I had two incentives to get out in the garden today. Finding six gardening delights and collecting the greenery for decorating the house. I had a window of dryness this morning in what has otherwise been a very wet few days so armed with secateurs and the trusty phone camera out I went. The lawn is squelching and the borders are sodden. I hope the tulips can cope.
One
A wheelbarrow of wet ivy that has to dry out in a couple of hours so that I can start creating the annual stair banister decoration. This is a combination of fake berries, ivy, lights and what ever else comes to hand. Collecting the ivy involved pushing in around the blackcurrant canes which released their wonderful scent. That made my morning!
Two
In a dark corner at the back of the garden I spotted that the ‘Pretty Ellen’ hellebores are in bud and looking full of promise.
Three
The background to these hellebores is a covering of euonymus fortunei ‘Emerald Gaiety’. These are supposed to have pink tinged leaves in the winter but I’ve yet to spot them. I’m not complaining though as the white tinged leaves were singing out from the gloom today.
Four
More signs of things to come as the viburnums are coming into bud. These are all very old shrubs, full of beetle holes but soldiering on nonetheless. I’ve been snipping away at them for three years now, removing the dead branches and cutting back the shrubs around them, and I think I detect signs of stronger new growth and more flower buds.
Five
The first primrose has been out a few weeks now and really deserves a mention for reminding me that the cycle continues come rain or shine.
Six
Winning a place this week for its longevity is this astrantia major, with new buds that are making into flower. Testament to the general mildness of the winter so far.
This will be my last SOS for a couple of weeks. I wish everyone a very peaceful and happy Christmas and I look forward to catching up with all the news in the New Year. Many thanks Mr P for hosting this meme, keeping all the links in order and generally being an all round good gardening friend! Did you have any idea of what you were creating?
Indeed these hellebores are full of promise … As for the foliage of this euonymus it’s very delicate and pretty compared to the two that I grow here, rather larger yellow leaves (unlabeled )
Happy Christmas to you and you family.
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Nicely written blog 😊
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Thank you. I stopped off at your blog – beautiful photos, something I must improve on. Welcome to SOS.
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Lovely edge to the euonymus. Enjoy your Christmas.
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And happy Christmas to you and your family too.
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A monster. He created a monster! Thank goodness the links are less now as I have an ever-growing list of plants I like/want/desire/need. They’ll never make it into my garden though as it is pretty much stuffed! Until I decide I don’t like some things and others die. All I want for Christmas is some dry weather!!
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Yes, dry weather would be lovely. I have been very poor about reading all the links lately but I am having fun catching up today.
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Wow. My Astrantias disappeared below ground weeks ago. Lovely Six.
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I keep finding them popping up all over the place. Which is why SOS is so good for me. I probably would n’t be out so much in the garden now!
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My viburnums were getting ready to bloom too. They were at about the same stage as yours were two weeks ago when you got these pictures. I only planted them as hedges because we needed to remove a bunch of them. (They got recycled.) They are not my favorite, but I am getting to like them for their practicality. Anyway, I am sorry I missed your post.
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