White violets
Violet violets
Lilac violets
No blues
And to quote Derek Jarman … “Poor violet, violated for a rhyme ” 😂
With just a little bit of sun, the generous white goblets of ‘Jeanne d’Arc’ crocuses open and are often loaded with bees. This one has attracted both a buff-tailed bumblebee and solitary mining bee.
But not for long!
Iris unguicularis is often completely lost in a sea of strappy leaves. However, the gardeners here have shortened many of the leaves in advance, allowing the pretty blue flowers to shine (or sparkle with rain drops)
14/02/2026
Muntjac deer wandering down the driveway looking for snacks: Fatsia, roses, ferns, dogwood bark, tulip/geranium/heuchera leaves etc. Quite often he brings a friend! 😦
The garden has recently been hammered by rain, eaten by muntjac and, quite frankly, is a bit of a mouldy, soggy, muddy mess.
However, things are beginning to wake up outside and it is Valentine’s Day, so let’s enjoy some flowers … and take a look around for a Six on Saturday post. SOS is hosted, through fair weather and foul, by Jim Stephens over @gardenruminations. He has such interesting and beautiful plants to share, so do check it out.
Here are my six:
1 Perfect Fluff
Pink pussy willow, Salix gracilistyla ‘Mount Aso’, which struggled to get established in the dry summer last year, is now looking delightful (if you look at it from the right angle 😉 )!
Salix ‘Mount Aso’
2 Petticoats on show
Narcissus bulbocodium ‘Arctic Bells’ are my absolute favourite daffodils. They’ve been out since the beginning of the month are looking so pretty, edging the borders in-between the snowdrops. Their lovely colour is now being amplified by early primroses.
Narcissus ‘Arctic bells’
3 Blueberry Plant
Blueberry plant from the local supermarket
Tesco had cheap, bare-rooted fruit trees in last week. I picked up a blueberry ‘Patriot’ for £2.50. It is supposed to be self-fertile. Then, after potting it up, I decided to play safe and buy a different one to make sure of fruit … but they were all gone. We will have to see how it goes.
4 The Eryngiums are off!
I’ve resisted cutting down seed heads over the winter, so that the birds and insects have food and shelter, but with the bulbs emerging I am gradually doing a tidy-up. When I got to the eryngiums in the rose bed, I discovered that they are way ahead of me in terms of sowing and growing. I won’t be short of them that’s for sure!
Eryngiums are germinating in situ
5 Hellebores
The majority of the hellebore plants in our garden are self-seeds that I move out of the driveway and gravel paths every year to grow on in safer places around the garden. I hesitate to guess how many are spread around the garden, but it is probably upwards of 30-40. Here are some that are currently looking adorable. (The really dark ones are still to come).
Hellebore hybrids
6 Witch Hazel
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena’ is still looking zingy and beautiful at the back of the border down our driveway. Luckily the deer haven’t grazed it and it seems to have flowered for a long time this year. In fact, I noticed this this was also true of the specimens on the Winter Walk at Anglesey Abbey last week. Normally, on our annual pilgrimage to their snowdrop display, they are over.
Witch Hazel ‘Jelena’
Anyhow, I must get on with sowing my chilli seeds, as I recently read somewhere that this is a tradition for Valentine’s Day? Plus, the sun is currently shining, so I will make the most of an opportunity to get stuff done outside.
Meanwhile, I leave you with another picture of my current bugbear:
While I was staring at the butchered pollarded limes near the entrance to the Winter Walk at Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire, I was suddenly struck by how like a horde of rampaging muppets they looked. Later, when I decided to play with a photo I’d taken, I was amazed at how many red, manic-looking muppets there actually are! 🤣 Though maybe I missed an opening for turning that yellow salix at the front there into Big Bird?
Original photo of pollarded limes in case you were curious
Oh my! I dithered so much about how to prepare the Chayote that it started into growth!!!! Challenge accepted 😉
17/01/2026
Can we truly be half way through January already?? My head says no, but in spite of illnesses and bouts of grim weather, the garden is definitely showing signs of waking up and moving on. I’ve been pruning apple trees on the good days this last week and that is such a relaxing, meditative task: Cut, cut, step back and judge, then in to shorten the next branch and back out to check the shape again. Slowly, things start to look less congested, with open centres and cleaner lines. It’s such a nice feeling.
