Six on Saturday in early April

Hope everyone is keeping well and keeping busy in the garden, for which I am grateful at this most difficult of times.  We are promised some warmer weather this weekend, so we may have the opportunity to relax and survey our efforts or keep seeing jobs to do.  

I planted this Honeysuckle Belgica to replace a Clematis which my neighbour chopped down, although he did mend the fence to be fair.  The clematis stump may even have a bud emerging; bonus.

 This pretty miniature Daff is called Minnow, I believe

The Marsh Marigold is now looking cheerful

The Golden Hop is beginning to sprout and will soon clamber all over the lilac tree.  I’ve tried to dig it out to replant elsewhere without success.

The Golden Elder gets lovely bright green foliage in the Spring

The evergreen fern, Polystichum polyblepharum is gracing the table until I decide on its forever site

The Propagator generously hosts Six on Saturday.  Click on the link to his blog to see what he and his followers are growing and doing in their gardens this week.  Perhaps you feel you could add your own six too.

Stay well everyone.

In a vase on Monday: Fussy but fragrant

Each Monday Cathy at Rambling In The Garden encourages us to share a vase highlighting what is growing in our gardens.

Today's vase is fussy but fragrant and contains three each of flowering blackcurrant, Bowles mauve, Viburnum with foliage of trusty Abelia and Hebes with old perfume bottles, which I collect, in the forefront.



Thanks to Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for hosting and giving us an opportunity to share flower-filled vases across the world. Visit her to discover what she and others found to place In A Vase On Monday.

Six on Saturday - Do remember they can't cancel Spring

In these days of worry and uncertainly, how lucky are we who have gardens?  As Hockney says, “Do remember they can’t cancel Spring”.

Here are my Six on Saturday:

1.  The great performer Bowles Mauve

2.      Marsh Marigolds ready to pop by the pond

3.      Cheerful display of Polyanthus down the drive, which I raised from seed many, many years ago

4.      Jaunty Pansies which were planted in  October

5.      Daffodils Thalia which once won me a prize at my gardening club’s Mini Flower Show, which had to be cancelled this week

6.  Ajuga with its shiny dark red leaves

The Propagator generously hosts Six on Saturday.  Click on the link to his blog to see what he and his followers are growing and doing in their gardens this week.  Perhaps you feel you could add your own six too.

Stay well everyone.

Leeds Litfest: 4 – 8 March 2020

The second Leeds Litest offered over 100 events in 35 venues across the city including libraries, churches, pubs, community centres, theatres and parks.

As a volunteer, it was impossible to choose what to attend, so I went for the easiest venues for me to reach.  The schedule of events to steward was not always what I have picked out for myself but I thoroughly enjoyed every one of them as well as meeting the writers and members of the audience.

Invisible Women; a discussion of the fetishisation of sex crime in novels with Ali Harper and Danuta Kot.  This was held at a local library and explored whether it is possible to empower women and subvert the sexual stereotypes in novels.  The authors explained how they portrayed women and the interaction with the audience was invigorating.

https://www.theleedslibrary.org.uk/

The Hidden; an immersive library literary adventure.  A woman has gone missing and, using clues left by her around the library, the mystery has to be solved.  We worked in teams to crack the codes and discover why the woman disappeared.  The task was engrossing and the fact that it took place in the Leeds Library, the oldest private library in the UK, was as added bonus but also a distraction for me.

Long Division; a sound installation by IOU Theatre at Mill Hill Unitarian Chapel.  As the clock chimed, whispered voices are heard which gather in intensity and reverberate around the church where it takes place. 


Duncan Hamilton; award winning writer and sports journalist in conversation with Anthony Clavane.  This also took place at https://www.theleedslibrary.org.uk/.  Whilst not a cricket or football fan, I did enjoy listening to the anecdotes, as did the audience.


It was a privilege and I fully intend to volunteer again next year.

In a vase on Monday

In a vase on Monday

Bit of a rush job trying to get some gardening done before the rain so just some prunings to show off my Poundshop vase (which is actually \cheerful sunshine yellow).  I turned some foliage backwards to get a silver tinge.  The blue flower is courtesy of variegated Vinca Major, in the forefront is Euonymus, Abelia and Winter Jasmine twigs at the back and some Viburnum at the side.

Thanks to Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for hosting and giving us an opportunity to share flower-filled vases across the world. Visit her to discover what she and others found to place In A Vase On Monday.

Six on Saturday

Bit of cheating really as I had a Yorkshire in Bloom training day at RHS Harlow Carr in Harrogate and snapped this attractive spring planter at the entrance.

The Propagator generously hosts Six on Saturday.  Click on the link to his blog to see what he and his followers are growing and doing in their gardens this week.  Perhaps you feel you could add your own six too.

Six on Saturday

The weather doesn’t entice us to spend time in the garden but, even through the window, we can see signs of Spring. 

I didn't venture far from the house to snap these six.

 1. Erysimum Bowles's Mauve, the perennial wallflower which is a good doer as it flowers most of the year.  I would like the orange one too although I understand it doesn't do as well.  It is important to keep taking cuttings before it gets woody

2.  I haven't had the heart to plant out this polyanthus in this weather

 

3.  The Crocuses are not standing up to the windy weather too well

 4.  Euonymus brightens up a corner on a grey day 

 

5.  I could only buy packs of  mixed colours of wallflowers, but I seem to have managed to fill this pot with the same colour of what looks like dark red.

6.  We've had a frenzy of frogs in the pond with up to twelve of them doing what they do at this time of the year.

The Propagator generously hosts Six on Saturday.  Click on the link to his blog to see what he and his followers are growing and doing in their gardens this week.  Perhaps you feel you could add your own six too.