This week we have had a cold snap, with daytime highs just above freezing and some proper night frosts (-4.5 dec C). We are well above the snow belt that is covering the rest of the UK, so there have been lots of glorious skies and wonderful winter light. I made the most of it to show you a couple of blooms, and lots of buds, for this week’s #SixOnSaturday.
A wonderful bloom, this is a simple hellebore with mostly a lime-green flower that is easy to overlook. Yet, look a bit closer, those petals have a very odd red rim. Interesting ancient-looking flower.
My second blooms is also somewhat diminutive. Tiny flowers come on the pieris at this time of year, well in advance of the new red leaf growth that will come in late winter.
As I browse around the garden, with my walking sticks crunching against the frosty grass, I see many plants coming into bud. The pear tree against the house wall is full of buds, standing out against the solid blue winter sky.
A year ago, I tried a bit of rhododendron pruning, which must have been at the wrong time of year, because the flowering was disappointing. It’s looking much better a year on.
I’m also hoping for many blooms on the little shrubby magnolia stellata in February. There’s a wonderful cluster of buds this year, with an interesting fan of branches.
Last up, I caught one of the apple trees in the afternoon sun, just before sunset at about 3.35pm, a great time to be in the garden attending to what’s new. Also good to feel the light coming back, this week sunset was more like 3.40pm….it’s getting lighter every day.
I hope you enjoyed another winter #SixOnSaturday. It is midwinter, yet just a short stagger into the garden on a sunny day brings hope and joy. Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog – sorry if I don’t always get back to you on time! The blog is going well, but it would be great if more folk on Mastodon, or other parts of the Fediverse got into tooting a Six! Go on, it’s a much kinder form of social media, not controlled by crazy billionaires. All you need to do is find 6 things in your garden to show us. Then post on social, or add a link at Jim’s blog below. For regulars, our organiser is Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/. And I’m on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot
I hope the new red shoots of pieris won’t be hit by frost in the coming weeks. (Here too, the little pink bells are starting to arrive)
I can also compare my star magnolia which is further south : the buds are very swollen, I even had the impression that they were going to open soon!