A late, happy new year to all you Sixers! I have managed to cobble a random selection together for your delectation this week. Don’t get your hopes up though.
- Hammamelis intermedia Jelena. Nuff said.
2. Obligatory snowdrop shot at this time of year. I am no galanthophile, but I am slowly expanding my range. This is S. Arnott, I believe, given to me by a client. Big fat buds, really putting the drop into Snowdrop at this stage.
3. I noticed this morning that it is the ground covering “thugs” which are in bloom right now. The two periwinkles (Vinca minor purpurea and Vinca oxyloba) flower sporadically throughout the year. Whereas the Symphytum is perhaps just up early because it is so mild. All of these are easy to overlook and take for granted, but will thrive where other plants curl up and die.
4. I had to occupy my daughter and her friend on Monday, so we went to the Cambridge Botanic Gardens. Wow! It is amazing there. The Winter Garden is particularly striking right now, with Rubus, Cornus and Salix looking great. However, it is the scent which is perhaps the best bit. There were so many spicy and sharp scents in the air that we didn’t know where to shove our hooters next. Then my phone died, so I couldn’t get any pics of the Alpine house which was outstanding. Have to go back again, I suppose.
5. The Enchanted Garden, an exhibition of garden related paintings at Walthamstow’s own William Morris Gallery until Jan 27th. It’s free, I am leisure rich at the moment, so it would have been rude not to go. Walthamstow is London’s first Borough of Culture this year (more on putting the horti into that in due course), so there has never been a better time to visit.They obviously have a Monet waterlilies, but it was these two that caught my eye. I love that bloke’s gardening attire! He has a spade like the fork I featured before Christmas. His hands are really meaty. I am now looking for tweed plus fours to garden in. What’s the most outlandish clothing you wear in the garden?
6. Behold, two new cold frames under construction. The Royal British Legion were supposed to pick up these wooden frames from the Remembrance Sunday event when they were used as a huge sandpit with crosses in. They didn’t. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I set about making cold frames for all those new seedlings in Spring. I had some perspex panels knocking about anyway. I have spent £5 so far on two sets of hinges. Quietly pleased with myself.
Tim Hewitt, Gardener 
That Hammamelis is beautiful. It reminds me of marmalade.
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Yes, just lovely. No scent, but you can’t have everything.
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Nice result these cold frames … you did a really good job!
And like Ali, your picture of Hammamelis is superb!
No extravagant outfit in the garden, useful and pleasant : but often a hat or a cap: the hair less, the cold or sunburns more
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Thanks, Fred. You are right on the clothes: practical first, stylish second, but if you can combine the two…?
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Brilliant cold frames – what a great find put to good use. A hat is currently my fave outlandish garden wear but in summer I look scruffy rather than stylish. The William Morris museum is on my to do list. My inherited vincas don’t seem to flower so I will admire yours – lovely colours.
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Thanks. I would certainly recommend the William Morris and Lloyd Park next to it. Have a look at St Mary’s graveyard too if you are in the area!
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Hammamelis are splendid! Snowdrops? I remember these from last year. I still do not get it. They really are obligatory. I still do without, but will eventually post pictures of my Leucojum aestivum. I know they don’t count, but they are what I got.
Vinca major is an invasive exotic here. It does not look like it would be a problem, until one tries to get rid of it. One of the red twig dogwoods, Cornus stolonifera, is native here, although the wild plants are not as colorful as garden varieties are, even if pollarded back annually.
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I did not respond to #5 because I will not even wear shorts into the garden.
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Come on, Tony, you are in CalifornIA, you must have some crazy clothes!
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Actually, I don’t; and I am a native! I wear 517 Levi’s and flannel, and leather boots that the animal rights activists dislike so.
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I guess you are wise to go with what you got. And you have got a lot of things I can’t grow. I am no fan of Vinca major, but I like minor.
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I do not dislike snowdrops. I just noticed that people got carried away with them last year. I am none too keen on fads. If I get some eventually, that would be fine. If not, that would be fine too.
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I’ve never made it to Cambridge Botanics, should probably rectify that. The Hamamelis in next door’s front garden doesn’t have a flower on it. Too much competition, plus last years summer. Be a shame to lose it, we get the benefit without having to provide the space.
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I definitely recommend a trip to Cambridge, but it is a long way for you. Neighbour’s plants are sometimes a great asset, aren’t they? My neighbour has a beautiful Arbutus, so I don’t have to grow one.
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Inspired by the Monty Don look I got some braces to hold my gardening trousers up a few years ago. A hat finishes off the look during the summer. Nothing as fancy as tweed plus fours though! I’ve not seen that deep purple vinca before. Very nice.
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That sounds like a good look to me! The vinca is very nice and easy. I recommend it.
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Nice job on the cold frames! I like the witch hazel. I used to have one but it was a bit rubbish so i dug it up. Maybe i need to get a better one. Would it grow ok in a biggish pot?
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Thanks. I think it might struggle in a pot. They like a bit of space, a slightly acid moisture retentive soil. Even then, they are slow growing. Think watering would be a pain in a pot.
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Duly noted, thanks.
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