A mixed weather week with little frost. The great thing now is that some days we see a bit of sun. This week’s #SixOnSaturday has some further springy things beginning to appear.

First is the frogs. they took a while to come this year after the gloom of February, but now they are singing away as at least 26 of them are swimming about and spawning all over the place. Here are a few of them guarding the frogspawn.

Out on the metal arches roses are beginning to stretch up, here’s a brand new branch bud, bright in the morning light.

The borders have looked brown and bare all year, but not any more. The first clumps of grape hyacinth are coming into bloom and looking lovely against their thin green leaves.

My first daffodils of the year, these are the miniature ones that pop up in a sunny border in early spring. It really IS spring now.

Elsewhere in the borders, a carpet of little spring things has popped up. Here there is a sprinkling of Scilla with some self-seeded pink and white hellebores in the distance.

And last this week, I have managed to find enough to pop into a vase regularly, even through the winter. Now that spring is here, the display is much more pleasing. Here is this weekend’s offering, with budding branches, faithful hebe and some wonderful wallflowers.

It’s really happening now: SPRING. And we waited SO LONG this year. It is really heartening. Things will accelerate away now. Soon I’ll have a huge choice of images for my blog. It is great to feel that joyful time of year coming again.

Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. I do read them all, keep them coming. And do join in with #SixOnSaturday. 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

Wow, how things can change in a day. On Friday this week it was sunny and I sat in a sheltered spot by the pond with a cup of tea, listening to the birds and watching frogs gather in the pond. It does feel like spring is on its way. This week’s #SixOnSaturday has some springy things beginning to appear.

The viburnum has almost come to the end of it’s season. Now on sunny mornings it is covered in honey bees. Here’s one having a feast.

Down low in the borders, spring flowers are just starting. This is one of the very first Scilla to pop up its little head.

My various pink, white and whitish-pink hellebores have just woken up, but are holding their heads rather low still.

The bees really were forming a queue this morning, as soon as the sun hit the tubs of crocus bulbs, and the flowers opened, in went bees to collect all the wonderful nectar and pollen.

Spring iris have just started to appear too. These do best for me in pots, somehow they must rot away or get eaten in the open ground. I love the rich purple colour that this one is displaying.

Finally, will this be the last time you see my favourite winter flowering plant this year? Perhaps. The dark pink hellebore looked absolutely magnificent in the sunshine on Friday morning. A wonderful sight.

That turned out to be a very colourful and hopeful array of blooms with which to end February. Bring on Spring, I’m so ready for it this year. And so are the bees it seems.

Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. I do read them all, keep them coming. And do join in with #SixOnSaturday. 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

There’s still so little growing in the garden that I may be repeating myself each week. This time, I’ve tried to focus in on some interesting details in flower and foliage. This week’s #SixOnSaturday coming up!

I will start where it is nice and warm (ie above 4 deg C) in the greenhouse today. I have had to work hard to prevent over-wintering plants from rotting, making sure to air the greenhouse on the few non-rainy days when I’m also not at work! It has paid off, some of the geraniums are starting to sprout new leaves. They have wonderful texture.

Pulmonaria is good plant for February. This often gets itself going on those sunny cold days we get in winter. We have had very few of those this year, but at last, in the second half of February, here they come. The detail of the subtle colour change across the flowers, and their hairiness is great to get close to.

Briefly back to the greenhouse. I have started seeds in the house, then as soon as they poke up their heads, they get moved to the greenhouse. Some tiny leek seedlings seem to be responding well to this relatively harsh treatment.

Back into the main garden, the brave poppies that had a go a couple of weeks ago seem to have survived last week’s sprinkle of snow and are bulking out nicely now, another plant full of hairy, slightly spongey leaves.

And now for the great news. Anemones are just about making it, here is my first flower, in a pot, in a warm location near the greenhouse.

Euphorbia are also getting the action going, with their new little shoots, each holding a tiny flower. These thugs can be annoying when they spread themselves widely, but it is great to see their greenery in late winter.

There, I did find 6 interesting things to look at this week. Got me into the garden and cheered me up a bit. I hope it did that for you too. Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. I do read them all, keep them coming. And do join in with #SixOnSaturday. 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

Happy Valentine’s day to all who celebrate. There’s so little growing in the garden yet that it is sometimes hard to summon the love. But something lovely did happen on Friday 13th, and I managed to get out and enjoy it. For the first time in about 25 days we had some sunshine and blue sky. This week’s #SixOnSaturday shows that sunshine streaming onto some lovely sights in my garden.

There are signs of the new season ahead. Here are some tiny lupin shoots, just starting their journey back to life.

Lit by the sun, those magnolia buds that always take forever to open are looking more and more promising….properly furry this weekend.

Back on the ground, I think this will be a rudbeckia or similar, with tall stems and lovely yellow daisy like flowers in mid-summer. It’s on its way.

