Six on Saturday- photos from my garden

/ karen

My grandfather Ted Foulds’ Sankey terracotta pots being put to good use on the potting shed window. Snowdrops from Hodsock Priory open day sales. Trees in the wild garden, reflected in the glass.

Iris Katherine’s Gold, a new sport of Katherine Hodgkin, thrives in my tiny terracotta pots in 50 /50 grit and compost for good drainage. Arriving home from work, I open the greenhouse door and all the iris flowers unfurl and pop open. A heart-lift moment in the middle of winter. Reminds me of a dragon fly, metamorphosing.

Citrus in the greenhouse. Each day I watch them ripen. I mull over my favourite recipes. Orange shortbread fingers. Lemons drizzle cake. Citrus marmalade. Pancakes. Lemon tea. What will it be? Scent from the flowers is another joy. Flowers open 12 months of the year.

In the potting shed, I wind some silver birch twigs into a circle. Winter flowering honeysuckle. Pale and beautiful. Lonicera fragrantisimma. A perfect partner for wispy wild clematis, old man’s beard. As always there’s ivy full of green berries. Simple beauty. And silver coins or honesty. Translucent in the February sunshine.

Perhaps a few snowdrops will match the icy chill in the garden today. It’s cold enough for snow.

Enjoy your weekend, and keep warm! I’m trying to weather the winter – any way I can. The garden is certainly helping. Though signs of spring are more than welcome.

I’m taking part in the Six on Saturday meme. Why not go over and join in. Here’s the link : https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2019/02/02/six-on-saturday-02-02-2019/

40 thoughts on “Six on Saturday- photos from my garden”

  1. Pingback: Lemon Crunch Triangles – family Favourite recipes | Bramble Garden

  7. Karen the photos are magnificent. The Snowdrops of Hodsock Priory in your Grandfather’s terracotta pots are really beautiful with lots of love and beautiful memories; on the window sill. The Iris Katherine’s Gold I love it. The Greenhouse is a wonder with the citrus fruits and their flowers and your mind thinking about which cake they can turn into. And it is very well organized and full of beautiful plants and bulbs about to bloom, I love it. What a magnificent crown in the Shed, it is very very beautiful and it must have a wonderful perfume with the Lonicera fragantisimma, I love it. As I love the rest of the plants and seeds that you have used: wild clematis, old man’s beard, ivy and silver coins. Fabulous! Thank you very much for the walk through your beautiful garden, that in the last photo there is a snowdrop? Thank you very much for the link, I’ve seen it and I liked it a lot. I would like to join, but I have nothing to teach! Karen is cold: keep warm and keep warm. For your Mother, your family and you love, health, strength and memories. Karen rests. Take care. Very loving greetings from Margarita.

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    • Thank you Margarita. As always, your commentary is delightful. I’m glad you enjoyed a walk through my garden. Yes it’s a double snowdrop in the photo. Isn’t it beautiful. I’m trying to keep warm. Love, health and strength in return. Much love from karen xx

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  8. It’s all so perfect! I love the wreath and snowdrops especially, but the citrus looks very happy in your care as well. I wonder how hard it would be to grow a tiny citrus indoors under lights? Hmmmm 🙂

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    • I bet you could do it. I’m just about to try out lots of different lights as a trial. I’ll report back. They only cost between £10 and £40. Some just sit on a kitchen table like an ordinary lamp. I’ve got lights on top of my propagator which extend the daylight hours and are great for seedlings and salads. Thanks for your kind comments. The wreath is very quick and simple to make. Thanks again for reading.

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  11. Citrus in a greenhouse. That just seems wrong. Yet, you have more of a selection than I do. That sweet orange looks as happy as it would out in the garden. What do you do with the fruit of the ‘Chinotto’ sour orange on the left? I grew ‘Bouquet de Fleur’ in the garden because it is so pretty and fragrant, but the bitter fruit was nasty! There is no way to get the bitter out of it. It was no good for marmalade. I sliced some of the fruit very thin and dried it for tea, sort of like ‘Bergamot’, but it was not even very good for that. I grew ‘Chinotto’ at the farm, but never tried to work with the fruit. ‘Seville’ was what English people wanted for marmalade.

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    • Hi Tony, I use the peel in cakes and flapjack and rich bread recipes like panettone. Just a few finely grated pieces give a lovely citrusy flavour. The sour orange is used for its zest, and the pulp is added to all the other citrus to make marmalade. I admit, it can’t be used on its own, but mixed together, I seem to get away with it. The lemons are just the same as the ones you can buy in the shops, so juice and zest is used for lemon drizzle cake and in tea. I haven’t tried drying it for tea, but will have a go. Thanks for the suggestion. I’m hoping to buy a dehydrator machine when I’ve saved up some money for one, and decided which one is best. Best wishes . Karen

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      • Oh, I do not know if lemon gets dried. I just dried the bitter orange because I did not know what else to do with it, and I hated to waste it. Lemons are always available, so I only use them fresh.

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    • Thank you Noelle. I’ve added more snowdrops today in little test tubes, hidden amongst the ivy, and topped with moss. I’m determined not to use florists foam, but these are just as pretty I think. I just have to top the water up each day. I quite enjoy messing about with it, adding a bit more here and there. Thanks again .Karen

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  19. What a gorgeously positive post. Here am I, moaning about hot weather, and there you are, finding lovely photos that barely have a sniff of winter about them. That first one is especially beautiful. I loved seeing them, Karen.

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    • Thank you so much. I’m sorry to hear about the heat where you are. We had 30C for weeks on end last summer and I thought we’d all expire! I hear it is even warmer for you over there. Hoping my photos send a cool breeze, and some relief, vicariously at least. Much love. Karen x

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