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Starting as I hope to continue.

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Its been a beautiful sunny day today, but rather chilly. A light ground frost set the scene and after feeding the birds I found the camera to see what was greeting the New Year. I will try to record the garden every week.

As you may know Cyclamen is one of my favourite genera and I have 3 different species in flower at present.

These are Cyclamen coum in pots on the pond wall. The first one has a lovely silvery leaf and the other a plain green leaf.

In the relatively warm kitchen there is the C. persicum doing well.

In the conservatory I have a group of 5 fragrant ones that are not fully hardy but I do get ones to go outside in the autumn. Cant remember the species name sadly. Any ideas any one?

There is a little colour in the garden too.
3 yellow plants:
Mahonia ‘Lionel Fortescue’ is a standard tree and I am starting to get the multi stemmed effect I am after. It will need pruning again once the birds have eaten the fruits. It smells of lily of the valley another favourite plant.

Down a shady side of the house is the winter flowering jasmine; always straggly but the flowers are such a clear yellow that I can forgive them their growth habit.

In the front garden there is a yellow Erysimum that has thrown flowers up off and on all year. It produces reliable seed too. Not suree which one it is though.

I noticed a couple of things starting to push themselves forward, promising pleasure in the spring.
First, one of several clumps of snowdrops, the second a pale pink flowered Bergina and thirdly Skimmia ‘Kew Green’.


When I looked at the Skimmia I noticed there was one cluster of flower buds that were pink, the rest being the usual creamy green. It will be interesting to see what the flowers are like. This is a male variety.

I didn’t take a photo of all the weeds that are also flourishing as I am hoping to get to grips with them soon.

Welcome to 2020 and lets hope it is a good one for us all.

More blog posts by seaburngirl

Previous post: Anemones of a different sort

Next post: First bit of gardening of 2020



Comments

 

I feel I should be surprised to see similar plant growth in your neck of the woods as that in mine Sbg, given the difference in latitude and the distance between Yorkshire and Buckinghamshire :-) To be fair, the only cyclamen I have in flower at the moment is on a windowsill, an old corm given as a Christmas present over 10 years ago, a mahonia is flourishing in a a neighbour's garden and the jasmine struggling for light below my neighbour' variegated holly tree. My snowdrops are making much the same progress as yours and the newly added crocus corms are looking promising too. However the bergenia are still thinking about budding, they are in a cold corner that barely sees any sunshine in the winter months but the primulas and violas are compensating with bright, eye-catching blooms. Here's hoping January is gentle to both our gardens ;-)

1 Jan, 2020

 

Its all looking good! The cyclamen are gorgeous. The closeup of the Mahonia really reminds you to appreciate it - been in flower for ages in a darkish corner here but its been too wet to even go and look at it close up. Bulbs are showing promise everywhere - if only it would stop raining...

2 Jan, 2020

 

It is interesting to see all your different Cyclamen species. C coum is a favourite of mine.
I think we must make the most of our winter flowering plants.

2 Jan, 2020

 

Another dry day today and I have been weeding the rockery [raised bed that we did quite a few years ago] Couch grass has managed to invade there but where from I have no idea.

I disturbed quite a few bulbs but they have been replanted and I took the opportunity to lift an Iris siberica 'Kaboom' and split it. I now have 2 good sized bits and half a dozen small pieces to grow on and sell in the early spring.

Sorry you are having rain Stera. I feel rather pleased with the drying garden but we are forecast it at the weekend.
Hopefully a bike ride on the BMW tomorrow, thermals at the ready.

2 Jan, 2020

 

Happy New Year to you. Love the bright colours in your garden on this the first day of 2020.

2 Jan, 2020

 

I'm a big cyclamen fan too, coum my favourite, every plant has different leaves. You have some good colour Seaburn. I've not been well over Christmas but today I felt ok to potter, I really enjoyed doing some tidying. I can't help thinking were due a cold snap though.

