SOS – 1/6/19
The first day of winter!
This year is absolutely flying and still we haven’t had meaningful rain. The domestic water catchment is right down and the village’s streets and public areas are dusty and sad.
We’ve been away for 10 days and our big garden and the coastal surrounds look terrible. Worse is that the garden and lawns are covered in a fallen leaf mulch. The mulch would be good if I could get the soil deeply wet first of all. But it’s not to be. We do what we can though – hand water and blood and bone fertiliser.
So what’s happening in the garden. Mostly stuff in pots, and because this is my first real year propagating in the little cold frame and in growing more than tulips in tubs, I’m unsure if what’s growing should be this advanced at this time of year (winter) or whether the continued mild to warm days through autumn have created their own force.
The Saffron crocus are well up.
My first ever effort at growing Anemones (white ones – mentioned in previous SoS’s). I suspect I might have to plant them out into the garden or bigger tubs. Should they be this advanced on the first day of winter?
In the cold frame, the white sweetpeas are well-grown and ready to plant out around the wire of the veggie garden.
Salvia cutting is going gangbusters in the cold frame.
Little Euphorbia Diamond Frost is growing really well in the cold frame.
My garlic has taken off (it’s called Tassie Red) but the bed needs weeding and mulching with some lucerne hay.
And finally, the perennial border that separates the orchard from the rest of the garden. The black fence is largely a windbreak for the garden. I love the big grey blot of Senecio Cineraria. I actually cut away the flowers in summer as yellow has no place in my garden, but the silver foliage? That’s a whole other thing. I love the way the drops of moisture pool in the leaf lobes.
If you want to see beautiful northern hemisphere gardens filled with colour, form and excitement, go to The Propagator and spend a lovely hour flipping through the pages. Better than any other garden mag!
1st day of winter for you and here with 28 ° C it is almost summer already with these abnormal temperatures. Your senecio is a stunner! I love it !
Hi Fred, Oh I envy you the 28! I’d be swimming immediately if that was the case here! Meanwhile, I’m off to Mr.P to spend the evening in everyone’s gardens. 🙂
I think your winter may be a little warmer than ours…!
Barbara, we had 10’s and 11’s early in the week, but today it’s been pristine blue, no wind and 16. Back to 11’s early next week. I don’t mind cold and blue but hate wind and rain. But we need rain so badly.
It’s a mind-bender reading about your winter and I don’t know how advanced some of those things should be. When I lived in London I found a similar thing. The urban heat island evened out the temperature extremes and things often sprouted earlier than I expected. I guess you just roll with it. Do you get frosts there ever?
Yes, Katharine, bad winter frosts before climate change but mellowing a little now. It’s why the Euphorbia Diamond Frosts are in the cold frame. They at least are protected. I notice that one can now by zip-up frost guards at the nurseries. That’s a new one!
The senecio looks fabulous with the black background, and I’m with you on the flowers, I cut them off too. Love that euphorbia, it is truly a little diamond!
I’m glad I’m not the only one who does things like that in the garden, Gill. Yes, that euphorbia is a true little gem and I love that its managing to survive my ignorance!
“…Yellow has no place in my garden”. A woman who knows what she likes! I object to certain shades of yellow. Forsythia yellow in particular..
Oooh yes, Forsythia yellow is pretty harsh. Daffodil yellow (but not hoop petticoats – love those), yellow rhodos, yellow roses… Red too. But then perversely, I quite like a vibrant splash of orange, especially with shocking pink and mauve. Just not in my garden. 😉
Just love that border in front of the black fence. Looks perfect. I haven’t a clue what anemones should be doing in the southern hemisphere, but I do know mine didn’t do well in pots. Yours look really happy!
Lora thank you re the black fence. It’s a lovely foil in sporing for the acid green of new growth.
I’ll have to transplant the anemones. I gather they need quite a bit of space between plants, so I’ll let them grow on a bit and then do the deed. It’s all trial by error for me as I learn. 🙂