Many of us in the Northern hemisphere have had a snowy, cold interlude, thanks to a Siberian weather front, and whether or not you have enjoyed this probably depends on how many half-hardy plants you have in the garden! In my case, the wonderful bright light, blue skies and glimmer of frozen lakes has lifted my spirits. A change is as good as a rest, especially during these monotonous Covid days. As for the plants, well we’ll find out which have made it through soon enough. Onto Six on Saturday, the weekly garden round-up…
1 White, white, everywhere. Obligatory photos of the snow-clad garden taken earlier this week, before the sun came out and before snowball fights made a mess. I wonder if the chard in the veg patch will still be edible after the thaw. On the terrace, fleece has been deployed to help out the sage, and a Fatsia japonica, hardy to minus 10 degrees C. We got down to minus 11 one night, so it’s touch and go.
2 Crocus. Remember last week’s hopeful flowers? Well, they’re still here…tough plants.
3 Sedum with a bobble. Just for fun, and to show that sedum is a plant that looks good all year round.
4 Chilli seedlings. For those curious as to how my LED plant lights are working out, take a look at these straight chilli seedlings. I’ve had a great germination rate on the Thai Dragon (5/6), not bad on the Biquinho (4/6) and zero on my experiment using seeds from a shop-bought green pepper.
5 Dahlia splurge. A visit to the garden centre to get some seed compost and a packet of seeds resulted in the purchase of nine new Dahlia tubers, three each of Chat Noir, Bora Bora and Antibes. The tropics await me!
6 Robin. The ultimate cute winter bird. He was photographed on a walk in a nearby nature reserve, but as this is the best photo I’ve got of a robin so far, he deserves an inclusion here. Forgive me for breaking the rules.
That’s it for this week, let’s see what other gardeners have been up to around the globe on The Propagator’s site. Have a lovely weekend everyone.
Minus 11! Lowest here was minus 4.8 in the gh. I fear I will have lost the agastache but I am hoping the Salvia amistad that has been in the ground for about three years now will have toughened up a bit and will survive. The crocus is a great picture and robins are always forgiven.
Thanks, am glad the robin is forgiven! I am also hoping that my Salvias make it, but I fear minus 11 might have been too much – I did mulch with leaves and bracken, so we’ll see.
No, beautiful to look at but I certainly don’t want to see it here – well, for half an hour or so, long enough to take the few photographs but no longer!
To be honest I’m not sure I could cope with all the rain you get Paddy!
Me neither, at times! But, I prefer it to snow or gales!
We’ve escaped the white stuff in this part of Somerset. Great photo of the robin and the sedum and that looks like a lovely selection of dahlias.
Thanks, those dahlias are hard to imagine as real in these conditions! Somerset, lovely part of the country, I have family down there.
-10°, -11° it’s actually colder than here. (There is however only 250km of distance …)
Your seedlings of chillies seem well started! I just saw this morning that the first of my chilli Thai has just sprouted.
I guess we are 250km further east, closer to Siberia! Congrats on the Thai chilli germinating, that’s good news.
The LED lights do seem to be working very well. Those seedlings look nice and straight. I loved your snowy pictures.
Many thanks!
The birds were certainly appreciating scraps and seeds I put boiling water on their watering bowls.
It is thawing here by tomorrow thanks to God.
We had a very wet and chilly times it is just as well we are in lock down.
My house plants had a good maintenance today as the sun is shinning
Hope all have sun and light.
Thanks, sun shining: good for humans and plants alike!
Jon has a beautifully weathered Echniops today, and your snow-capped Sedum is equally spectacular.
I can’t wait to see those nine Dahlias in flower… but these lock down days remind me that I must.
Thanks Padraig, yes I liked Jon’s globe thistle too. We’ve got a while to go before we can enjoy the dahlias, but hopefully planting isn’t too far off…
Let us hope that all plants in your garden survived the cold well. Your dahlias look very nice, but still wait a while to plant them 😉
For me, no rule has been broken, I bet robins will also come into your garden.
Thanks Rudi! True, the robins visit us in the garden so just bending the rules slightly 😉
Love the robin photo! Last time I was in London with my girls, AK bought me a little key chain with a British robin on it. They are so much friendlier, sing prettier, and are more petite than our American robins. If that’s breaking the rules, they need to be changed!
Thanks Carolee. We were discussing the difference between American and British robins in my art class this week! I looked it up, and American robins are actually in the thrush family, and are only called robins because of their red breast. But when an American robin was sighted in London, it caused a big stir and attracted hoards of eager birdwatchers, who wondered if the bird had actually flown all the way across the Atlantic. Scarcity has its own value!
Oh you had proper snow! Lovely robin and nice to dream about those dahlias in summer.
Thanks Carrots. Yep, proper! Dahlias seem a long way away…
You know other bloggers are talking of American bird sightings in the wrong parts of the world than expected…..it’s as if they have been blown off course! Just like out country! Poor birds! I love your little robins! And, yes ours are huge!
Yes poor birds, they must be confused.
I haven’t seen my robin this week, maybe because I was only out in the garden for about an hour. I like the sedum photo. I have chilli seed envy, but I will try again this year.
Thanks Granny, still plenty of time to sow chillis – let me know if you’d like seeds.
Thank you that’s very kind, but I have some from last year, fingers crossed they will work. I will let you know.
Firstly, -11 degrees: brrr, that’s chilly.
Secondly, chillies: looking great. Mine are all a bit lopsided, growing on the windowsill!
Also, I love the sedum with the hat 🙂
Thanks, this is the first year my chillis haven’t been lopsided…reassuring 🙂
Love the hardy crocus peeping through the snow.
Out of all your lovely snowy photos, the one of the crocus peeping through the snow is the loveliest! I think it’s the stark contrast of the flower against the white. Next is the robin; they are such darling little birds! Great post.
Thank you! I adore robins. I drew one on my Christmas cards this year, am tempted to sketch this little one too.
Wow, that crocus is really tough! What a cheerful sight. 😃
They really are tough. The others have appeared now to join it 🙂