Tag: Fuchsia

What Are You Doing, Gran?

Published on by Catherine15 Comments

‘I’m trying to take a photo of this little flower, but it’s hanging its head down.’
‘Does this help, Gran?’ he said, slipping his little hand under the flower and turning it upwards.
‘That’s perfect, thank you.’
‘What’s it called, Gran?’
‘It’s a Hellebore and it’s meant to flower in winter’.
‘But it’s summer, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, it is.’
‘It’s all mixed up, Gran’.
‘Yes, dear, so am I.’

Hellebore Harvington Yellow

‘Can we take a photo of this one? It’s hanging its head down too.’
‘That’s a lovely idea, thank you.’

Fuchsia (variety unknown)

There’s no Six on Saturday from me today. There wasn’t a single day where I was able to take the camera into the garden. I could tell you of each day; the wind, the rain, and the days when I had to be elsewhere, but it won’t make any difference. No photos this week.

Instead, I thought you might like to see these two flowers and the sweet memory that goes along with them. The little hand belongs to our youngest grandson, now 6 years old, and full of wisdom. The shots were taken a few weeks ago, so you can judge just how early that pretty hellebore is. The plant has four flowers on it now. How strange.

I won’t be joining you next week, as one of our grandsons is coming to visit from the US. Now seventeen, this will be his second independent journey across the pond to see us. I hope he manages to navigate Dublin Airport, I don’t think he’s been through that one, even with his older brother & parents.

Have a lovely weekend!

Catherine x

Colourful July

Published on by Catherine25 Comments

I’m back again for Six on Saturday now that my visiting family have returned home. The house is quiet except for the whirring of the washing machine as it deals with the mountain of towels and the heaps of bedding outside each bedroom door. I’m doing my best to ignore it all, because the garden is calling me back.

The garden is heavy with colour right now, but individual plants, and in particular, the roses, are damaged by the heavy downpours of the previous week. I haven’t had the time to get round everything with pruners to tidy them up, but before my family returned home, my daughter and my 14 yr old grandson son spent an afternoon in the garden deadheading the roses. Alas, more heavy rain has thundered down since then and now I’m having to repeat the process by myself.

Here’s my selection of six photographs for Six on Saturday.

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Autumn Sun

Published on by Catherine25 Comments

Autumn has arrived for those who mark their gardening season by the meteorological calendar. Despite the appearance of autumn in my garden since the end of July, I’m loving the sunshine and warmth that have unexpectedly arrived in my little corner of the planet. After all my complaints about the awful summer, I’m making the most of these five days of gloriously warm sunshine (24C/75F today!), appreciating the change and leaving my cosy scarves and gloves firmly in the drawer.

It’s Six on Saturday today and here we have six garden subjects that I’ve selected from the garden’s dwindling supply of plants.

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Late Summer Gardening: What’s Growing in Week Two of August

Published on by Catherine20 Comments

I opened the blinds early one morning this week and looked down on the garden. ‘Autumn has definitely arrived’, I thought, before remembering that it was only the 5th of August. The garden still has plenty of flowers, but that morning the garden looked defeated as the rain hammered down and the wind howled. I kind of felt a bit like that myself.

The explanation from the experts is that Scotland has either been under, or on the cold side of the jet stream that has stubbornly refused to move out of the way to allow warm air to flow up from the south. I think most of us here have accepted that all hope of a real summer has vanished. My mind is now starting to turn to late winter and spring flowering bulbs and plants. There’s always something else to cheer up home gardeners, isn’t there.

Here is my contribution to this week’s Six on Saturday.

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What a Difference a Week Makes

Published on by Catherine35 Comments

Seven days on and the garden is blooming. It felt like a long wait, but finally, several of the roses and other plants decided it was time to greet 2024. Since last Saturday and until mid-week we were enjoying a calmer period of weather that was a few degrees higher than it has been for many weeks. Our last warm spell was in May so this was welcome, but typically, it didn’t last. I photographed on Wednesday because one glance at the forecast told me it would be the last calm day and strong winds, plus rain, would make photography impossible on Thursday and beyond. So here it is, my selection of photos for this weekend’s Six on Saturday.

Six on Saturday

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