Bar the shouting, most of the Christmas craziness should be over by now, and we are probably all a little relieved. To my mind, Boxing Day is the most relaxing day of the festive season; there is minimal cooking, plenty of time to play with your new toys, have a little walk perhaps and room to reflect on the meaning of life. And lots of left overs. I am sure it will be no surprise that I am not writing this on Saturday, that would be over and above the call of duty and might cause some non-marital tension. But we are not far off, it is Christmas Eve. The ham is cooking, the red cabbage prepared and I am just about to search for our only table cloth for its once yearly performance. My name is Christine Control; all is calm, all is bright. How long do you give it? Whilst we are on the subject, our master The Prop is always the epitome of control and calm, except of course when it comes to tulips. Shall we proceed?
First, we have the carcass of a crocosmia seed head. I remove a lot of these unremarkable montbretia from the back of the garden, and still they spread with unconcealed glee. Today, this rusty reminder was most welcome. My icy heart may have thawed just a little.
Next another rogue, the three-cornered leek. Again, I have dug many of these out of the garden, to little avail. Still, if I didn’t know their reputation for invasion, I would think them quite lovely.
Onto the aeonium that is heading towards the stars, like an old fashioned camera lens. Looks like some untimely flowers are on the way. Who am I to argue with Madame Nature?
The other evening, whilst sitting in the front room learning my lines for the SoS panto, I heard a suspicious noise. Bravely/foolishly I went to investigate, armed only with my curiosity. I found nothing. A couple of days later the culprit was discovered. The Hoya lanceolata ssp. bella had leapt off the top of the filing cabinet in the office onto the floor below. It was put outside in disgust, into the naughty corner, where it has stayed.
Now onto my faithful friends, the fuchsias. You have got to hand it to them, they are stalwarts.
Lastly, the statuesque teasels; ever reliable, ever welcome. I have saved all the seed that I need to spread their joy to foreign climes, leaving plenty for our golden visitors.
I hope you are all relatively unscathed and had much fun and laughter over the last few days.
This time next week we will have a new year to cheer us!
Off The Edge Gardening 
And, no doubt, having left a reasonable stock of Montbretia and Allium triquetrum (I’ve saved you the task of looking it up) for the new owners of your garden, you will plant them again. And moan a lot in a few years. 🤓
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Thanks John, I was going to look it up but got distracted. I might plant Emily McKenzie and that Hellfire looks good ……. But the very suggestion that I might moan about something, really!
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Enjoy your new toys, a chara. I’m off cycling for an hour to reflect.
Again your lovely turn of phrase catches my attention… “armed only with my curiosity” and more…
I’ve loved your garden & quirky updates throughout the year and look forward to many more. Thank you, a chara.
BTW, Boxing Day here is the Wran Day. Not very relaxing antics.
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Thank you and enjoy your ride. I’ve just looked up Wran Day, love things like that, as long as no real Wrens are involved!
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Cancelled this year because of The Yoke, but I’m betting there’ll be a few rebels lurking around trying to sing.
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tee hee . . . teasels.
Those three cornered leeks can be pickled like wild onions. They lack flavor, but are adequate vehicles for the flavors of whatever goes into the pickling brine.
By the way, your fuchsias might be missing. I can not see them.
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I just checked, they are still there, perhaps they got stuck in customs. Pickled TCL sound nice!
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They’re invisible to me too.
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Really, is there a photo at all?
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I still don’t see them.
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I checked on my phone and you are right (I never doubted you). Will reload it in the morning and see if it makes a difference. Thanks for the heads up x
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Nope. Fuchsias are definitely missing in action.
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They are on laptop but not phone, I’ll reload it again after breakfast
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WP is doing weird things on the phone app. I have header photos that belong to a different post!
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I’ve reloaded it, does that make a difference? If not, you will have to use your imagination ☺
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Yup, it’s back on the phone. I wonder where it was hiding?
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Very odd!
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I left the seed heads on a quite good bought montbretia clump because they were quite ornamental, am I going to get a load of seedlings of something inferior? Must ask Mark Wash next time I see him. Allium triquetrum doesn’t deserve its reputation, it’s much worse than that.
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Yes, I’d like to know too, or perhaps something more exciting! These just seem to seed the same old thing, they are very close to some Lucifer but don’t seem to make pretty babies.
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Your rogues are very pretty. Hope you are having a relaxing day with plenty of leftovers!
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Thank you, and yes I am, hope you are too!
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Just about to make baguette sandwiches with leftover bird now!
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Nobody told me about the panto. When were the auditions? I would be perfect as Principal Boy in green leggings. 😱 Perhaps not. Healthy looking, green Six-on-Saturday. Have a good New Year.
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You would have been! Perhaps next year we can do a virtual one and SoS in character, Prop and The Beanstalk? Have fun 🙂
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Hoe your Boxing Day is calm and relaxing. Lots of rain here so not sure about the bracing walk or any SoS in fact.
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Thanks, a mini walk here and looking forward to cold cuts and bubble and squeak later!
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My mum has grown a few teasels this year and muttering at the goldfinches as they haven’t touched them yet! That fuchsia is lovely. I’m regretting chopping my crocosmia back now after seeing the seed head – it’s rather lovely.
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I’m sure they will turn up, they are always such a joy to watch. There is always next year for the seed heads – the beauty of gardening is that there is always next year!
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I had cut all my seed heads of crocosmia but I regret seeing yours. It’s pretty cool!
Have a happy relaxing Boxing Day Gill!
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Thanks Fred, all good here, awaiting The Storm, is it coming your way?
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Yes I was just seeing it on my phone app. Gusts of 90km/h expected. Take care
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You too, see you on the other side. 😱
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The enjoyment of Christmas will continue here for another ten days or so – to the 6th of January.
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I can feel collaboration on a Pantomime next year, after all we have it each week except for this one, when I am just putting my feet up, and going through previous scripts, and sorting out seeds for next year. You were up to the same things as I was before Christmas…ham and red cabbage!
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Why does that not surprise me? Joined by a thread x
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I’m trying to guess which part you went for in the panto – Dick Wittington’s cat perhaps (just guessing from your header)? I hope you had a good relaxing Boxing Day. It’s certainly been one here, and I didn’t even do a Six which is taking it a bit too far. I’ve not come across the three cornered leek, although I do have plenty of crocosmia to weed out. I can’t comment on the fushia, as it’s hiding from me too.
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Where oh where is that fuchsia? I would love to be the cat, do you I get boots?
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Love the leeks, though I have a similar (curses) Bidens. I think I have adopted Boxing Day!
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I have those leeks too. They grow in the gravel and they grow in the walls so impossible to eliminate. They do make a good substitute for spring onions as well as being able to pickle them. Listening to the wind now I am praying that my pots don’t get scattered / shattered. Already had three casualties this week. And talking of goldfinches (well, someone was) I spotted no less than seven on my verbena ‘lollipop’ a couple of weeks ago.
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