From The Garden - Six on Saturday - 21 February 2025

As usual I am joining in with Jim as he posts his garden ruminations. This regular post of mine covers six things from my garden. 

1.  This week arriving in the post was this little treasure.

Camellia Fairy Blush 

It is still in its pot, but not wanting the flowers to get bruised and damaged in the strong winds it is gracing the conservatory.  I am not sure whether our soil will suit it, although I have seen the odd camellia growing in front gardens, so it destined to be potted on with ericaceous compost after flowering, into in slightly larger pot. Hopefully over the next couple of years at least, I will be able to have it as a conservatory plant during the winter.  

 

I've been looking at testing kits and seen digital Ph testers that also test for moisture.  If anyone has experience of successfully using these I would be very pleased to hear from you. This would be quite useful in gauging the humidity in my large pots in the garden as well.

2. In the front garden, the very first variety of snowdrop I planted there was most probably one that I either brought with me from my last garden, which came fromHill Close Gardens in Warwick, or were bought on the first visit to Shepton Mallet Snowdrop fair when we first moved.  It is really happy in the hot front garden, increasing well.  A request for a name was generously suggested by Galanthophiles as being Galanthus 'x valentinei', which is a name given to all hybrids between nivalis and plicatus with one mark.  Looking this up I found that in nature its range is NW Turkey, which explains perhaps why it is thriving and increasing well, self seeding and germinating under the leaf litter. I have many other plants in that area which come from Mediterranean type climates as it is very sunny there.

Galanthus 'x Valentinei'

3. Another snowdrop which is doing very well in the back garden is Galanthus Sprite. The green scratches on the outside certainly make it easy to identify.

Galanthus Sprite

4. To bring more colour to this week's post, what better than the yellow hellebore which seems to be doing well though its nectaries have yet to turn the good golden colour they had previously, but they will do so as they have only just emerged.

5. Yesterday I went to the Snowdrop Festival at Shepton Mallet, and did not come back with any new snowdrops!  I can't say that I didn't come back without any plants!

I already have Primula Blue Horizon which is at the bottom of the picture, and previously our leader kindly gave me some back history for that: AGS Primula book lists 'Blue Horizon'as a julianae hybrid and describes it as a sport of 'Wanda' P.C. 1950. Therefore when I saw for sale Primula vulgaris 'Hall Barn Blue', I just had to get that so that I can do some comparisons.

Primula vulgaris 'Hall Barn Blue' in pot

6. Another Primula came home, and will give a lovely touch of yellow and hopefully will self seed, so I shall be leaving the flowers to set seed. This is the Oxslip, and I am looking forward to planting it out once it stops raining.

The start of the week was cold and dreary, and yesterday it was warm and wet and dreary...today I hope we are going to have some sun.