Every year we seem to reach the end of the year a bit faster than we did the previous year. The perception of time is a very odd thing. So here we are, Hogmanay, nearly the start of a whole fresh year. In a garden full of mud (another 4cm of rain last night, high winds, dark and gloomy) I’m struggling to raise a bit of garden joy, but have found a few little things to offer for my #SixOnSaturday.

The bay tree….quite a large one at 3m x 3m, appears to be happy with the constant switching between freeze and thaw, snow and water. It has buds.

Wallflower have been teasing me for weeks. The buds seems to sit still and sulk, perhaps that’s a good plan, given the weather.

Sarcococca, also about to flower. The blooms will be tiny but offer a strong honey scent…not quite yet though.

I like pieris best just before it flowers, when it holds dark red flower stems and buds. These are currently in their prime.

Viburnum, now here IS a wonderful shrub that is in full flowering mode at the end of the year. Looks closely and it is full of flower.

Last but not least, I knew it was a bit soon, but couldn’t help taking a sneaky look at the snowdrops. They will be a while to flower, but are beginning to green up.

I hope you enjoyed my end of year #SixonSaturday. Stay safe, take care out there, and don’t forget to follow the crowd on Mastodon. We are starting to get the sixes going on Mastodon (other instances in the Fediverse are available), but we need a few more folk to toot on the topic: come join us. For regulars online, our organiser is Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/. Also on twitter @JamesLStephens. And I’m now mostly on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot.

It’s a seasonal #SixOnSaturday for me this week. Mostly from the garden in the last week: the frost has gone now. It was beautiful while it lasted, but made it tricky t get out to work, or shop, etc etc. And we’ve just past the solstice…..let the nights draw out now..yippee!

First up, who wouldn’t want to show off the iconic house-plant of the season. Here’s my poinsettia.

Next the one plant that battles on, despite the cold, is the rose. Here’s one trying its best to bloom through the frost.

One or two very hardy veg are hanging on too. This is the most seasonal-looking. A radicchio, which if it isn’t too frosted, will end up in a Boxing Day lasagne (adds a lovely bitter note).

I’m not sure if it’s really ethical to allow garden birds to come too close, but a demanding little robin now has me trained to reach into the seed feeder for her each time I walk past. See that determined look?

Buds are a sign of the coming light, now that we’re past the winter solstice. Catkins are one of the first.

Just one more for this seasonally themed six, what else could it be but my home-made seasonal door wreath?

I hope you enjoyed my seasonal #SixonSaturday. Stay safe, take care out there, and don’t forget to follow the crowd on Mastodon. We are starting to get the sixes going on Mastodon (other instances in the Fediverse are available), but we need a few more folk to toot on the topic: come join us. For regulars online, our organiser is Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/. Also on twitter @JamesLStephens. And I’m now mostly on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot.

Note: Many of you have found me as @julie3dharris on Twitter. I’m not willing to be their product now, so you’ll find me more and more on Mastodon @julie3dharris@mastondon.scot

Quite a week, coldest weather for 10 years, coupled with my continuing elbow tendon injury means there has been no gardening at all. Again. But it has been very pretty. Here’s my icy and (more recently) snowy #SixOnSaturday.

The frost came first, -8 deg C of it (with a daytime high for -4 for 3 days!). I suspect there won’t be much left of the snap-dragon once the thaw comes laster this weekend.

It would be nice to think that the pansies might recover, but I’m not convinced they will either. The tiny fingers of frost on them are fascinating.

Camellia buds, I hope, won’t be damaged and will weather the weather without too many cares.

Then the snow came overnight Thur/Fri, a good 10cm of it. I’m hoping my mediterranean herbs will come through: there’s a rosemary hiding under here.

A couple of the roses have come off better, these little pink ones cheering up a rather monochromatic courtyard.

Last this week, here’s our favourite ‘highway-robin’ (its a hold-up with a demand for food every time I walk down the garden path). She/he was so hungry on Friday morning that they were willing to briefly land on my hand to get to the birdseed.

I hope you enjoyed my freezing #SixonSaturday. Stay safe, take care out there, and don’t forget to follow the crowd on Mastodon. We are starting to get the sixes going on Mastodon (other instances in the Fediverse are available), but we need a few more folk to toot on the topic: come join us. For regulars, our organiser is Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/. Also on twitter @JamesLStephens. And I’m now mostly on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot.

Note: Many of you have found me as @julie3dharris on Twitter. I’m not sure I can face Musk-world now, even if the company survives, so you’ll find me more and more on Mastodon @julie3dharris@mastondon.scot

What a difference a week makes. The first snow of the winter forms a sort of floppy theme for my #SixOnSaturday this week. The frost came hard and fast, followed by a gentle sprinkling of snow and then some cool sunshine. My first this week is an end-of-season image: the last apply on the bramley tree. Look closely and you can see peck-marks from the fieldfare that have shown up for their seasonal munchings.

Top of the proper flops must be oca. I grow these for the occasional leafy addition to salad, the leaves are sour and lemony. Also the roots, they look like a bright jerusalem artichoke, but taste brighter, and don’t give the gut grief. The roots will be harvested on a non-frosty day when the foliage has fully died back to the ground.

I noticed a few funghi still having a go in the lawn, I think they look beautiful with sprinkling of snow.

What a difference a week makes. last week nasturtiums were flowering, today they are well on the way to scrumpling up to nothing.

And yet, a feisty foxglove appears to defy the frost and snow and just grow on through. I wonder how it will weather the winter?

Last, but not least, sedum are still standing tall, colourful, and look elegant and even seasonal with a wee dusting of frost.

I hope you enjoyed my #SixonSaturday. Stay safe, take care out there, and don’t forget to follow the crowd on Mastodon. We are starting to get the sixes going on Mastodon (other instances in the Fediverse are available), but we need a few more folk to toot on the topic: come join us. For regulars, our organiser is Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/. Also on twitter @JamesLStephens. And I’m now mostly on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot.

Note: Many of you have found me as @julie3dharris on Twitter. I’m not sure I can face Musk-world now, even if the company survives, so you’ll find me more and more on Mastodon @julie3dharris@mastondon.scot

The first #SixOnSaturday of the last month. It is hard to find colour in the garden now, especially when the weather has been characteristically dreich:, grey, misty, hovering around 5deg C, drizzling. At least we are now into the countdown to the solstice. i don’t have a theme this week, just some nice bits and pieces.

First is cotoneaster, which has reached the pretty stage where it just holds onto a few bright leaves.

For flowers, there are still a few blooms coming through on a range of roses, mostly pink. the perfect colour to brighten a dull day.

On the foliage side, a few leaves are holding out still on my twisted hazel tree, yet catkins are bursting through, here quite literally.

Flowers again, more pink, this time from a plucky little fuschia that hasn’t been frosted yet.

Proper winter flowers are starting to arrive. This one a classic hellebore. Each year I wish for more hellebore, so perhaps it is time to nip to the garden centre and pick up a few more while the soil is warm.

This last flower has featured so many times on my #Six this year, but what’s not to love. Still growing, still offering bright leaves that puddle raindrops so that they sparkle, and still a handful of cheerful flowers. My heartening nasturtium.

I hope you enjoyed my #SixonSaturday. Stay safe, take care out there, and don’t forget to follow the crowd on twitter. I THINK we can also get the sixes going on Mastodon (other instances in the Fediverse are available). For regulars, our organiser is Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/. Also on twitter @JamesLStephens. And I’m now on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot.