As Van Morrison said, ‘No guru, no method, no teacher, Just you and I and nature……………. in the garden’ (‘In the Garden’ from No Guru, No Method) . I love going out every morning before I head off for the day and seeing what’s new, especially at this time of year where new growth appears daily. This Hacquetia epipactis (originally bought from Beeches Nursery near Saffron Waldon in Essex) is a mad little mound of luminescent daisy-like yellowy-green flowers which is happiest in semi shade or full shade. Being a woodland plant it likes a moist spring and a drier summer. It certainly made my day!
Would look great with the pinks and blues of Pulmonaria officinalis (and I’ve just dug up a clump and planted them nearby)
or the strong deep pinks of these Cylamen coums.
My Clematis armandii is stunning with its mass of star-like flowers, although this year I’ll give it a bit of a prune when it’s finished flowering as its exuberant nature has it climbing up trees and spreading far beyond where I originally planned it to grow. Performs best on a sunny wall. Specialist Clematis growers, Thorncroft nurseries have 3 different varieties of Clematis armandii and an enormous range of the most beautiful Clematis for all seasons and aspects. Definitely worth a look.
The snowdrops are over, but the Hellebores are still looking gorgeous,
and I have noticed a clump of Nigella (self-seeded) seedlings which are happily growing despite the recent frost and colder nights. They’re obviously more hardy than I thought. Must dig these up and pot them on sometime soon.
I received a good list of ‘things to do in the 3rd week in January” from Andrew Babicz’s blog today too, including sowing sweet pea seeds and tomato seeds indoors, which I did about a week ago and happily all seeds have germinated (thanks Nicky’s seeds). Still time to order seeds and to start planting in the garden too! (blog to follow)
Out of my shed 