We’re into May, I’m trying to use up all of last year’s frozen fruit and veg in the kitchen as the new season approaches. While I do that, I’m noticing the edibles are really gearing up now, ready for this year’s fruiting and vegging season. This week’s theme reflects my excitement, mostly edibles, in whitish colours, for my #SixonSaturday. I’ll start with the exception that breaks the rule. The very LAST of the narcissi, I often wonder where my Pheasant Eye have disappeared to. Then their striking heads pop up in early May. One of my favourites.

It is very much apple blossom time now, especially the early fruiters. I have 8 trees in the garden, mostly very old, fruiting sequentially (a previous garden custodian really new their stuff). This huge tree fruits at the back end of August, with small red apples that are perhaps a bit too sweet for my taste. The tree looks fabulous this week.

As old as the house…probably….at about 210 years, the old pear tree (30cm diameter trunk) has been covered with blossom this year. Most of it has blown away now, to reveal a host of tiny fruit. Here’s a sample of some oldish blossom with new fruits revealed underneath.

A final blossom for this week has just arrived on a large Saskatoon Berry bush. Whenever I have tasted the dark purple-black berries in August they’ve been rather bitter. Perhaps not quite ready? Who knows, by the time I try again, they have usually become bird-food.

Down to the ground now. I started broad beans in pots in the greenhouse back in February. They got planted out in early April, and now are flowering away for an early bean harvest. The flowers have a complex white-with-purple-black-stripes pattern, worth some close inspection.

As a finale, down in the shady undergrowth it is very much wild garlic time. With some trepidation I introduced these to the garden from a local woodland some years ago. They are rather invasive, but they put up a good fight against the pesky ground-elder that continues to spread across the whole garden, and their flowers are gorgeous, so good luck to them (make a sparky, spicy addition to a spring salad too).

Have a lovely weekend and find time to enjoy the flowers and the edibles. There’s so much to do in the garden just now. That’s my #SixonSaturday for 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.

I went a bit mad with tulips this year. Partly due to a delivery failure from a well known bulb company. Two consecutive deliveries didn’t arrive, so they sent replacements, then 2 weeks later I got a couple of mystery deliveries! So for the last day of April (how did we get there so fast?) it’s got to be a tulip special. My favourite is red, so here’s a joyful pot of tulips illustrating why.

I’m not sure I’ve ever planted white, or pink-white tulips in the garden, but occasionally one pops up. This one has a gentle delicacy.

There are a few yellow tulips in the garden, again, they must be left overs from year’s go, because I tend not to choose them (plenty of yellow from the daffs). Some friends came rounds with these last week though. They DO look lovely in a vase and have lasted a whole week already.

Back to the bright colour now. Does anyone know what these twisted petal varieties are called. A pink specimen here illustrates how structurally fascinating tulips can be.

Some more twisted type, this time in red, with interesting variegated red-green leaves. Just a few of these in a pot work well together with their foliage.

To finish off, I’ve gone for a much darker pot of pink blooms for my current favourite. These pink-wine coloured tulips are new this year. I splurged and put a full dozen in one pot. They will be amongst my last to flower, last but certainly not least.

Have a lovely weekend and find time to enjoy the flowers and the edibles. Some of my own veg will be featuring soon. That’s my #SixonSaturday for 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.

After a long weekend away meeting family on England’s Yorkshire Coast, I got home to discover spring had properly sprung with a blast of blossom. As high winds are starting, it had therefore better be time for a #SixonSaturday blossom special.

A biggy to start. I don’t know how many year’s it’s been in place, but at a foot diameter and at least 12m tall, this beautiful magnolia has graced the edge of the veg plot for many years. Looks perfect against a blue sky.

Something much smaller next. Azeleas look a bit green and boring, filling space in the side garden for most of the year. Right now, though, they glow white all evening and are a joy to come home to.

A more diminutive magnolia now, at just 1.5m tall, and very slow growing: the great thing about this stellata is that the flowers last for weeks.

A very old pear tree grows up the south side of the house, quite possibly the same age (200 years+). Some year’s it does little, this year the branches are filled to bursting with blossom, and my neighbour’s bees are busy having their fill of its sweet nectar.

I love the way that the white amelanchiar blossom contrasts with the almost bronze leaves, delightful and delicate.

This week is my favourite week of the whole year, because of this. A Japanese Cherry spreads its wide branches and fills the air with gentle scent and blossom. It’s a week (or sometimes two) that’s always worth waiting for.

Have a lovely weekend and find time to enjoy the flowers and the strong spring growth. That’s my #SixonSaturday for 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.

Some settled weather has settled in for Easter after a cold spell. I’m excited to have had enough choice this week to go for my first colour theme of the year. Here’s a pink one. Happy Easter.

One of the most exciting blooms in the garden this week is the first camellia of the year. This one is from a huge old shrub that sits mostly in the shape. It takes a while to bloom, the flowers last for a while once here.

I suspect this will be the very last outing for the hellebore. They have had a magnificent year, I’m going to miss them.

I’ve even managed pink (or admittedly, more like purple) as some early veg. These pak choi might go into the garden, although pigeons appear to have a taste for them this year.

There have to be tulips for Easter. I don’t often choose pink, seems I did this year. These make a lovely display on the front door step.

Still going strong, magnolia stellata provide a bright, slightly spikey spring interest. The shrub grows so slowly, but year by year we get a few more flowers every spring.

Last, but very much not least, my first rhododendron of the year has just opened. Not a native species, but they lover eastern Scotland, and we love them.