Meanwhile, I’ve taken delivery of two or three different seed deliveries and one box from Gardening Express containing some very-end-of-sale bulbs (quickly planted up) and a bare rooted Aronia melanocarpa (Chokeberry) bush. Yes, with any luck, I am going to be trialling a new fruit this year!
So, let’s start this Six-on-Saturday post, kindly and efficiently hosted by Jim @gardenruminations, with a look at the fresh seeds I will be sowing pretty soon. Yay!
1 New seeds for 2026
Fresh vegetable and flower seed for the 2026 season
Amongst my regular choices I am trying some fun new varieties, including a cute tomato called Heartbreakers Vita (heart-shaped of course – see top left of photo), some interesting looking Asparagus peas (recommended by Fred I think) and a vegetable called Celtuce. Celtuce is a vegetable I was introduced to as ‘Chinese asparagus’ (at a London restaurant on my birthday last year). As it grows it has an appearance like a bolting lettuce, with a thick, long, central stem. This is actually the bit you want.
Here’s a photo of it (central green dish), sliced and prepared for our meal:
Chinese asparagus, which I finally tracked down as the vegetable Celtuce, Lactuca sativa var. augustana, also known as stem lettuce
It was so tasty!!
Have you tried any of these or are you trying any other new vegetables or flowers this year?
2 Globe Artichoke
Globe artichoke picked in January!!!!
This baby globe artichoke was a big surprise! I found it, sitting undamaged by the vagaries of East Anglian weather, when I went for a wander around the vegetable plot last week. I guess that the mild intervals between the storms and snowfall have been really warm!
3 Snowdrops
Snowdrops are erupting from the ground every day
I have some snowdrops out now … and more are appearing every day. They make your heart sing! I’ve not noticed any visiting bees on them yet, but they are ready and waiting.
4 Hellebores
The hellebore hybrids are getting started too …
Hellebores are opening
Suddenly there are small patches of colour appearing in the borders. Hellebores are great for providing that, even in late winter. Their flowers are generous and look so luxurious with all those fluttering stamens. I’ve started to cut back their leaves to remove damaged/diseased material and reveal the pretty flowers.
5 Pink Rosemary
Pink rosemary, Salvia rosmarinus Roseus, is an pretty addition to the herb portfolio
I love this pink rosemary. It doesn’t seem to flower here as prolifically as the steely blue forms, but the pink flowers catch the light more and shine out.
6 Hazel Catkins
Hazel catkins are extending and jiggling in the wind to shake their pollen into the tiny magenta female flowers.
The hazel catkins are extending and loosening up to jiggle about in the breeze and now I am starting to see tiny magenta female flowers on the hazel bushes emerging to brave the elements. You can just see them here, on the l.h.s. of photo, tucked in close to the stem.
Are you seeing any signs of your garden rebooting for the new year yet?
Don’t forget to check Jim’s blog for more gardening updates. You can click the link HERE for the latest SOS post.
Have a marvellous weekend!
The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch runs from 23-25 January 2026.
Are you stocked up on nuts/seeds and ready to count birds????
Last year’s crab apples in a pint glass as tributes to the new season/crop
Today is Twelfth Night, the traditional day to wassail around your orchard: drinking cider, bringing offerings and making merry music in the hope of waking up the fruit trees and securing a bountiful next harvest. There’s also a noise making element (banging on pans etc) that you can embrace to help keep evil spirits at bay, if you are so inclined 😉 .
Today also saw our first snowfall of the winter. Nothing much here in Cambridgeshire, luckily, on the big return to work day, but enough to make everything look pretty. It follows on from several days of clear blue skies and sub-zero temperatures (-6 deg C at night), so the powdery snow has fallen on pretty solid ground/ice. Indeed, our pond has nearly frozen over except by the ‘cascade’.
So I thought that I would cover all these bases with a best-foot-forward post for a vase to join Cathy@ramblinginthegarden’s first In a Vase on Monday of 2026.
There is also winter honeysuckle, winter jasmine, unfurling hazel catkins and some green dogwood twigs in the glass
Plus, the last flowering rose in the garden and some rosehips, Christmas tree offcuts and Miscanthus spike as seasonal accompaniments
To your good health and brilliant harvests for the coming year!
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