In the old established border, pieris is flowering hard. The sunlight make details of the tiny flowers much easier to pick out.

Back to the ground for the last time. I think this is either delphinium, or monkshead, or is the latter a wild poisonous variety of the former? In any case, here comes another 2026 plant.

Last, just look at this late winter blue, blue blue sky, with hazelnut catkins blazing away in the sunshine. Here’s the love!

Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. I do read them all, keep them coming. And do join in with #SixOnSaturday. 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’m so glad we are into February now. This winter has felt dreary and endless so far. I hope things perk up soon. In this part of Scotland we are on our 35th consecutive day of rain now…..and most of those days have been grey and wet ALL day. Yurghhhhhh!

Thanks to Jim (https://gardenruminations.co.uk/), the host of #SixOnSaturday, who pointed out last week that what I thought was Lorapetalum, could possibly be Leucothoe. Having looked more closely, I think he’s right — thanks Jim!

I have found it hard this week to get out and find new joys in the garden. Some of this week’s #SixOnSaturday are repeats from January, they ARE still giving me some joy through the gloom. Here they are.

First up this week, moss (and some ivy). There’s a lot of moss here. This patch, with its clinging ivy friend is on an old bit of sandstone wall. When you get close, the detail is lovely and the colour vivid.

Snowdrops are battling on…with no sign of snow. That’s probably just as well with 30mm of rain in February alone so far! At least I have not been snowed-in. They look lovely set against some of the leaves from autumn.

Hellebore are sending out some very healthy new shoots, also in a nice fresh green.

I am always glad to see the first of the hardy geraniums pushing their way through. This one has a charming dark blob in the middle of each leaf. I think it will be the one that has a small dark red (almost purple) flower early in the season.

Also forcing its way through, and I guess because the Grimes winter has tended to be warmish, a big poppy is bursting into life. If we get snow or heavy frost in the next few weeks, its progress will be slammed. Great for now…..

To finish this week, POW!! Here’s is my favourite Hellebore once again. Now at her peak, with wonderful purple flowers, yellow stamens, and lots of buds to come. This plant is loving the wet.

Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. I do read them all, but the particular way I’m using WordPress (via a private server), I have yet to find a way to actually publish them on the blog. Join in with our #SixOnSaturday thoughts and images. 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

January, the month with 5 Saturdays, it really does feel like it has gone on forever this year. And the month and been excessively wet, windy and grey. I’m done with it! But I did manage to to pull myself out into the gloomy dreach this week to find 6 colourful things for this week’s #SixOnSaturday. Here they are.

My favourite tree of the season, witch hazel has been slow to bloom this year, but finally here are the magical little yellow streamers with their honey-sweet scent.

Tree heather has been glowing away with lime-green foliage for weeks, and finally is producing its tiny little flowers. Not a shrub I would have bought, this one came from my Mom, who won’t remember that now, but she’d love it if she could travel here.

Also a gift from Mom, I’ve only just learned the name of this one. I think it is loropetalum chinense. The deep red of the foliage is great in winter, and what one often fails to spot are the rather interesting little buds. Almost like tiny glass beads. Gorgeous.

We really are leaving January now, yippee…..here are the crocuses.

Yet the magnolia stellata does not seem very far on from how it looked a few weeks ago. Ah well, the furry buds are a joy to view.

Last for this week, another splash of colour comes from another wallflower, I really do like these plants. They battle on through horrible conditions to give us flowers that bring hope for the colourful flowering season ahead.

There we go, the LAST January #SixOnSaturday for 2026. I’m hanging in there, hope you are too. Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. Join in with our #SixOnSaturday thoughts and images. 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 4th Saturday in January, but not the last! This month really does drag on. We’re out of the cold snap now, and back into full blown easterly rain storms…..seems endless. I resorted to a quick flip round the garden in the rain, and a breather in the greenhouse. This week I therefore bring you a fairly quickly gathered #SixOnSaturday

I was please to see some veggies surviving the winter….so far. There are one or two broccoli plants leafing up again. Not sure if they will offer flower shoots, but the greens will work in a soup or stir fry.

And in a different section of my veg beds, chard is still going. Though the leaves seem to have become a home to an array of tiny slugs. Hence the holes!

In the greenhouse, I have not been able to resist the urge to start planting seeds. Once germinated in the house, I’m putting asian-veg seedlings into the greenhouse. They will probably end-up being a greenhouse spring veg crop. These are pak-choi. very heartening to see new life coming on, even on a rain-soaked January day.

My faithful lemon tree is also wintering in the greenhouse. It looks like another fruit is almost ready. There’s nothing quite like a cheeky weekend gin and tonic, with home grown lemon slice.

Any finally, and certainly more seasonally, my favourite hellebore is just coming into flower. You really have to get down low to appreciate the lovely colour and shiny opening flowers.

