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| Not a conventional Christmas tree! |
A vase of nerines, which has been brightening up the porch
for a good couple of weeks now, had finally faded and needed replacing by
something a little more attractive; but early December isn’t the greatest time
to look for cut flowers in the garden. There
isn’t a lot of colour out there, other than the big apple tree, which is still
festooned with bright red fruits; it isn’t a conventional Christmas tree, but
it does look rather festive!
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| Viburnum tinus |
In the end a few stems of Viburnum tinus, nicely in flower, had to suffice. I have two, one given by a friend (variety unknown, with white flowers) and ‘Gwenllian’, with pink and white flowers and blue berries. While foraging for blooms of the latter, I had to squeeze past the remains of Rosa altaica, the Central Asian wild rose. I planted this many years ago because Gertrude Jekyll spoke well of it and its single white flowers, and it is a lovely thing when in full flow; but what Gertrude didn’t say is that, like all wild roses, it doesn’t flower for very long and, while there is a hint of a second flush in late summer, it’s a rather fleeting pleasure. It’s also very, very prickly and – worst of all – it suckers. I’m minded to try to get it out, but I suspect that will be easier said than done. As it's at the back of the shrub border I keep forgetting to prune it; perhaps this winter I'll prune it very, very hard ....
The forecast for today was for showers, but in fact it was
almost entirely dry and I got on with deadheading and cutting back some of the
other shrub roses. At the side of the
house, Rosa alba semiplena (brief but beautiful, and scented) and Rosa dupontii
(also brief and very pretty, but of untidy growth) were cut back hard; the latter
is going to be taken in hand very severely this winter, and I won’t mind too
much if it succumbs.
There hasn’t been much gardening over the past few days as
the weather has been rather wet, and there’s a storm forecast for tomorrow. I did manage to replant one of my little
strawberry beds. As I said back in July,
several of the plants in there had died in the hot weather and the space had been used as a temporary home for lettuces; these were removed after the first frost and some compost added
to the bed. Alpine strawberries are
uncomplaining little plants once they are established, but they don’t take to
transplanting very well in dry weather; so, with a wet day forecast last week,
I set to on the day before, moved some self-set seedlings into the bed, watered
them well, and left the rain to do the rest.
They seem fine. The other
strawberry bed – they are a matching pair – probably ought to be replanted too
as the plants are quite old, but they’re not such a pressing case and can be
left for the time being.
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| Replanted alpine strawberry bed |
The visiting birdlife at the fatball container has been joined in the past few days by a marsh tit, busily stocking up on food, although the temperatures have been fairly mild for the time of year. There are even a few berries still on the holly - a more normal sort of Christmas tree.
