It’s All Going Swimmingly – A Look Back at the Week in the Garden.

Waterford, south-east Ireland, 19th December 2020

There are times of the year when the gardener has to search for the beauty in the garden. As it says in the song:

You’ve got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don’t mess with Mister In-Between You’ve got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Have faith or pandemonium
Liable to walk upon the scene

I associate it with Bing Crosby though he wasn’t the first to record the song, written by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Johnny Mercer and nominated for the “Academy Award for Best Original Song” in 1945 as it was used in the film Here Come the Waves. (These snippets gleaned from Wikipedia and no credit to my memory!)

It was challenging to accentuate the positive this past week as any outing to the garden meant sploshing about in water and leaving muddy footprints on the grass. My only active gardening was lifting some leeks to make a pot of Leek and Potato Soup – and it was delicious, served with home-made bread rolls. An outing in midweek, to take some photographs, had me donning full raingear, yellow oilskin jacket, wellington boots and pull-up waterproof trousers. It was all to catch the snowdrops which had opened on the one mild day of the week and it was worth it!

So, let’s start with this week’s photographic review of the garden. This first group is what I call “Things I didn’t expect to see at this time of the year”, little odds and ends performing a little out of season, not at the best time of the year for them but good to see, for anything that brings even an occasional bright spot to the garden is most welcome. As might be expected, there is a not-unexpected sprinkle of primulas but, along with a few others, it is surprising to find a Brugmansia sanguinea still producing flowers outdoors in December and a kniphofia flower in good condition – though I have another kniphofia, a green-flowered cultivar, which flowers at Christmas each year and has about twenty flowers coming along nicely at the moment.

Click on the first photograph to begin a slideshow and view the photographs in a larger format:

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  Primula juliae

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  Primula vulgaris

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  Primula vulgaris

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  Tanacetum parthenium fl. pl.

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  Leucanthemum ‘Hazel’s Dream’

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  Penstemon

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  Kniphofia

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  Brugmansia sanguinea

We are fortunate here that frosts are generally uncommon and mild with us but some plants do require winter protection, among them Mary’s succulents. I must admit that I do little with these during the year except give Mary some help with lifting the heavier pots into the glasshouse for the winter and out again when weather permits. The glasshouse are unheated and we throw some horticultural material, Mypex, over the plants if a cold night is forecast. We have paraffin heaters but rarely use them – not at all last winter – being happy to simply keep the plants frost free.

Click on the first photograph to begin a slideshow and view the photographs in a larger format:

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When plant and colour interest in the garden is scarce we notice things which might not catch our eye at busier times of the year. I’m not sufficiently well-informed to identify the various growths we find on our garden trees but I do find the both interesting and beautiful. Here is a selection of mosses and lichens.

Click on the first photograph to begin a slideshow and view the photographs in a larger format:

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Obviously, pots are used to hold plants but they have value in their own right also, purely as garden ornaments, points of interest and focal points. I am more inclined to choose plants which continue to give some interest or structure all year round while Mary is more attuned to ringing in the changes of the seasons and it is she who plans and plants up the pots of spring bulbs and the likes – my contribution being to help with moving them about.

Click on the first photograph to begin a slideshow and view the photographs in a larger format:

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The first of the witch-hazels has come into flower. They are always a very welcome sight here, as any shrub which flowers in mid-winter would be. We bought this as Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Pallida’, a shrub with very pale yellow flowers, but this is not ‘Pallida’ and more likely simply, Hamamelis x intermedia. Nonetheless, it is an attractive shrub and has flowered faithfully for over 25 years so it would be churlish to complain too much; better to enjoy what we have.

Click on the first photograph to begin a slideshow and view the photographs in a larger format:

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Finally, the snowdrops! A mild day during the week allowed the flowers to open and show themselves off well. We’ve had lots and lots of rain and some milder days and these conditions have brought more and more snowdrops into growth. Most are only snouts peeping above the ground at the moment but they promise a good display in due course. In the meantime, here are some of the earlier forms in the open garden – a big gallery of images as these are a favourite plant of mine:

Click on the first photograph to begin a slideshow and view the photographs in a larger format:

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  Galanthus ‘Barnes’

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  Galanthus ‘Barnes’

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  Galanthus ‘Castlegar’

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  Galanthus ‘Castlegar’

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  Galanthus ‘Colossus’

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  Galanthus elwesii

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  Galanthus ‘Faringdon Double’

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  Galanthus ‘Faringdon Double’

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  Galanthus ‘Faringdon Double’

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  Galanthus ‘Mrs. Macnamara’

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  Galanthus ‘Mrs. Macnamara’

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  Galanthus ‘Three Ships’

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  Galanthus ‘Three Ships’

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  Galanthus ‘Three Ships’

I’m sharing this blog with a group of fellow bloggers who contribute to a “Six on Saturday” theme which is hosted by “The Propagator” on his blog site. To read more contributions to the Six on Saturday theme go to The Propagator’s entry for today, scroll down to the comments and you will find other bloggers have posted links to their Saturday entries there. Lots to read!

This is the last of the Six-on Saturday posts before Christmas so I’ll take the opportunity to wish all contributors and readers a Very Happy Christmas. I hope you all keep well and remain safe and healthy. Best wishes, Paddy