It is going to be tricky to feature anything in this Six on Saturday that does not resemble over-cooked cabbage. The ground has not thawed since last week, I am sure I am not alone, and I am resigned to having lost a fair few of my vulnerable plants. This is what happens if you push your luck, sometimes it runs out. As us gardeners know, a lost plant is a shopping opportunity. A man who advocates this very ideology is our shepherd Camellia Jim. It is as well to listen to those who know.
The bed of anarchy has had any thoughts of revolution knocked out of it. I am confident that it will rise again, with a few new members to boost the brigade.
Onto a lone bud of Rosa ‘John Ystumllyn’, frozen in time. I do not fear for the roses, they are both beautiful and resilient. Now that is something to aim for. Perhaps in my next life.
Rudbeckia ‘Irish Eyes’ is an annual which was destined for the compost bin. The petals have held their colour unlike any other in the garden. These, along with their diamante central bosses, make them eerily attractive.
Nerine bowdenii ‘Bicolor’ has been trapped at this very same point for the past week and a half. I wonder if it will ever open. The weather is due to warm slightly from today onwards, so maybe it will wait til Christmas morning. Romantic, me? Never!
This Polypodium cambricum flops hysterically at every frost and rises, Lazarus like, with the warmth of the sun. I’ve got your number, mate!
Finally Coprosma repens ‘Pacific Sunset’, rimy with frost and still standing. So far anyway.
That is your lot. Hope all is well in the rest of SoS-land. Til next time.
Off The Edge Gardening 
Beautiful and resilient….and funny too, that is what this post is! I must admit to loving ferns covered in frost and can’t think why I haven’t shown any in my post this week.
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Thank you. Hopefully you have missed your frosty fern chance, for a while anyway!
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Nothing quite like a bit of sibling rivalry! However if I were to compare myself to you, I would just crash off the pedestal I climb up with such difficulty each week. xx
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Except for Nerine bowdenii ‘Bicolor’, it all looks normal for winter, does it not? I mean, things change with the seasons, even here, where frost is so mild. I just posted a picture of one of our frosted Canna. As far as the plants are concerned, they are just doing what they do.
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We haven’t had such prolonged cold weather for a long time. Most of the garden is mush, but I avoided those photos. You are right, it is as winter is, it is just that we are not used to it.
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Having seen it in person I quite like your frost covered anarchy border, it shows great potential. And if you would like to own a Dingaan, the most glorious plum mauve Nerine, just say and I will give you an offset next year 😊
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Oh yes please!!!! It was so lovely to see you x
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Did you find out what happened to Rusty Duck and her website? I had an inkling that TT might know.
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Apparently she has just stopped blogging but is fine. Talking of TT, we had a visit yesterday, which was lovely. 😁
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A shame she removed her site though, that cottage renovation was so amazing as is her garden. Good to know she’s OK. Thanks for asking for me.
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We can see that the ground hasn’t thawed since last week for you ( not here until today) but nevertheless, the photos of frost are all attractive and I’m back from the garden to add about 20 to my photo library.
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Thought for a moment you’d taken the bed of anarchy picture in my garden. Then I saw the fence; the backdrop to my dead plants is more dead plants. Even more than the appearance of overcooked cabbage is the smell it all has.
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More lovely frost photos… I’d not hold out much hope for the Nerine…
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To be honest, nor do I, but there is a very very very slim chance …. 🙂
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Nerine’s are ok with some frost so long as the soil is not waterlogged and the neck of the bulb is above the ground. One of the best displays I know is in a frost pocket in Cheshire 😊
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You are beautiful and resilient in this life 🥰
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Haha… I love your posts, you are very witty. “Camellia Jim” indeed. I now picture him with a shepherd’s crook. 😂 As for mush, what I couldn’t get over yesterday when I went out to take some macro photos of the frost (most unusual here) was the smell of cabbages! But I see Jim mentions that smell too. I have some tender plants outside as I am coming around to wanting an easier life so my aim is to have plants that can take care of themselves, more or less. Though I’m sure it hasn’t been much warmer in the conservatory for those few mollycoddled plants. It is what it is.
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Fingers crossed for your Nerine.
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Love the bed of anarchy! And the overcooked cabbage. And Camellia Jim. I always get a chuckle out of your posts. My Nerines (very ordinary ones) get flattened by the slightest frost every year which is very disappointing as they start out quite beautifully.
I have wondered what happened to Rusty Duck as I used to love reading about that cottage renovation. Good to know she’s ok, but I do miss those posts.
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I have a cyclamen that does that Lazarus thing and I was trying to figure out what some of my plants looked like today – over-cooked cabbage sums it up perfectly! Fingers are crossed that the Nerine bowdenii ‘Bicolor’ isn’t stuck in a moment and that it can get out of it.
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Frost as a shopping opportunity, I like the concept.
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I like that – a lost plant is a shopping opportunity.
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I forgot to pull up the nasturtiums before the frosts and now they’re a pale green sludge snaking across the pebbles they self seed in. Very reminiscent of over-cooked cabbage! (Also forgot to put the hose away, I’m hoping that’s survived!)
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I loved reading your post Gill. I shall aim (New Year’s Resolution?) for beautiful and resilient, and Jim will be forever ‘Camellia Jim’ to me and he may even have to change the name of his blog as a result 😂
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I thought that anyone who gardened in high-heeled, yellow boots had to be beautiful and resilient. Like that rose, I think all mine have admitted defeat, although I haven’t ventured down the garden in the rather deep,frozen snow this week.
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