Six on Saturday – 10/2/2018

Cornwall is bordered by sea on three sides and all the while that the wind is coming from it, enjoys some protection from extremes of cold and heat. Earlier this week it was coming overland, from east north-east, and it was pretty chilly. Not much was happening in the garden before it turned cold, even less is now. Indoors I sowed a few seeds; broad beans and onions. Today it’s not quite so cold but it’s drizzling.

One.
Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Elizabeth’. This was at this jaunty angle when we got back last week. It still is because I’m not sure what to do with it. I have a feeling it’s always going to be unstable so maybe I should cut my losses and get rid of it now. Alternatively I cut it back to reduce wind resistance, straighten it up and stake it; see what happens, then get rid of it in a couple of years time.

Two.
Hakonechloa clean-up. I’ve ventured out a few times to do be a bit of tidying up. It’s not pleasant, I’m glad I have a choice. Most of my Hakonechloas have collapsed, probably helped by the cats jumping on them. I don’t see any new growth yet, but it won’t be long coming. I’ve left the varieties that still look OK.

Three.
Fuchsia colensoi. Or is it F. perscandens? Or do I have one of each? There may have been a time when I knew. F. colensoi is a hybrid between F. perscandens and F. excorticata and I imagine there are several clones around, varying in how close to one or other parent they are. They are very much in the interesting but not showy bracket, flowering in winter with small, dingy coloured blooms, often coming straight out of quite old branches.

Four.
Double Hellebore. I always think my hellebores should do better than they do. None I’ve ever had have really thrived to produce  a big clump. I planted two doubles last year; this one is back up and flowering, the other has a few new leaves and no flowers. I have a lot of nondescript single seedlings around the garden, perhaps they’re harbouring too much disease for the good ones to get going.

Five.
New shoots. February is a month which starts as winter and ends as spring. Things that are starting to shoot now and seem frustratingly slow, will be well under way by the month’s end. Or so I keep telling myself. Those new shoots represent the promise of things to come. Or so I keep telling myself. New shoots are a worry too; will they get frosted? Will the slugs have them?
I’m reminded that I must divide the Dactylorhiza sometime very soon. And I have another Impatiens clone to plant out. And if Spotty Dotty is up, where is Kaleidescope? (Voice in head: ‘Relax, this is gardening, a leisure activity; you’re supposed to enjoy it’)

Dactylorhiza grandis ‘Blackthorn Hybrid’

Lamprocapnos spectabilis ‘Valentine’

Podophyllum ‘Spotty Dotty’

Impatiens omeiana

Six.
Tulips. A friend of mine who has a town house with no garden, packs loads of bulbs into pots each year. They then get turfed out to make way for summer bedding. Last year I picked them all out and took them home, to sort through and plant up in the autumn. She plants loads of different stuff to get a riot of colour over a long period, so I have no idea what’s in the mix or what will flower. That’s the pot in the middle. One is almost out already. The other pots were planted with one variety in each, my more orderly approach to things.

It’s going to warm up next week. Next week there will be flowers. Today, I’m relying on fellow sixers to strike a note of optimism, linked as ever from The Propagator’s own meme-meister’s post. A day of virtual garden visiting beckons, courtesy of the wonderful world of the blog.