Six on Saturday 09/02/19

What a mixed week of weather we’ve had and, at the moment, the garden is all but floating away. Many years ago I made some obelisks a la Geoff Hamilton (that many years ago!) which have lasted amazingly well. They’ve had a few running repairs but one has gone over completely in the night thanks to Storm Erik. The ends of the legs have rotted away so theres no point uprighting it and adding on some leg extensions until the wind dies down later this afternoon. I did manage to get some photos in between downpours yesterday for this week’s Six on Saturday.

1. Actually, this photo was taken on Wednesday afternoon.  I was supposed to be working at home but the sun came out for a while and I had to go and do some gardening instead. I planted Crocus thomasinianus many years ago and they’ve been slowly increasing but this year there’s been an explosion! They’re spreading right through the border and they’re so beautiful and so delicate. There’s another couple of areas like this. Sadly, Erik has flattened a lot of them so they’ve had a very brief appearance this year.

2. The Sweet Peas are sown at last. I’ve two varieties – Hi-Scent (that’s a name to live up to) and Matucana. I haven’t a clue where they’ll go but I’m sure they’ll squeeze in somewhere. More Geoff Hamilton obelisks required.

3. I’m slowly edging the borders with stone to keep the gravel off of the soil/the soil off of the gravel. I was driving past the patio place on Friday morning and couldn’t resist buying some more. I was so excited about it when I got home. The N-G wasn’t. I just need it to dry up a bit now.

They don’t look very big (or heavy) in the photo!

4. Despite the pouring rain the first Iris reticulata have opened.

5. The Snowdrops are looking glorious throughout the garden but I’m sure I had a lot more doubles than have appeared this year. I’ll divide some of the clumps in this area  when they’ve finished flowering.

6. The Hellebores were flat on the ground after last week’s snow. It’s amazing how quickly they recover. A lot of mine are self sown but this is one of the original ones. This photo also shows the gravel/soil situation.

It’s such an exciting time in the garden, so many signs of life. If the weather allows I’m planning on cutting the Clematis down this weekend. I grow mainly the viticella types now as I’ve lost so many of the large flowered hybrids to wilt over the years. There is so much new growth on them it seems a shame to cut it off but it will keep the flowers lower down. Photos may follow next week!

Enjoy your garden this weekend, whatever the weather throws at it and have a peep in to lots of other gardens courtesy of our host at

https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/