Dare I say it, is it really nearly spring? We’ve had a spell of mild weather this week, with some sunshine. I’ve not been able to contain my excitement, and neither have the plants. Here’s a hopeful and colourful #SixonSaturday. First up, the Autumn raspberries have had their annual haircut and a dressing of almost rotted horse manure. Bring on the fruit!

While I was at it, I planted a couple of clematis that have been loitering in the greenhouse, and a min-climbing rose, I think this one will be pink, called “Little Rambler”. Can’t wait to see her do her stuff up the new archway.

It is amazing what a few days of warmth and sun can do. First, indoors, I’d given this amarylis up for dead…but it put a spurt on January, and just look at it now. Fabulous February colour.

A hazel tree makes a great garden plant, though every autumn the fruit are taken by squirrels….but now, catkins shake and shine in a sunny breeze.

Spring blooms have finally started to arrive. the first iris, pushing through a sprawling evergreen look majestic in the afternoon sunshine.

At LAST, after so many other Sixers have been showing off, I have some really stunning little crocus to feast my eyes one.

That’s my Six on Saturday this week. For other gardening blogs from all over the world check out the great Propagator and follow #SIxonSaturday on twitter. Happy gardening, it’ll be March next week. We may be locked down for many more weeks, but the warm sunshine will ease our souls.

This has been a week of weather wash-away. Last week’s snow disappeared in less that 48 hours, under heavy rain, to reveal that most of the garden has survived, and that there is plenty of tempting late-winter growth. My first thing in the garden this week then, is the table and chairs (check out how they looked last week), with awakening little plants mostly hanging in there.

Despite a very stressful work week, I’ve managed to pop out into the garden and find quite a bit to get excited about. As the snow melted the aconites finally appeared underneath, with their little globe-shaped flowers intact.

WItch-hazel finally shed some of it’s gorgeous fragrance, and flowers are at their maximum now. They do look particularly lovely set against the last of the snow.

Elsewhere, bulbs are coming. These are probably tulips or trillium, could be something else. Whatever they are, I’m really looking forward to them, and the spring they herald.

I just had to pick snowdrops for this week’s blog, again. I’d hoped to visit a local formal garden this weekend that has some non-open access via a public path, but with the forecast set for lots more rain, I may stay near home and spend more time with these little beauties.

Last, but not at all least this week. Oh WOW, what a discovery in the greenhouse. I acquired this stunning auricula as part of a village plant-swap during last spring’s lockdown. Such a lovely sight, I can see this might be the start of a collection.

That’s my six for this week. Warmer weather coming, so I hope there will be lots of spring promise coming very soon. Don’t forget to follow #SixonSaturday on Twitter, and take a look at other sixer’s contributions via the great Propagator himself.

‘Have you got any crocus showing yet?’….said a friend with a garden in a different part of the UK. Hmm, rather hard to tell this week as we had over 30cm of snow, and -9 degC one night (but see last week’s Six). Here’s a very snowy #SixonSaturday from my garden this week. First up, here’s the garden table, almost full with overwintering plants. There’s probably a few crocus in those half-barrels at the back.

I’ve been working hard to keep the garden birds alive. 3 large seed feeders have been topped up twice a day, nuts too. But still, on our 3rd day of ‘big snow’, there are FAR fewer tits in the garden…..I hope they found somewhere warmer? Two of the bigger feeders are on the garden apple trees, hiding behind icicles.

We’ve also taken care to try and keep a bit of open water available. One corner of the pond has a kettle of hot water poured on it a few times each day (the benefits of working from home). A blackbird cowers at the other end of the pond here, it doesn’t seem impressed. Hard to believe from this scene that there are sometimes frogspawn here by mid-February.

I’m not sure everything will come through this cold snap in top form. Hard to tell as yet (still more than 20cm snow on the ground), but a wallflower has already given up on at least one if it’s flowering stems.

This one’s not quite in the garden. On my ‘walk before work’ on Wednesday, it was -9.5 deg C at 8am (goodness knows how cold it was earlier). Every surface was covered in ice. I was fascinated by a string of wooden fence posts, each one with fern-like ice crystals growing from spaces in the wood. A stunning sight.

Finally for this most unusual of weeks: I don’t think I was too hasty to get chillies started in January. Luckily for them, there are plenty of cosy warm windowsills with radiators nearby. This little group are providing the only thing (apart from ice) that’s been growing around here this week.

That’s my six for this week. Very much worse weather than the sleety and snowy weather I noted last week! But much more fun than sleet. Being snowed-in in a lockdown doesn’t feel much different than usual! Don’t forget to follow #SixonSaturday on Twitter, and take a look at other sixer’s contributions via the great Propagator himself.

It’s time for #SixonSaturday, a chance to show six things that are doing well (or not) in the garden. Weather is at the forefront of my mind this week. Earlier in the week, we had unexpected snow. At the back end of the week, we’ve had heavy snow forecast, but so far, there’s been almost 40mm of sleety rain in a couple of days. Not the best gardening weather. But I have braved it for a few photos. First, light crisp snow brings a new perspective to plants of all kinds. Azalea looks great under a sprinkling of snow.

I was hoping to be able to show off the odd exotic hellebore as other gardeners are doing now. But this winter is COLD, and only the traditional old fashioned one is up to this kind of weather.

Now we move to later in the week. Horizontal sleet, strong easterly winds, even in my sheltered courtyard the bamboo are struggling to stay upright.

On the other hand, so much water flushes the pond nicely and make a nice change to it’s frozen state for the last couple of weeks.

I ventured into the greenhouse, but even there the pounding rain and wind made the experience less than satisfying. Some promise though, I’ m trying to overwinter some herbs to give us an early start to the new season. The herb fennel is cooperating.

I couldn’t finish without showing something in bloom, but that was hard to find. Here are a couple of shivering little crocus, on their way, but if they had a choice, I bet they would have stayed in the ground.

That’s my six for this week. Very much the worst weather of this current lockdown, I hope the weather clears soon, it’s tough to stay inside all day. Don’t forget to follow #SixonSaturday on Twitter, and take a look at other sixer’s contributions via the great Propagator himself.