Six on Saturday – 12/12/2020

Well it’s been a chilly week – we’ve had some very heavy rain, and a fair bit of a fog too. Most of the time has been spent tidying the gardens, and trying to get cuttings onto compost heaps before they turn into a soggy yellow mush – but theres been plenty to admire too.

1. Iris foetidissima – the stinking iris, and apparently also the roast beef plant. It’s a tolerated weed in many of my gardens, and I happened to be working near this one, when the more I look at it the more interesting the colours were. The bright orange berries are obviously striking, but the blackened pink of the seed pod was very strange! Skin like?

2. Dahlia lifting – these are from my own garden where we have very heavy clay. Trying to rinse off the claggy soil on a near freezing day was not one of the highlights of my horticultural year. Nor was losing two of the labels (silly boy!).

3. Misty Mahonia – came in to one of the gardens on a foggy morning to find the Mahonia looking beautiful against the background. The yellow and green really lit up a murky morning.

Same plant later in the week. The flowers are just starting to fall off.

4. Bramble in Pyracantha – I included this pic because it was just so bloody painful. A good hour of removing rampant brambles made me wish from some really thick leather gloves.

5. The steaming leaf pile – the photo doesn’t really capture the steam here, which is a shame because I was mightly pleased on a cold morning to see it. This pile is this year’s leaves that have been mowed up – they’re making good progress already.

6. First mince pie of the season! Well done to these particular clients – they win the annual race. A little late this year I think, but then with COVID etc I’m not complaining. Nice to feel festive.