Hello and welcome to a long overdue Six on Saturday. What with one thing and another I haven’t been able to get my act together, the result being several week’s absence. This also means that there’s much to report on; spring has perhaps not sprung, but it has had a little peep round the corner. As usual, many more Six on Saturday posts can be found over at The Propagator.
1. Bergenia and friends
This cheery chappy has been in bloom for a few weeks now. It lurks underneath the Dierama, providing a bit of ground cover for most of the year, before flowering it’s socks off right at the start of spring.
2. Daffs and friends
Further up the same stretch of border, here’s one of several clumps of Tête-à -têtes doing it’s thing. The Pennisetum sitting just behind it has settled into it’s position nicely after sulking for the best part of a year.
3. Corydalis
Having strolled along the gravel path, stopping to admire a couple of things in the adjacent border along the way, we come to the Corydalis. There are quite a few coming up now: here’s an unnamed pale pink number in front of Corydalis solida ‘Purple Beauty’. Both are early quite early flowering; I’ve noticed on social media that further south and west of Birmingham there are a number cultivars already in flower which aren’t quite there yet for me. ‘Beth Evans’ is quite widespread and seems like a good marker to measure against. Here in Brum, we’re only at -1 on the Beth Evans Flowering Timeline© (BEFT).
4. Dicentras
It’s not just Corydalis that are making their mark; the Dicentras are starting to emerge and unfurl from their winter slumber. Here’s Dicentra formosa ‘Filigree’ showing some exemplary unfurling.
5. Seedlings
In the greenhouse, the various seedlings are doing various things. Corydalis paczoskii was the first Corydalis to flower this year, and it’s seeds are the first to germinate. It looks like a pretty good germination rate: always pleasing to see! I was trying to take a picture that showed some of the greenery in the other pots in the background. If you look carefully you can see some other seedlings and a few second year plants too. Or you may just see some green blurs.
6. Carnivorous Plants
On the windowsill in the living room we have a modest collection of carnivorous plants. They’re a recent acquisition and part of the general plant-based indoctrination of my children. They became unreasonably nervous when I ordered the plants – it turned out they were concerned they might be eaten alive by the verdant little beasties. They were mightily relieved, on the plants’ arrival, to see how small they were. The main reason I’ve put these photos here are to show the little freebies that have cropped up in the Venus Flytrap pot. There are several little Sundew seedlings growing in the compost. They look different to the other Sundew shown (Drosera capensis) on account of the shape if their leaves (spoon shaped, compared to D. capensis’ narrow leaves). Anyway, it’ll be fun to see how they turn out.
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading and have a good weekend!
What a gorgeous six! As a picture, the narcissus and pennisetum steal the show, but I’m looking forward to seeing your corydalis …
Thanks – the good thing about close ups is you don’t see the mess surrounding them!
Love tête-à -têtes. Might get some more to plant this autumn. Are you having much luck with your carnivorous plants? Ones I have had in the past have never thrived.
So far so good! You have to use rainwater – tap water kills them. I bought four altogether: the two pictured and two pitcher plans. The plan is that I’d hedge my bets by having a variety of different things!
Beautiful spring photographs of emerging growth. I have recently become aware that we have a native bleeding heart here that spreads by rhizome, and will be on the lookout for some for the riparian woodland area. So exciting to see things coming up in the greenhouse. I enjoyed hearing about your children’s reaction to the prospect of carnivorous plants.
With the exception of one species, all of the Dicentras reside on your side of the pond (although spread across the whole country!). It’ll be great to see you growing some in their natural environment!
That pale pink corydalis is rather attractive
It’s a good ‘un!
The baby Venus’ are adorable. I need to do something with my plant. Not sure what, so I’m not doing anything! Lovely dicentra photo, it is all kicking off now, my favourite time of the year.
Sometimes things are better left alone!
I have not checked my dicentra but yours are ahead of mine I think! Beautiful year for the bergenias isn’t it?!
Yes, the Bergenias have done really well 🙂
My corydalis are up but I don’t think the dicentra are. I shall rush out later to look. I planted some out in the garden this year, and hope they have survived. Lovely Bergenias.
I only just noticed the Dicentras emerging this week, so early days. I’m hoping there’s more to come, otherwise I’ve lost a couple!
Good luck with the carnivorous plants, I had a Venus fly trap years ago, I can’t remember what happened to it.
Thanks!
Definitely worth waiting for. Lovely colours and pictures. I’m not a fan of carnivorous plants although they are quite fascinating. The bergenia is always good at this time of year.
I had a (now long since deceased) Venus Flytrap when I was younger; I thought it might be something interesting for the kids, although I’ve been rather taken with them!
Bonus freebie Sundew seedlings sounds rather good. The Pennisetum behind the Tête-à -tête looks lovely – I’m glad it stopped sulking.
Me too! It took about a year for it to perk up and grow nicely.
As I wrote in my post, I have failed to find any corydalis for sale in nurseries so I envy your lot. Are they easy to raise from seed?
They are relatively easy from seed, but it’s a long process – the seeds generally like to sit in the soil over winter before they germinate. It can then take a couple of years before they’re big enough to flower. The Yellow Corydalis in your post generally reaches flowering size a bit quicker. If it’s happy in your garden you should find it seeds around of it’s own accord!
I’m glad to see you are back. Lovely photos of the daffodils and bergenia.
Glad to be back – thanks!
I know of a handful of places on Bodmin Moor where sundews grow wild and they never fail to get my close attention. I was amazed to see them growing in pure sand on Fraser Island in Australia, almost too hot to walk on. They looked almost identical to ours.
I can across some (along with some Butterwort) growing wild in Snowdonia a few years ago. That’s fascinating about them growing in hot sand – I associate them with wet, waterlogged soil!