As we approach mid-February, there are hints of new life everywhere. Not least in the fact that, as of this week, the sun has started to rise before 8am. I’ll celebrate that with a sunrise.

And the coming of the light, invites me to start looking for some colours-of-love for this almost-Valentine #SixonSaturday.

My first this week is all about love, the love of the tiny little iris that do their thing at this time of year. here’s a close-up of my current favourite, heart-lifting on even the grim days. How could anyone not love this stunning beauty.

We’ll head to red now for a bit of seasonal wildlife. The robins are red-breasted, cute and sing so sweetly. In my garden there are 5 currently attempting to literally tear each other’s heart’s out to bag the best territory between the bird feeder and the pond. Here’s one of the little innocents.

I’ve tried hard to find pinks and reds amidst the newly emerging greens and here are a couple of veggy reds. This doesn’t look like a veg….in fact it’s a root, oca (also called New Zealand yam), I plant I’ve grown for a few years. These are a form of oxalis, producing fresh green leaves all summer (tangy in a salad), then one the foliage had died, the roots are dug for eating in winter. They taste like a lemony Jerusalem artichoke and are a luscious pink.

Having gone through the rain, wind, dark and (finally) hard frost is radicchio, a wonderfully hardy salad veg. This variety get redder as they get more frosted and taste grate wilted into a meat lasagne.

An even deeper red is displayed by my favourite hellibore, still not quite flowering, sitting in a shady windy corner. I’m a little suspicious that some critter is nibbling the new flowers.

I’ll end this week with the only appropriate flower for Valentine’s Day. This year, bush roses have never stopped flowering. I love that.

That’s my #SixonSaturday this week. Stay safe and don’t forget to follow the crowd on twitter and via the web from links to the originator of #SixonSaturday, the Propagator himself.