Six on Saturday - 11 February 2023

 It has been cool with frosty nights and mainly dry bright days, but I don't feel that I have done enough gardening.  I don't mean there are gardening tasks piling up, but that I feel the lack of gardening, I want to be out there, just pottering around, perhaps planting a few peas, spreading a little more of good stuff around ie mulching.  Hopefully I shall find an hour or two over the next week to indulge in communion with the soil, maybe even get outside and tidy out the shed, and continue cleaning the all the tools, having started on all the 'cutting tools' this week.

1. Starting with a bit of colour, since Mr S on coming out into the garden noticed the numbers of small things in flower.  I bought this yellow hellebore last March at the Bishop's Palace.  It is doing well but I would like it to be a little taller, hopefully in future years it will be taller, maybe even later in the season.  This plant is down to be mulched with something good and rich such as the composted manure I had delivered last week.

2. Iris Blue Note is flowering for its fourth year in the garden and is in a rich blue. Since it continues so well with little disturbance, it would be reasonably fair to conclude that the conditions are just right for Iris.

3.  I often feature a sprig or two of the evergreen golden small leaved leaved Lonicera' Baggesen's Gold'.   I was asked by Cathy last week what it was like in the garden as she had been thinking of having one in her borders.  For my part I rather like the shrub, and have had it in various gardens, each time having started them from cuttings.  They take very easily and I had three growing well in pots to bring to the garden here, and have developed this one in the back garden from a cutting from those and is probably in its fifth year.  

Here I have just recently cleared the growth which was on the ground to leave a stem, and cut back some of the taller growth. The birds seem to like a little shrubbery around their water.

I ought to have cut back the ones in the front garden some time in August, but it was so dry and hot.  Although they were well leafed, I knew they needed a good trim back to keep them neat and tidy, really taking the place of box balls or rather shapes as they are rather varied.  The blame for this is truly in my court, as I only cut them back a couple of weeks ago.  They will leaf up nicely within a month or so.  Here I need to trim them two or three times a year. Some of the lower layers had grown well out, and here the cuts reveal the bare insides.  I took the opportunity of removing some of the lower branches that had sent down roots.  A way of obtaining new plants, but these were binned since I did not need them.

I added the smallest round one right on the corner of the drive, what an ironic name to call the piece the tarmac just over a car length's! This one did get trimmed in the summer, and it is in better shape after the trim again a couple of weeks ago.  I do enjoy neatening up the balls with my old shears.

Here along the side of the house, I popped in some rooted cuttings of the same batch as the small ball, and have kept to the arching form of the plant, but do remove stems from time to time if they start to overshadow nearby plants. 

4, Back to plants that are looking good:  the fancy pants leaved ones make lovely winter ground cover along the shady border.  I am pleased to say that I shall be selecting some pleasing leaved forms from their seedlings to pot up for a second generation of plants to show on the garden shelf next year.

This is one of the Cyclamen hederifolium selected by Hayden Worton at John Massey's establishment at Ashwood Nurseries. 

5.  I have planted out the latest batch of the new snowdrops, and have taken pictures and made some good name labels.  This one is very small so it has a very select place close by the gravel where I will be able to go and look at it closely.   Most snowdrops have three outer sepals/petals, this one has four and I have heard sometimes five.

Galanthus ” Margaret Billington ” Rizehensis Hybr Cult

6.  I was dithering about where to plant Galanthus Three Ships.  I knew I would want to see it when sitting in the conservatory, so here it is marked up in the photograph. I hope it will be in flower next Christmas Day morning...

The bed has been mulched just in time before all the other plants emerg.  

I'm joining in with others tagging onto Jim's post, and posts such as this one serves me as a reminder of where I have planted new plants, and a good way of looking back to see how older plants are doing.