Day Seven: 6 December 2022: Bishops in the Orchard This is one of the last plants to flower in the garden. I have never been too enamoured with dahlias, but the Bishop of York is quite stunning. The small bright lemon flowers with orange centres are the perfect foil for the dark purple leaves. I
Day Six: 5 December 2022: A rugged, wrinkled rose In an ideal world, cottage gardens should overflow with a sumptuous abundance of perfumed plants, but achieving the ideal on the exposed western coast of the Outer isles is perhaps over ambitious. I have finally a managed to persuade some honeysuckle to tumble over the garden
Day Five: 4 December 2022 I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:There sleeps Titania sometime of the night Our common wild honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) is the only climbing plant that
Day Four: 3 December 2022: White Magic Although far from perfect and past their best, I discovered this small group of Osteospermum flowers hiding under a mass of Eucomis leaves. They were produced by a plant that had survived the very wet winter of 2021. I have included them in my selection for Cathy’s Week
Day Three: 2 December 2022: Exotic watercress This year there were nasturtiums trailing over the edges of the raised beds, tumbling from pots in sheltered corners of the garden, rampaging through the the greenhouse and polytunnel, appearing in salads and overflowing from vases in the kitchen. They have made me smile and added glorious splashes