Hello and welcome to this weeks SOS.

There seems to be a more positive vibe in the country at the moment with Boris relaxing some restrictions but I can’t help thinking that there is one or 2 bumps and tests to come. One positive relaxation of the rules was of course garden centres are open again. I have not been yet as I managed to get what I wanted through click and collect from my local garden centre. I will go but I will leave it for a few more days until the new restrictions settle down….update I buckled and went yesterday tea time…god damn where’s my will power.

With all my extra time I have spent in the garden and the warm sunny weather the garden really is looking great. The garden is getting to close to the way I want it but we all know a garden is a ever ending entity and a garden is never finished just helped to move on. At the moment however it is on a bit of a hiatus over the next few days and might sit back and enjoy it. Don’t worry I already have my next project lined up which is an extension to the front dry bed featured in my mini blog here.

I was going to this weeks blog a leaf special but there is so many flowers opening at the moment I have had a change of mind so I have divided the blog 50/50.

Here is this weeks six.

1. Tulip Carnival de Nice

These were supposed to be Carnival de Rio but it looks like that have sent out Carnival de Nice instead. This must be the fourth wrong bulb I have been sent out this week. This has been flowering for 2 weeks now and gets better with age.

2. Clematis Josephine

This Clematis is growing really well this year. It is on the Arch that leads to the gravel area of the garden and I was walking through it yesterday and noticed that the first ones were opening straight in front of me at chest height. These flowers are huge and of course the buds must be one of the the biggest Clematis buds out there. The Pom Pom wooly centre is very unusual and always makes me think this plant is crossed with a sheep in some kind of weird B movie experiment. I think I have been furloughed for to long.

3. Clematis Montana Brougton Star

This has finally flowered! I have planted this on the North facing wall of my shed so it is a little bit later than some in the area. The plant is 18 months old and only came in a 9cm pot so this is the first year it has flowered. This is going add a bit of height and a different colour to the palate as I have not got that many pink flowers in the garden.

4. Wulfenia Amherstiana

I bought this plant from the specialist alpine nursery up the road in Berwickshire. I have no idea why. I had never heard of the species before. I guess it was because the first 4 letters sounded like Wolf. Turns out they are from the Himalayas especially the Pakistan and Nepal area. They grow in shady areas and like the damp. I have planted this in a medium size trough and have them at the top of the garden in between the shed and fence. The leaves at the moment are a lovely apple green. The flowers are weird. They grow a short spike with tiny purple flowers that point downwards. I will try and remember to take photo of it when it flowers.

5. Hydrangea Oak Leaf I don’t know which one yet.

I bought 2 Oak Leaf type Hydrangeas end of last year and as usual for me I have not labelled them up. Like most new leaves at this time of the year this one has a Lime Green exuberance. As you can see something has had a nibble out of this one. It will be interesting to see how this one turns out in the next few years as it is planted in a raise bed beside a west facing fence which is only 80cm wide. It also has to fight for root space with a climbing roses and 2 clematises.

6. Hellebore Leaf

As I mentioned last in last weeks SOS when I included the Brunnera leaf sometimes leaves get overlooked. It surprises me how sometimes big Hellebore leaves become and how we may inadvertently overlook how much structure they can give to your garden when they stop flowering. The leaves are always on the end of long stalks that come from the ground, I guess this is because these plants usually do well in shady area and the plant wants the leaves to be as high as possible to get some sunlight? Perhaps someone that is more knowledgeable could tell me. Also why are some leaves palm shaped? Is it because every section can move individually to get some sunshine through dappled shade or am I overthinking things.

That’s it for this week. Sorry granny but there was no room for any succulents this week.

As I mentioned before I am going to cut back on the physical garden for a few days and sit back and enjoy the garden.

If you want to write a SOS blog it is not that difficult. As always to find out how six on Saturday works please follow the following link The Propagator. The don of Six on Saturday

Thanks for reading.