Another year draws to an end, and new beginnings are afoot in the garden. I have to admit that I used up most of the pretty pictures for my post about the solstice earlier this week, so this is a less romantic post, but with a few Christmasy bits thrown in. It’s another gloomy old day, shrouded in fog, but indoors the decorations are quite cheery. So straight to it:
1 Lunaria annua. I showed you the seed casings of Honesty in the garden a few weeks back, and here they are with a make-over, sprayed in gold paint. In French the plant is known as ‘la monnaie-du-pape’, the Pope’s coins, and they do seem to fit that description! Hydrangea paniculata panicles also got the golden treatment – sorry it’s a bit dark but I didn’t want to use the flash.
2 Schlumbergera x buckleyi. The Christmas cactus is out at more or less the right time. It’s a good plant to drape over the edges of tables. The leaves are interesting, as they are actually modified stem sections rather than true leaves, and they produce adventitious roots from them, so it’s a very easy plant to propagate. This one is a cutting from a larger plant, that is a cutting of a cutting of a cutting of my mother-in-law’s mother’s plant!
3 Iris reticulata. Venturing briefly outside into the foggy gloom and unzipping the mini-greenhouse cover, what do we find inside? Bulbs emerging! I love growing Iris reticulata because it blooms in February, and is a signal to me that spring is on its way. This year, prompted by Six-on-Saturday posts last year from other Iris R. lovers, I’ve expanded my range and in addition to ‘Harmony’, am growing ‘Katharine’s Gold’ and ‘Frozen Planet’.
4 Primroses and crocus. I am trying not to walk on the ground outside too much, as it can get very compacted at this time of year, but I did take a quick look earlier and saw more bulbs emerging, this time crocus planted under the crab apple tree, and even a couple of primrose flowers, they have made a nice snack for something.
5 Wildlife corner. The glade is the wilder part of the garden, so it gets left to its own devices. Last year we had a delivery of logs, too many to store in the shed, so we created a little woodpile here for the creatures to overwinter in.
6 Wreath making. Let’s go back indoors now, it’s rather chilly out. Wreath making has become a favourite Christmas tradition of ours. Here’s proof that even a teenage boy can be roped in to help occasionally! We use whatever we can find in the garden, and add a few cones and decorations. The straw tower, vaguely bottle-shaped, was the packaging for some very old bottles of port!
And the final result:
That’s all for this week, the Propagator is hosting plenty more posts as usual. Thanks for another great year of Six on Saturday Mr Propagator! Next Saturday is Christmas day, so not sure if there will be time to post, perhaps just a quick one to wish you all a Merry Christmas.
Your Christmas ornaments are realy wonderful !
Our (white) Christmas cactus is also blooming now 🙂
Nice to have a white one! Have a great weekend Rudi.
Lovely wreath. I love it that your Christmas cactus comes with its own family tree 😀
Thanks 🙂
The Christmas wreath looks gorgeous. I’m definitely going to plant some honesty seeds so I can have gold sprayed coins for next Christmas. Spraying them gold was popular when I was a child, but I’ve not seen them for a long time.
It’s a plant with a lot to give, the flowers are lovely too!
Love the idea of honesty sprayed gold, I might give it a go next year, first got to get some honesty! I’m very impressed by your wreath, even more so with your helper. Have a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year x
It’s an easy plant to fit in around the garden, definitely worth it for the coins! Happy Christmas to you and yours too.
Your wreath looks fabulous, nice that it is all entirely natural and from your own garden. Have a wonderful festive season and see you back in the new year. Only three days until the shortest day! Yay!
Such beautiful natural decorations. Wonderful to have a skilled helper. The gold spray paint really highlights the hydrangea.
Congrats to your teen who really helped make this wonderful Christmas wreath. I also see the Christmas tree ornaments are already there. This is not the case here because my son has had a kitten for 3 months and she’s crazy and is already jumping on the tree …( I imagine when there will be the ornaments… )
Happy Christmas to you and your family !
Kittens and Christmas, a dangerous mix 😉 but lots of fun! Luckily our cat is now middle aged and a bit less curious 🙂
Lovely homemade decorations, especially th wreath. I also liked the mention of adventitious roots (I need to swat up on those!) Have a good Christmas.
Thanks, you too. Am learning lots from the course but stop me if I start blogging about cellular structures and plant tissues 😉
That is a very pretty wreath.
The wreath wins the prize!
Thanks Paddy!
Love your natural decorations. They are making me look around the house thinking that I should have created some too! It’s not too late I guess. I love that Christmas cactii are intrinsically so shareable. Also love that your iris collection has grown due to blogger influence. I admit that a number of my recent plant purchases have been chosen after reading Six posts! 😉
Blogger influence is definitely a factor, somehow making it hard to resist something you’ve admired on another’s blog. I remember very clearly being amazed at the variety of Iris r. out there and was determined to seek them out! The great thing about the natural decorations is all you need is a pair of secateurs, the gold spray paint is totally optional 😉
The wreath is a success. I love all the decorations you created with materials from the garden. Somehow I’ve never managed to get my hands on a Christmas cactus; yours appears to be thriving and the flowers are so cheerful. What a pedigree! I love plants with history.
Thanks. If you ever visit anyone who happens to have a Christmas cactus, it’s as simple as asking for a few pieces of stem and sticking them in some compost. Easy-peasy.
Love your wreath and ‘tower’ decoration Sel. You are inspiring me to make an effort to get something together this week too! 😃
Great, it’s a nice way to get in the Christmasy mood 🎄🙂
A lovely wreath, Sel. Homemade is definitely the way to go, so much fun to make. And help is always welcome. 😉
What exciting shoots you have! That wreath looks really good . I hope this gets through, Grannysgardenhimindoors spent an hour helping me trying to sort WordPress out! I did originally reply on Saturday but it didn’t get published.😬🤬 Have a lovely Christmas 🎄 and see you in 2022.
Thanks, received your comment so all working well now it seems. You too have a lovely Christmas!