24th February. It’s my Mom’s 84th birthday, and I’m too imobile to travel right now, so I sent her a huge bunch of scented daffs from the Scilly Isles to celebrate. That also makes it 2 years since the Ukraine War started. My #SixOnSaturday will feature some yellow and blue flowers, as well as hints of spring from the greenhouse.

The best of blue comes with iris reticulata. Got to love them, here another lovely specimen from one of my many pots, lovely with a few raindrops.

Last week’s pom-pom primula bud is starting to show a little colour, another lovely blue is arriving.

The very first of my tiny tete-a-tete daffodil have arrived in the window boxes.

Into the greenhouse, some tiny little lemons seem to have made it through the winter.

I have overwintered a few little plants that didn’t quit make it to the garden in autumn. A couple of chard are doing well. They will probably bolt before they get big, but maybe there will be enough for dinner from this pair.

Not sure yet whether these little pak choi seedlings, which will have a red-veined leaf, will be grown as early spring greens in the cosy greenhouse, or whether they will go outside at the end of March. Time will tell. Excited to see the stems looking a little red too.

I hope you enjoyed my ‘are we at the end of winter yet?’ picks for #SixOnSaturday this week. 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, its 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

Some unseasonal warmth has finally arrived, 10 deg C in the garden, up to 12 in the greenhouse. Even a day of warmth and low winds is making everything live a little faster. Here are a few garden delights that got thoughts of spring going this week for #SixOnSaturday. What isn’t quite over are the snowdrops, so I’ll start with a few of them. I planted just a few a decade ago in this border and they have naturalised nicely.

My favourite hellebore has appeared already in #SixOnSaturday this season, but I just want to sit and look at it all day, what a joy. Here you go, you can too.

Hazel catkins are in flower today, even the tiny red female flower is out, above the 4th-from left male flower.

Drumstick primulas will be while, their buds are amazing, they look like some alien egg is lurking under those early leaves.

Some friends gave me a sorbia sorbifolia a few years ago. They have huge ones at their house by the coast. 20 miles inland, I think we’re close to being a bit too cold. This one is alive and kicking so far though, fabulous dual-coloured early foliage.

And finally, with today’s sun the croci spread their petals wide. The first bees of the year were out enjoying their nectar. I’m rather pleased I caught this one ‘bathing’ in nectar.

I hope you enjoyed my ‘still wintery yet dreaming of spring’ picks for #SixOnSaturday this week. 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, its 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

It is that time of year when sometimes it’s lovely out, sometimes awful. So being stuck inside after a medical procedure this week hasn’t been too much of a restriction. Before that, I nipped out occasioanlly to take a look, and had a little forage in the greenhouse for this week’s #SixOnSaturday.

First up are the start of the late winter flowers. A few crocus have popped up, but something keeps nipping off the flowers. Is it a naughty blackbird, or even a cheeky little red squirrel? I have no idea. This clump has managed to keep a few flowers.

Even more exciting, a lonely little anemone is the first of her kind to brave the elements this year.

I pruned back some budlija weeks ago, as the really high winds were causing them to rock. This one thinks it’s spring, is budding well, though you can see frost damage on the delicate new leaves.

I very often overlook this plant in summer, and forget that it keeps itself going all through winter. Celmisia looks lovely just now, set against the rough browns of the rest of the winter border.

Into the greenhouse now for a colourful forage. I forgot to plant out a tray of radicchio in autumn, so popped into pots in the greenhouse. They are growing VERY slowly, maybe another month and there will be enough to make a mushroom-radicchio lasagne. I’m looking forward to it already.

To be eaten sooner are a few winter pak choi. I managed a few of these in the greenhouse last winter too. Very pleased with how these are looking.

I hope you enjoyed my wintery picks for #SixOnSaturday this week. 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, its 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

The season is turning. I noticed light in the sky as I drove home from work the other night. Colour is coming back to the garden, mostly tiny little pops of colour. Here are some of them, I’m going to start this month’s #SixOnSaturday with February Flowers.

This weeks most lovely discovery is the early flowering of tiny winter iris. The windowbox must be warmer than the garden, even though it gets no sun at this time of year. What lushious colour!

I wish I could somehow display the wonderful smell that sarccococus give off. The little flowers are fascinating when viewed close-up, but the smell is rich and almost lily-like.

My favourite hellobore is tricky to see as he nods his little head down. A view from slight below does him justice.

Tiny winter lovliness is now appearing in the woodland borders. Aconites offer such a cheery yellow against the brown of old sticks and leaves.

Pulmonaria have just pushed out their first few flowers too. Not many yet, but perhaps enough to feed the first few hungry bees when they appear (I haven’t seen any yet).

The best blooms of winter, almost at their peak now. Snowdrops of course. This close up shows the beautiful green stripe detail near the outer ends of the shorter petals. And I didn’t notice until looking more closely, there’s a slightly out of focus fly, possibly enjoying the nectar?

I hope you enjoyed my winter blooms for #SixOnSaturday this week. 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, its 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