Six on Saturday 23-12

Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas! It’s Christmas Eve Eve, and without further preamble, time for Six on Saturday. Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday – could be anything, a flower (you have flowers? lucky you!), a job to do, a success, wildlife, a pest, anything at all! Join in, do!

Here are my Six for this week.

1 – Clematis buds. At this time of year, I always feel like I’m marking time, waiting for things to kick off in a few months. Like an out of work actor, my garden is definitely “resting” during the winter, but there are a few signs of things to come. I have numerous clematis dotted about, most not yet well established. It’s always encouraging to see them get ready to rumble come spring.

2 – Primula japonica ‘millers crimson’. I grew these from seed this year. They are not looking their best. I hope this is merely them dying back like wot perennials do, rather than evidence of their demise.

3 – Pittosporum leaf. Not sure of the variety, this shrub is probably 10 years old, about 8 feet tall. It is one of just a few evergreen plants in the garden. I’ve never really noticed the red tinge to the leaf edges before. This leaf has a little puddle in it.

4 – Ivy. Strictly speaking this is a weed, as I don’t particularly want it where it is, but it doesn’t bother me enough to justify the effort of trying to dig it up.

5. Red cabbage. Sort of festive, a spring cabbage of some kind, I don’t recall the variety. I don’t think I’ve ever grown a good cabbage, they are rebellious vegetables.  I don’t think I shall bother in future. Still, the leaves are attractive enough, although that may simply be a measure of how few things are in leaf at the moment rather than a statement of inherent beauty.

6 – Seed drawers, the colourful piece de resistance for this week.  A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I had been discovering the limits of my woodworking skills, knocking up these wonky drawers. Child #4 and I have been enthusiastically covering its blushes by liberally cloaking the whole thing in what I believe is known in crafty circles as decoupage. The 1996 and 1997 back-issues of ‘The Garden’ plus a couple of seed catalogues were sacrificed for the cause. It certainly brightens up the shed.

Those are my Six for this pre-Christmas Saturday, what are yours?  Why not join in? Dead easy, just write your post, add a comment below with a link to yours, and maybe add a link back to this blog in your post.  If you’re contemplating it, you can find out more in the brief participants’ guide.

Don’t forget to check back in over the next day or two as more links get added.

I’ll be back next Saturday with another Six, the final one of 2017.