violets

A walk around my garden 2nd January 2019

/ karen / 24 Comments

Cyclamen Coum. A cheering sight in a quiet corner of the wild garden. Perhaps I’ve missed my chance to clear away fallen cow parsley stems. They will just have to compost down naturally with the autumn leaves- which also didn’t get raked up last year. Time just evaporated.

I found hibernating ladybirds. They are welcome here. I hope they’ll munch the greenfly in the summer. I left them undisturbed.

And early snowdrops. Mrs Macnamara, bought from a sale at Hodsock Priory a few years ago. There seems to be an early flowering seedling too. I wonder if it’s a new variety.

Hellebores seem to get earlier every year. A sign of our changing unpredictable seasons.

Algerian Iris unguicularis suddenly flowers. Baked at the base of a south facing wall, it’s always a heart-sing moment. Such delicate blue flowers. How can they survive the cold.

Vinca, periwinkle is rarely out of flower. I love the sky blue hue – against a grey sky.

By the front gate, and all along our hawthorn hedge, there’s violets. Such a joy on a cold day. The scent is something you’ll never forget.

Thanks to Helen for hosting #EOMV meme at https://patientgardener.wordpress.com/. What’s flowering in your garden at the start of the new year?

In a Vase on Monday 

/ karen / 37 Comments

Regular readers will know that I grow flowers for my mother in law Joan. She’s 88 now and not able to visit as often as she would like. A posy of flowers  gives Joan a flavour of what’s growing in my garden each week. As well as flowers, I take twiggy sticks with green buds, hazel “lambs tails,” and fluffy grey willow. A taste of spring. 


This week there’s plenty of scented Paper White Narcissi- planted in the poly tunnel at Christmas. The blue and white hyacinths were planted last October and grown on in the cool dark potting shed in containers. Blue statice was grown in the veg garden last summer and hung upside down to dry in the potting shed eaves. It was the first time I’d grown statice. Choosing just the right moment to pick the flowers took a bit of practice. Some I left too late and were too far open. Others, picked on a wet day, sadly faded. 


I’m also picking this white bergenia at the moment. It makes beautiful  mini posies all on its own and lasts for a week in water. This variety is called Bergenia Jelle. 

Thanks to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for hosting this meme. Why not go over and see what  other people from all over the world are growing in their gardens right now. It’s fascinating to see the variety of plants and flowers and the different ways they are used.