Last, snowdrops are coming. Here are the first few. I’d better get out into the grime this weekend and clear flower beds where there might be other snowdrops coming through.

There we go, another January #SixOnSaturday. I’m hanging in there, hope you are too. Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. Join in with our #SixOnSaturday thoughts and images. 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

Mid-January, and already it is really noticeable, on a non-cloudy day, that the nights are drawing out. It wasn’t fully dark until 4.30pm yesterday: wonderful! yet it is cold. On Friday we had freezing fog for much of the day. Although a bit miserable, it brings out some beautiful garden detail, that I’m going to share with you this week for #SixOnSaturday.

Buds and stem look great with a little winter frosting. For example, here is a recently pruned rose stem.

Magnolia stellata have a long way to go before flowering, but holds the frost nicely in the mean time.

Garden objects can also be enhanced by frost. The markings on the surface of the 18th Century sundial that sits in my garden are really brought out by the frost. We think this is a ‘wedding sundial’, celebrating the wedding of ‘J & W’ in the year 1785!

Even the lawn looks interesting on a frosty morning. Don’t judge us, yes there is MUCH more moss than grass in our lawn, a hazard of the local conditions. It makes for a springy surface in summer.

Seed heads look great too. I have a few heads of fennel seeds left standing. These should be harvested for use in the kitchen, I’d better get to that before they fall off the plant.

Last, but very much not least, the seed head of phlomis looks great. The first picks out the tiny detail in such a beautiful way.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s #SixOnSaturday. These dark days are cold, but the light is coming back, as it always does.
Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. Join in with our #SixOnSaturday thoughts and images. 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

Storm Goretti swept through the UK at the end of this week. We were well north of it, getting just a sprinkling of snow, and a fair bit of ice. 1 DegC daytime high temperatures, much warmer than down in the middle of England! It has been hard to motivate myself to get out there and looks for signs of life in the garden. Thank goodness for evergreen shrubs. These, and a few other things, will make up this week’s #SixOnSaturday.

This is a lovely time of year to enjoy the tiny flowers of viburnum. A few grow on stems long enough to bring into the house for vase, and we then enjoy a heavy sweet scent.

Left over from last year, in a bed still waiting to be cleared, last year’s teasel seed are always worth a closer look.

I wonder — it does look like some of this chard might make it through the freeze, and later onto the dinner table. For now, it’s a bright green patch reminding me of a vegetable season to come.

Another of those shrubs that I wonder why I grow in summer. Now I remember, it’s to keep me going in the depth of winter. This one is so bright, I’m not certain that I love it. Skimmia Japonica, in all it’s pinkness!

If it wasn’t so cold, I’d be pruning apple trees as the buds are now starting to form. Hoping for a slightly more relaxed season in 2026 (this year we STILL have cookers left, keeping cool in a tub in a corner of the garden).

And finally, this is a winter shrub I know I love. Those tiny little flowers falling in soft orange layers, pieris is coming into its best time of year.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s #SixOnSaturday. These dark days before the garden stirs, it can be hard to keep going. Spring WILL come, this dark cold time will pass.
Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. Join in with our #SixOnSaturday thoughts and images. 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

Happy New Year. 2026 already? I remember the millennium almost like it was yesterday, how fast the days and years pass. Thinking back to 2025, there were not too many gardening triumphs, it was a year of recuperation and just about managing the garden. I hope this year there will be a bit more action. Things are happening, despite the winter chill that has finally arrived. Here is my first #SixonSaturday of 2026.

First up, I waved the old year goodbye while viewing a wonderful Hogmanay sunset through the skeletal apple trees at the west end of my garden.

This New Year has finally brought some winter weather. Looks like we’l have daytime high’s hovering around 0-3 degC for at least a week or so. The garden needs it, we can do with some pests around here being frozen (not least the deer ticks in the local woods). It also brings some wonderful sunshine and intriguing garden textures. The pattern of ice frozen onto the pond is an excellent example.

I wonder if the wallflower buds will make it through the cold snap? I hope so. This one is looking good, it gets morning sun, fingers crossed. This is a great variety, with oddly multicoloured buds — they tend to open into streaked yellow-red or orange flowers.

What keeps going all year and just hangs around in a pot waiting all winter? Sempervivum of course. Lovely colour and texture, this should sit through winter outdoors.

Just blooming for the New Year, sarcococcus. Deep green leaves and tiny white flowers with an almost pungent lily-like scent. This shrub lurks in the shadiest spot in the garden all year, then bursts forth while other plants are resting.

And finally, another January favourite, hellebore are starting. These first ones need to be looked for. The lime green flowers are beautiful, but they don’t catch the eye in the garden unless one looks for them. Lovely form and colour.

I’m looking forward to lots of lovely colour, texture, weather, scent, and, initially, clearing the garden, in 2026. And stopping to look and enjoy sometimes. I hope you are too.

Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. Join in with our #SixOnSaturday thoughts and images. 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