Six on Saturday 22/02/20

Another wet week, not a lot more to say. Apart from it’s rather windy as well. However, today’s forecast was for rain first thing then a dry day so I decided to get outside and post this Six afterwards. The borders are much too wet to work on (the joy of a clay soil) but there was general clearing up, some pruning, pots to move, some repotting and other such jobs to do. There’s so much going on out there, despite the bad weather. Bulbs are coming up all over the place, the herbaceous plants are throwing up new shoots, Clematis are doing really well (something likes the rain) and weeds seedlings are appearing. It was all going so well until the unforecast rain arrived. Still, I got quite a lot done and it was just so wonderful to get out into the garden. Here’s my six things to share this week.
1. I keep most of the pots of bulbs near to the back door so that I can see them from inside. I plant four of these bigs pots up each year plus lots of single species pots. The tulips are just pushing their noses up into the daylight to follow on from the daffodils.

2. The sun even came out for a while this morning making the daffodils shine out.

3. I bought this Hellebore last year but it didn’t do much flower-wise. It’s getting into its stride this year though. It’s my only yellow one.

4. Clematis ‘Guernsey Cream’ grows on a north facing fence panel behind Betula utilis jacquimontii ‘Snow Queen’, probably not an ideal place but I can see it from the kitchen window. For me, it’s not a strong grower and the growth is mainly towards the top of the panel. I cut it back a few years ago in the hope of regrowth from further down but over time it looks the same as before.

5. A trellis panel is fixed in front of the compost/working area to hide it. I replanted it about four years ago with Chaenomeles x superba’ Knap Hill Scarlett’ and Clematis tangutica ‘Bill Mackenzie’. I should probably have let the Chaenomeles get larger before planting the Clematis as it gets rather overgrown later in the year. I’ve now cut the Clematis right back and the Chaenomeles has started flowering.

6. On the other side of the path through to the compost bins is this obelisk with a couple of Clematis on it. To the right of the picture is an Epimedium that I cut down this morning as the flower seems are just showing above ground. The star at the moment (other than Hellebores and Daffodils) is Pulmonaria. This is supposed to be P. Longifolia but it has been rather taken over with the more common variety. The lovely leaves of longifolia are just visible in the bottom right corner. I meant to separate them last year. Story of my gardening life!

It’s such an exciting time of year in the garden and glasshouse. Let’s hope the weather improves and we can spend more time out there, although it’s more rain and high wind tomorrow. At least we can see what’s happening in other Sixers gardens courtesy of our host at

https://the propagatorblog.wordpress.com/