Good morning and welcome to this weeks SOS.
It has been positively mild this week although there has been a chilly wind at times. The days are getting longer and the sun is getting higher. I have managed to spend a few hours in the garden this week and have been tidying up and making plans for later in the year (mostly plant moves).
I have bought one of them small plastic greenhouses from Wilkinson’s. I know they are far from ideal and one of the major flaw as is that they usually blow over or away but it only cost £16 and I am sure a few well placed bricks and tent pegs will keep it stable enough.
Here is my SOS
1. Aeonium Leucoblepharum
Well it seems I have a little bit over confident when it has come to my Aeoniums last year and lost a couple to the cold and damp. One of the highlights has been this Aeonium Leucoblepharum. A native of Yemen and Ethiopia the leaves have turned a wonderful orange, brown and red colour and the centres are green and healthy. This one was overwintered in my cold frame so it looks like I will have to look for a larger cold frame or a small compact greenhouse or “Aeononium House”.
2. Echerveria Gilva
I bought this plant off of E Bay for £8.00 and to say I am delighted with it is an understatement. The colours are wonderfully effervescent and change every time you look at this plant. Now to keep it alive and try and get as many babies as possible.
3. New Sedums x 2
I have added 2 New Sedums to my collection. Bottom left is Sediforne Kent Belle is a new Sedum to me. It is said to be half hardy so I will keep this in mind. Top right is Sedum Spurium Purpurea Winter although having read up on it it might actually be Spurium Purperum which I already have. I have studied both plants and they do look different. Sedums can be very confusing and the boundaries between different varieties can be cloudy and vague. The other 2 plants in this planter are Sedum Acre Aureum and Sedum Sexangulare.
4. New Seeds…
New seeds to sow this weekend…..exciting!
5. Saxifraga Gregor Mendel
The buds are starting to open on my Saxifraga Gregor Mendel. A lovely pale yellow this is a favourite of mine. I have managed to lose a couple of Saxifragas last year. I think I had but them in to much a rich soil. I will no doubt be buying a couple of more to replace these and will put them in a more grittier soil.
6. Messy Garden
I like to keep an open untidy garden this time of the year to give the birds some straw and twigs to build there nests. As we you know some birds can be valuable for pest control. I am not being lazy. Honest!
That is my SOS for this week.
Looks like this weekend we are going to have great temperatures for February. Bring on the Gardening.j
As always to find out how six on Saturday works please follow the following link The Propagator. The don of Six on Saturday.
Sedums, Dahlias and Hayfever 
That second sedum, in particular, is stunning! I have the saxiphrage London Pride but I keep losing it under that perennial geranium. Have you any room for hollyhocks, salvias etc. amongst all the sedums?
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Yes I will have room. Most of my Sedums are in troughs and out of the way parts of the garden. My main borders are mostly Sedum free.
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An aeonium house now there’s an idea. I’m with you on the messy garden.
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Love that Echeveria. I used to grow lots of those Kabschia saxifrages when I lived up north. They’re hard to keep going in the soggy south west, shame, they’re beautiful.
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Thanks Jim. Yes it is a beauty. I love a spring flowering Saxifrage. Warms the cockles
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Fancy aoniums there. Enjoy your seed sowing, I like a bit of seed sowing, me.
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Yup pity I was a little cock sure and lost some Aeoniums. You learn by your mistakes as they say.
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You’re right about that Echeveria – truly stunning and there are some babies there already. A good ebay purchase that!
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It is certainly is a good purchase. Delighted with it.
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I’m with the others, admiring E. Gilva. Stunning colour. It’s not messy, just naturalistic
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Thanks
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Your eBay purchase is lovely. I really like the pale yellow saxifrage, very pretty. Good 6!
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Thanks very much.
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I never have any luck with saxifraga – they simply disappear. That Echerveria Gilva is a looker.
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The echeveria and the saxifrage are the 2 tops of your Six, Paul. Lovely plants and bargains.
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Thanks Fred.
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The Echeveria Gilva was a great buy! I love the vibrant colour. Your sedum collection is also coming along.
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I’m not a grower of many sedum, but yours are very good looking. I did start some eryngium two years ago. It was the flop of all my seedlings that year, with just a few germinating and they grew sooooo sloooowly. I finally gave up and last year purchased bare root ones that produced wonderfully. I’ll watch your seedlings with interest!
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Echeveria gilva looks pretty rad. That happens to be one that I have seen, but I really do not know how common it is. The nursery where I saw it sometimes has rare oddities, and sometimes, they do not know they are rare. They have a few aeoniums too, but those are the common ones I think.
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