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the bank holiday if you are lucky enough to have one. That’s my #SixonSaturday for 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.

This was the spring week when the warm sunshine turned back to a northerly wind and a wee bit of snow. Spring has decided to slow itself down again, nice in some ways. To celebrate the pace, this week’s #SixonSaturday represents the ‘almost there’ that is everywhere in the garden this week.

First, some lovely tulips. These might be some sort of dwarf variety, the flowers are coming, but these are just a few cm high. I love the bright pink colour.

Things are beginning to hot up in the veg garden, well in the cold frame at least. I have trays of mizuna and pak choi ready to go out into the garden. Question is, will the soil be warm enough for anything to grow away? Will they be eaten by beasties? Time will tell.

Whilst on the edibles, rhubarb is starting. I love the texture of the first leaves, their wrinkles before they stretch into growth. Lots of lovely crumbles in mind….

Now for some spring blossom, a Japanese quince has a host of buds, the bright red flowers are almost in bloom now.

One of my favourite blossoms of the year is on the old pear tree. 40cm across, spreading 4m across the south facing stone wall of the house, I’ve always thought it must be as old as the house (>200 years). Perhaps one of the oldest pear’s in the county. Here she goes…

Last, but not least, I’ll repeat the tulip theme, we really are coming into tulip season. I’m not usually one for pastel shades, but looks at least beauties. Delicate joy.

That’s my #SixonSaturday for 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.

It’s early April, so peak daffodil season in my garden. I’m working away this weekend, so my #SixonSaturday is brief, but beautiful. I don’t know the names of all these narcissi varieties, but I love them all. Here they are.

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

Last week I managed a sneaky trip to the English Lakes, and took in the spring joy of the Wordsworth Daffodil Garden, in the village where he lived (though a little busier these days). So here are some sights from that weekend where my Six only appeared on twitter (@julie3dharris).

This week, I’ve been enjoying the unusually settled weather and occasional warm sunshine. A wonderful way to bring on the blossom, so much so that it is now becoming tough to choose which flowers and buds to show off as my #SixonSaturday. It’s become so salient that my spring garden is dominated by yellow and blue, so to keep world events in mind (again), I’ve gone for mostly yellow and blue scenes this week.

First, yellow hazel catkins picked out against the bright blue sky, almost the end of their season, but still glowing.

My garden is always filled with daffodils of all varieties, here are a couple. First, your ‘basic’ as I think of them, big fat trumpets and a solid look.

Now for something much more delicate, a frilly pale lemon centre and almost cream surrounding petals.

Muscari are well into full flower now, and smelling sweet in the warm spring sunshine.

This has been an unusually good year for hellebore. the season started slowly yet there have been more flowers, on stronger, longer, stems. Here elegantly bobbing above a sea of scilla.

Finally, daffs also look fabulous with other flowers, here providing a lovely blue-yellow contrast with pulmonaria.

That’s my #SixonSaturday for 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.

Thank goodness spring is coming. It’s where I’m getting my hope from right now, there seems little else in the world that’s going well. Let’s focus on the flowers, starting with what’s becoming a grim tradition of blue and yellow. First up is an early spring favourite, just out, and not quite fragrant are a few grape hyacinth.

The second fragrant flower of the week is mahonia. I’m never sure about mahonia, a bulky shrub with wide spiky leaves and alarming yellow flesh. In March it smells divine and draws dozens of my neighbour’s honey bees (not evident here on a chilly grey morning).

Another shrub fills the border in an inoffensive way all summer, looking, well, green. At this time of year pieris hosts a mass of tiny white bells on red stalks. Very pretty.

And now down to the ground for early spring joy. Most of last year’s wallflowers got leggy and horrible, but not all. This stunner reminds us that summer will come.

I’ll finish with hellebores that are perfect right now, and seem to be particularly floriferous this year. I love the delicate veins on an almost white flower.

The dark colour of my favourite hellebore is rich and sumptuous, this morning it came with a bonus bumble bee, the first I’ve seen this year.

That’s my #SixonSaturday for 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.

The first Saturday in meteorological spring, the second Saturday of a horrific war in Europe. It seems frivolous to look at and think about the garden. But I did, and it brought some joy. Hope it brings you some too. It’s all about flowers.

First, the yellows of late winter witch hazel, early spring primula and the very first spring daffodil.

Now the late winter blue of iris, and the spring colours of scilla and periwinkle.

That’s my #SixonSaturday for 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.

In a week when the world has gone mad, again, I really need to garden to give me some balance. This week’s #SixonSaturday represents the hope I have for the near future, at least for the gardening season.

First up are crocus. Despite hiding under 3 inches of snow on Thursday, and weathering 3 named storms in the last week, they are now fully flowering again, smiling in the sunshine. And I noticed I grow them in blue and yellow, so here they are first to remind us all to send thoughts to our friends in Ukraine, suffering a Dystopian nightmare….could be any of us.

In the veg patch, Welsh onions have survived the winter, started to grow, and will soon be used as a spring-onion alternative.

With food on my mind, I’ve wandered into the greenhouse for the next couple of pics. I have planted seeds early, and thus have a nice tub of fresh looking pak choi, soon to prick out.

A second type of pak choi, with a hint of red, are already nestling in their own pots and romping away. Should be stir frying in under a month.

Back to the garden now, with hazel catkins in full flower, the tiny red female flowers have finally started (top right).

Will this be the last of the snowdrops as we stretch towards the end of February? They still look fantastic.

That’s my #SixonSaturday for 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.