservatory table. The advantage of propagating this easy succulent is that you can experiment with all your surplus plants. From time to time I just immerse the whole lot in a bucket of water, then drain it off. There is very little soil.  A clump of Echeveria Elegans has survived in the ground in the front garden, and has managed to come through all the rain, and several days of freezing temperatures, albeit with a few darkened leaves.Yesterday fell down the rabbit hole of the internet and found the person after whom this plant was named.:  the 18th century Mexican botanical artist Atanasio Echeverría y Godoy. I also found that it is not a 'tropical' plant  and grows at high altitude and often on cliff or vertical slopes, which explains its need for good light levels.

Enjoy the spring in your gardens and if in the southern hemisphere the autumn bounty.....