Six on Saturday: a catch up one (11 February 2023)

Right. Let’s see if I can remember how to do this Six on Saturday blogging thing. Yes, I have returned. I said I would. The first set of exams for this year have been sat (one was horrid, the other slightly less so) and after reaching the point of brain frazzleage earlier this week, it’s a relief to be done with them. However, despite taking a short break from blogging, I still found myself wandering around the garden during revision breaks, photographing six garden related things each week. As this blog has become a useful record of what was doing what when, I figure I should fill in the missing 5 weeks…

1. We start with the 7 January and the first of the flowers of the Coronilla in the front garden, rose hips on the ‘Little Rambler’ rose, the remaining flowerheads of a Hydrangea, some emerging bulbs, fragrant Winter Honeysuckle flowers and a slightly nibbled Viola.

2. Back on the 14 January Clematis ‘Freckles’ was doing its full-on fluffy seedhead thing (and still is), the first Snowdrop and Hellebore looked like they were about to flower (until the cold weather returned and put them into suspended animation), Sambucus leaf buds were forming nicely and Euonymus ‘Kathy’ was providing some variegated evergreen interest.

3. By the 21 January the first of the sweetly scented Sarcococca flowers were beginning to open, Hydrangea leaf buds were looking surprising advanced, a new Kalanchoe was adding some indoor cheer, an Allium seedhead had become ensnared in the Weigela, the Iberis sempervirens was thinking of blooming and the Winter Honeysuckle was still going strong.

4. On the 28 January the House Sparrows were keeping a wary eye on me, metal mushrooms were doing their rusty iron-worky thing, Viburnum tinus ‘Eve Price’ was still flowering, an old Hellebore was looking quite promising bud-wise, a newly planted Hellebore was providing some instant floral gratification, and that Snowdrop from a few weeks back still hadn’t opened.

5. Alas, quite a few Cyclamen coum appear to have gone AWOL, possibly casualties of the new fence back in November. However, come the 4 February one of the survivors had finally produced a photo-worthy flower. The Winter Honeysuckle was still blooming away, that Snowdrop had finally ‘dropped,’ the Crocus in the lawn were looking quite promising and a flower bud on the dark red Hellebore was on the cusp of opening. Rather unexpectedly, I found myself acquiring a cast iron bird bath after the old concrete one disintegrated overnight, presumably due to the prolonged cold.

6. And that brings us up to date. After a few sunny days earlier in the week, a clump of Snowdrops from the former Ancestral Home have shot up. More of the Sarcococca flowers have opened and are doing their size defying wafty-fragrance trick. The daft Crocus flowers that looked so promising last week now resemble little Crocus corpses (I feel I should draw chalk outlines around them). Self seeders are appearing here and there (I suspect these may be Honesty) and Loropetalum chinense ‘Black Pearl’ has thankfully survived a few nights at -5 degrees Celcius without any protection.

Yet it’s the Winter Honeysuckle that continues to be the star of the garden. It has been flowering for a few months now and appears to have reached something of a floral crescendo which is going down well with honeybees and the odd large bumblebee.

They were my Six on Saturday, a meme originally started by The Propagator. For more Sixes on Saturday, from all around the world, head over to the blog of the current Six on Saturday host, Jim. Talking of memes, I’d always thought ‘meme’ was pronounced ‘me-me’ until my sister corrected me the other month, guffawing at my total lack of street cred. It was a tad embarrassing.

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