The unseasonal weather continues although it is beginning to cool down now with the possibility of frost on Monday night. Still no rain so regular watering of containers continues. We have had a very bad moorland fire the smoke from which was visible from where I live. It almost engulfed the site of the famous Cat and Fiddle, which is now a distillery, and we had the unusual sight of a helicopter water bombing the fire. The garden is coming on very quickly and, although there is not a great deal of flower to be seen, I have managed to scrape together a six.

The first of my geraniums to flower. I would like to apologise in advance as I think I will be relying on them rather a lot this year to fill the Six on Saturday slot.

British native, Sweet woodruff, has proved useful for ground cover, along with Euphorbia characias, in a rather difficult corner. I’ll have to be careful as they are both invasive, but I think the hostile conditions should limit their ambition. I always think woodruff looks very tatty going into winter, it’s a pity it isn’t evergreen.

My first time with this rather neat, buttercup-like, little creeping plant from the eastern United States. It appears to be, at the very least, semi-evergreen, as it has kept the majority of its leaves over the, albeit mild, winter.

Spanish or English? Is it a hybrid? This clump of bluebells has a very faint scent and the stems are “nodding” rather than upright, typical of the English bluebell. The flowers are light coloured more like the Spanish species. I also have a clump of more robust plants which are not yet in flower, as soon as they are I am going to try a direct comparison. Until then I rather think these are Spanish, Hyacinthoides hispanica or are they a hybrid…………..?


I think Clematis montana ‘Morning Yellow’ is a rather neat cultivar, it is definitely more cream than yellow, fading to white as they age. It doesn’t appear to be as rampant and flower as prolifically as montana, but nevertheless gives a good show. Both have that nice delicate vanilla scent.

A rather nice self-seeded common aquilegia that has appeared in a crack in the paving. I had too many aquilegias appearing in the garden so I ripped out a fair number as they came into flower, leaving only those of interest. This one must have escaped my notice!
This meme is hosted by Jim Stevens who is to be found with all the details and links to plenty of other blogs to enjoy at Garden Ruminations.

Lovely to see the Clematis out and I do like the deep colour of the geranium.
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Thank you, I do like hardy geraniums, they do what it says on the tin, usually tough as old boots. 😃
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I’ve never seen this clematis montana ‘Morning Yellow’ before. Thanks for sharing because it’s often the common color we see a lot.
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Thanks, I bought it although I didn’t really know what to expect. Pleased that I did though.
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Love the blues of the geranium and the Aquilegia. I had never seen the Chrysogonum before but recognize the common name “Green and gold” Not very imaginative common name. I see that is is native to the far east coast south to Florida and west to Louisiana., so not likely to be found anywhere I have lived. Plants are so interesting!
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Another common name “goldenstar” I can understand, but I have no idea where “golden-knee” comes from.
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Clematis montana ‘Morning Yellow’ looks and sounds like a good ‘un. I’m forever trying to keep the pink variety in check on a small fence. The self-seeded aquilegia is a great colour.
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‘Morning Yellow’ was a bit of an accidental find but I am very pleased with it.
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I hadn’t noticed how low the overnight temperatures are dropping. I’m glad you mentioned it. Here we might have frost tomorrow night and possibly Monday night. The geranium himalayense is a fabulous colour. It’s very intense, just as the Aquilegia vulgaris is. You have two lovely montanas but both so different to each other. ‘Morning Yellow’ is very unusual – a great choice.
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I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the frost isn’t too severe or we don’t get it at all. Blue is my favourite flower colour, after all, meconopsis are my number one plants.
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The clematis is lovely, even nicer than montana. Your bluebells sound like a hybrid but don’t quote me, I’m not expert!
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I’m very pleased with the clematis, a lucky purchase. I’m leaning towards a hybrid bluebell myself now, but I’m no expert either.🙂
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Meconopsis – so lovely!
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