Six on Saturday (14 December 2019)

After the Jasmine got it’s annual chop the other weekend I figured I’d put the garden to bed for the winter. Everything that needed pruning, potting, planting, covering, mulching or moving had been pruned, potted, planted, covered, mulched or moved. However, it turned out I’d forgotten something, and that something is the first of today’s Six on Saturday.

1. Well over a month ago I ordered a rose, Togmeister, named after the late Terry Wogan. The dispatch date was given as ‘between early November and early April’ and I’d forgotten all about it until this parcel arrived last weekend.

It’s a scented yellow rose that’s supposed to flower all through the summer. Bare rooted, it had to be plonked into the ground pretty sharpish. I’ve planted it in the new patio bed opposite the swing seat, though I had to move a penstemon, a few foxgloves and a verbena to create some space first and inevitably dug up the odd bulb or three. The new rose tree and Margaret Merril are also close to the patio so in theory we should get to enjoy lots of wafty rosey scent in this part of the garden.

2. Although it’s winter and most of the deciduous shrubs are bare of leaf (with the exception of the Philadelphus ‘Belle Etoile’ that always seems to be the last to shed its leaves) some, like the Sambucus nigra ‘Golden Tower,’ have already started forming next year’s foliage. It’s hard to believe these purple buds will become bright green leaves come spring.

3. We’ve only just finished our supply of home grown garlic. However, it was a bit of a disappointment when it was harvested in the summer as very few of the bulbs had split to form individual cloves.

I’m hoping it does better this time around. There are already several shoots appearing.

4. Next up, it’s the hideous/cute (delete as appropriate) hedgehogs that came with the garden. They’ve proved invaluable over the past week, helping to hold down the swing seat cover in the recent gales. Come the summer though they’ll be banished behind the blue shed.

5. Now this is exciting, the first of the fragrant winter flowering shrubs has started to bloom. This Viburnum farreri was grown from a cutting taken by my wife from the garden of our first home. It went to look very ropey foliage wise in the summer but all appears to be well after all.

6. And finally… The Caryopsis ‘Heavenly Blue’ was a show during August, covered in blue flowers that were loved by the bees. When this plant was growing in the front garden it tended to get overlooked and it’s only now it’s located next to the curving path in the back garden that I’ve noticed how interesting the seed heads are.

And they were my Six on Saturday. For more Sixes on Saturday, from all around the world, take a look at the site of the chap who started it all over at https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com.