Euphorbia – Notes From My Garden

Five Favourites | February 2026

Published on February 20, 2026February 20, 2026 by Catherine10 Comments

I’m joining Cathy from Words & Herbs with her monthly Five Favourites!

While the garden has been fighting against our very cold, wet and windy winter, I’ve been busy with other things. I thought the garden might be ready to make its entrance on the regular meme I take part in – “Six on Saturday” hosted by Jim at Garden Ruminations. But the garden isn’t ready and at the moment I’m not quite ready either.

I’ve realised that I’m going to struggle to find 6 worthy subjects each week, and together with the others tasks I’m currently committed to, I thought that maybe I could better fit in with Cathy’s Five Favourites. Perhaps as spring and summer progress I’ll be able to participate in both.

Snowdrops. First up, plain and simple, are the snowdrops. Little clumps here and there, not yet spreading themselves around. But that should come in time. I hope.

Through the winter months garden has been dark, twiggy and moody. It’s still raining, but we’re now getting a few days sunshine here and there – and it’s prompting a few plants back onto the stage.

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Final Autumn Photos?

Published on October 18, 2025October 17, 2025 by Catherine28 Comments

It’s very odd that a week without a glimmer of sunshine didn’t bother me at all. There has been heavy cloud cover all week, but it has also been very calm, and although temperatures are dropping, it’s been pleasant outdoors. Midweek I finally managed to fit in time for a walk in the park where I gathered autumn leaves for some photos. Needless to say, the photos haven’t been taken, and spring bulbs are still in their boxes in the garage. It seems life has kept me busy once again.

All that aside, the weather was perfect to capture a few photos, so here’s the pick for Six on Saturday.

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Weird and Wonderful

Published on April 6, 2024April 5, 2024 by Catherine28 Comments

This week marked the end of most of the narcissi. Tête à Tête performed as reliably as it always does, but overall the narcissi have been a disappointment as flowering has been sporadic. Tête ‘Bouclé’ (that was so successful last year) offered flowers every so often but never enough to appreciate them as a whole. Tete ‘De Luxe’ behaved in the same way. Thalia produced very few stems (more below) and other unknown varieties were a bit sparse. I’m looking for reasons.

Our weather continues to be dismal with no end in sight, although I’m happy to report that Easter Monday was a great gardening day – I made the most of the sunshine and I had a ball! Thursday was dry, and bitterly cold in the morning but warm jackets and cosy accessories kept that east wind at bay. A little bit of gardening was tackled, a few photographs were taken and below you can see some of the plants that caught my eye this week.

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New Year’s Day

Published on January 6, 2024January 27, 2024 by Catherine29 Comments

Six on Saturday

New Year’s Day found me in the greenhouse potting on Erysimums, or wallflowers as otherwise known, that I bought last October as ‘jumbo’ seedlings. They’ve been sitting outside in 10cm pots since then, but by December, their roots were poking through the bottoms. I still hadn’t found a spot for them in the garden, so repotting them was at the top of my to-do list for the new year.

There are four plants each of ‘Fire King, ‘Ruby Gem’ and ‘Vulcan’. It didn’t take too long and I was pleased with my New Year’s Day achievement. With plenty of added drainage in the pots, they were shifted back outside before they got too comfy in the dry greenhouse.

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April – Sunshine, Windchill and Flowers

Published on April 15, 2023May 6, 2023 by Catherine22 Comments

I’m sure everyone up and down the country has been wondering what happened to the weather, after the lovely sunny & pleasant temperatures we enjoyed last weekend! Where I am we’ve had a marvellous amount of sunshine this week, which has been brilliant, but it’s also been combined with spells of heavy rain and bitterly cold, strong winds.

Those winds were strong enough to break a climbing rose, ‘A Shropshire Lad’, free of the obelisk it was growing on. I found it lying on top of other plants, but remarkably, without any apparent damage. With the help of husband, I managed (with a few scratches) to get it back up and tied in again. It seems none the worse for wear, but time will tell.

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