2 Jan, 2020

 

Happy New Year to you. Your cyclamens are beautiful . They really cheer us up.
Keep up the good work !
Marjorie

2 Jan, 2020

 

Sorry to hear you have not been well Dawn, nothing to serious I hope. But pleased you are feely much better.
Pottering is good no matter what. Yes a cold spell is well over due and to be honest I would welcome that as then the weeds would slow down too.
Happy new year to you and Marjorie.

Found a couple of corms in the rockery that have roots so not sure which cyclamen they are. I don't remember planting them.

2 Jan, 2020

 

Thanks Seaburn, just a cold but it’s on my chest, cough cough cough :-(
My cyclamen coum spread slightly each year :-)
Happy New Year!

2 Jan, 2020

 

Rachel is in Northern Norway, at Tromso, looking for the Northern lights. But their dog sledging was cancelled today because heavy rain had melted the snow! They are experiencing crazy climate change in the Arctic circle. Its alarming. I am starting to wonder if we will ever see snow again...it just keeps on raining here. Still...nowt we can do about it now. I have given up eating animal products, and thats about the best I can do. Don’t fly much. I suppose the next thing will be an electric car...but far too expensive at the moment. Sorry...rambling. Love those cyclamen!

2 Jan, 2020

 

Dawn...exactly the same here wheezing and coughing etc. Miserable.

2 Jan, 2020

 

It is worrying, but by growing plants especially trees we can do a tiny bit. I no longer buy any peat based compost as peat bogs are carbon sinks, holding onto to it and keeping it from the atmosphere. I also reuse plant pots until they are totally shot then they go to the tip .
I collect pots from members of the plant group I belong too.

I try to compost as much as I can and our County council is one of the best in the country for recycling. They do garden refuse every fortnight all year and its free so all the pernicious weeds go in there. They also take away any food waste that cant be home composted.

As a family we have reduced our meat consumption too and turned the heating down to 17c and wear our lovely jumpers and cardis that the kids rarely wore.

Both girls have followed my example of not buying fruit and veg in plastic. After all bananas/oranges etc have their own wrapping. It used to be difficult to find that but thankfully the supermarkets are getting behind less packaging now.

So you are not the only one Karen ranting a bit. haha

3 Jan, 2020

 

Gorgeous photos, I might have to get a pully on and see what our garden is hiding. I particularly like the Mahonia. Will look that one up!

Thank you for sharing!

3 Jan, 2020

 

Lovely blog, Eileen. Lovely colourful cyclamen varieties and the mahonia looks a beauty! We used to have jasmine but it was destroyed during some building work, sadly..

3 Jan, 2020

 

If I find any rooted pieces of the Jasmine would you like it Katie? I usually get some every year.

3 Jan, 2020

 

That would be lovely, thank you Eileen.

3 Jan, 2020

 

Oh Karen, you as well, it's unlike me to have a cold, well it's all on my chest. Get well soon.
Did you guys watch the horrifying David Attenborough programme about plastic in the sea, shocking and very sad.
We consider ourselves quite 'green'. I wish the council would recycle thin plastic, our black bin content is 90% of this type of plastic.

3 Jan, 2020

 

Lovely to see your plants in flower, SBG! :) I have a few Pansies in flower & some Violas as well as 100s of Marguerites (Argyranthemum frutescens)! I don't know if they are hardy but they have survived the last 3 years on the balcony - 2 years with some protection but this year with none!

I find that cuttings root with great ease & last year I planted up a dozen in 3 small troughs on the balcony railings & they have flowered all summer, autumn & now in the winter! As insurance I have a couple of plants on the kitchen windowsill.

6 Jan, 2020

 

yes they are semi hardy depending on the weather. some years I can get them to over winter but others the frost kills them.

I haven't grown them for a few years perhaps I will next/this summer.

6 Jan, 2020

 

Thanks, SBG I've just uploaded a couple of photos to my Photos page. :)

6 Jan, 2020

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