Six on Saturday - 29 January 2022

 If one takes part in a group activity, it becomes a team effort, even if one is in effect on one's own.  I am sure that our leader who is a long distance runner works on this to his advantage, both on those long runs and in the garden. Jon is our leader but I do get advance notice  when my gardening SOS Sister posts.  Her contribution this week amused me, and I felt further inspired to find Six in the garden after having read her post today.  I realise one has to keep in training ready for the Spring sprint.

1. January Stubble.  Clever for any of you who guess what it is.  I have two large clay pots with this ***** based on the stones on the seating circle. It is quite nice to run your hand across this and look to see if any of the little violets seeds which ants like to move around, are germinating.  They are soon weeded out.

2. Him inside who sports a short beard similar in length to the one above, just happened to mention at lunch that he liked the plant on the table with its pinkish tinges, and I could tell that he was wondering whether I had recently acquired some new plants 'secretly'.  No I said those are the Echeveria Elegans I planted up last year, they go a bit pink when they are stressed, could be the cold in the conservatory when the temperatures can drop to around 5 C at night.

after lunch I brought in the other older plant that is growing in a piece of lava, and has been outside by the front door, but protected a little by a canopy from the rain.  That one is much pinker.  The colour will revert back with time.

3. A Heir and a Spare.  When one can propagate one's own plants and enjoys doing that there is always a down side, in that you end up with several generations and a heir and spare just in case.  That way you can keep plants for many many years, without having to buy replacements. Grandma at the back now on a leg, daughter just below, and two tiny plants. 

4. I was just looking out when I was having my beans on toast lunch at what I could choose, and my eyes were drawn to this corner. Not on account of the nice shrub or the snowdrops but the little devil at their feet.  Did I inadvertently  move it, or did this grow from a seed moved by those cheeky ants two or three years ago?  I have three or four Winter aconites across the path in the conservatory bed.  Since I acquired those in 2020, it would mean that it takes two years from seed to get to flowering size. But then I read that it can take four years to reach flowering size, so it may have come in with soil from my previous garden, or it may be one I had moved but forgotten about. 

5. Why was I having baked beans on toast you may ask: Hubby offered to quickly put that on the table when I returned back from a glorious visit to Triffids Nursery on top of the Mendips where it was cold and blustery.  This lot will keep me happy all weekend. A friend suggested I use this site which had good pictures of many available snowdrops.

6.  And as the Prop and My SOS Sis says finish off with something pretty:

First planted in January 2019 there were just two bulbs of Galanthus Lady Beatrix Stanley received from Anna to whom I give thanks for my renewed interest in snowdrops along with Cathy from In a Vase on Monday. 

Its back into the garden now....