Six after snow and sleet!
After the most amazing week of snow (yes, snow!!!!)…
…and rain, and with a much needed return from the city to our big garden late yesterday, I haven’t had the time or the stronger footwear to brave the soggy lawns (no paths) and see what has emerged or succumbed in the three weeks since we’ve been here. So my six this week are mostly city Matchbox pics and there are more than six pics but I’m so overcome with the weather extremes that I hope Mr.P can forgive the lapse.
For inspiration, this week, I’ve been listening to Monty Don’s Down to Earth audiobook in the car. He has such a beautiful voice and manner, and his information is always rock solid – I love how he tells it like it is and that he takes no prisoners.
One item of information I gleaned from him was the need for seating here and there in one’s garden, and with that in mind, we retrieved two old wooden seats from storage…
…and are now looking for a likely place for them in the big garden. I already have a seat under the silver birch, seats on the very sunny glassed-in and roofed patio and two wooden sun-lounges on wheels (currently in hibernation in the shed) which are moved wherever in the summer. Thus my inclination is to put the newly retrieved seats up in the orchard somewhere, maybe under the adolescents almond trees s or the old apricot tree. We’ll see.
But to the city Matchbox for the rest of my six:
It’s all hellebores, beginning with Slate Grey which I find almost translucent. I love it.
The …rest are versions of blacks/magenta which are the foils between the various double, triple and single whites.
This last pic is of the hellebore border. Bearing in mind that the little Matchbox is a garden that has to survive untended for often weeks at a time, it’s very simple, with runs of the same species. The hellebores have proven themselves so reliable over the last 5 years and I do love the various cultivars.
That’s it from me, but as always, hop off to Mr.P for a tour of the best that the world’s amateur gardeners can offer, along with lots of handy advice.
Cheers till next time.
Love the big garden in the snow. The show of helibores are fabulous. Very pretty indeed x
I’ve discovered that aggie leaves go a bit slimy in frost and snow but bounce back with vigour and that the hellebores in the big garden have been frost/snow-bitten on the leaves. The auriculas have thrived!!!! Probably because they were bred at a nursery above the snowline of Hobart’s Mt.Wellington
One of my favorite things about hellebore pics is viewing their owners’ hands! Lovely. And your snow frosts everything in a delightful way. Yes, Monty’s voice and manner is a balm. I’m a fan!
Hallo, March Picker, yes, Monty Don is my hero. Have you read his Nigel and Other Dogs book? I had it on audio in the car and would often have tears in my eyes. The more so when I knew that beloved Nigel had actually passed away a couple of weeks before I began the novel. His voice is like honey. I have his French and Italian Gardens on DVD and am quite happy at the end of a fraught day, to have them on the screen, just for his voice alone.
It’s funny with hellebores, isn’t it? We either have to contort to get the camera beneath the hanging flowerhead or inevitably use said hands.
Your helibores are stunning, and so unusual. Interesting to see snow while we have an unusually hot spell
It’s testament to a very good Australian breeding nursery, Granny. Snow here as I mentioned to Gill, is as rare as hen’s teeth, so we really enjoyed the one day that it fell to such low-lying areas.
Loving the snow picture, so beautiful! Lovely matchbox hellebores. Stay warm and well.
Thanks Gill. Snow to low-lying areas here in Tasmania is once every five years if we are lucky and we had such fun observing things we knew and loved in a wholly different (if freezing) environment. The hellebore leaves have hated the cold this winter – and have frost/snow burn. But the aggies? Hardy – almost impossible to extinguish them.
You’ve also got a stunning selection of hellebores. Love those really dark ones.
Hi Barbara. There’s a specialist breeder here in Australia and every summer, when their catalogue arrives, I purchase ones that fit the garden theme and which I like. In my case, all whites, blacks, deep magentas and greys.
What a pleasure to see a photo of snow when Europe is hit by a heatwave for several days. It was 40 ° 2 days ago and it’s cooler now near the coast where I am. Beautiful hellebores too!
Ah, summer and swimming is rocketing towards us, Fred, and I can’t wait! I love the beach.
snow! it’s fairly unusual where we are, but we usually get one or two snowy days a year, rarely more than a light covering, very occasionally inconveniently deep (twice that i remember).
Rare as hens’ teeth here, Jonathan. Which is why we are like pigs in mud when it happens. Joy unbounded and it is so pretty. But one or two days every five+ years is more than enough. PS: Sorry about the birthday mix up. I took the wrong message from granny’s post. Happy birthday to Mre. P instead.
What do I love? Firstly, hrllebores. They are very rewarding plants for very little labour. I also love the fence behind. And of course, I couldn’t go without liking snow. Last decent covering we had here was 2010. Occasional light white a few times since.
Pádraig, hellebores – especially the rarer ones, have always been a favourite with me. The fence we have surrounding the little townhouse is called brushwood and is made of South Australian teatree and one has to order in the panels. It suits the tiny garden really well and I wish we were multi-millionaires and could afford to fence the big garden in the country with it. Snow? Oh, I LOVE it and as I said to Jon, rare as… We did so enjoy that day.