Six on Saturday 31.07.21

Thistles and Kiwis,

It is the end of July already, day 212 of the year, and a gloriously sunny day, with bright blue skies. It is supposed to be 16C, but it is definitely a bit warmer on our little terrace, which always gets the afternoon sun. Anyway, not much new to report this week I am afraid, but here are my six. Thanks to The Propagator who encourages us to share what is going on in our gardens in all parts of the world. Check out the participant guide if you want to join in.

First, thank you to all those who identified the sarcococca for me. I had a look to see which one it might be and think sarcococca confusa. It does have a glorious smell.

This week’s highlight for me – hellebores. There are two ‘clumps’ next to the house with lots of flowers at the moment. I love them – so pretty, so delicate.

Over with the herbs, and the lemon verbena, variegated sage and lemon balm are all showing strong signs of growth at the moment. All the rosemary plants are doing well, especially the funny little bush at the side of the house. I must take some time to sort all these out soon and decide what I need or should replace.

And over to the bulbs, where I hope you can see some progress from last week. I’m looking forward to a decent display soon. There are some daffodils out in the Botanic Gardens already, so it can only be days until I have some flowers.

While everything else is growing and blooming, there has been no progress with the mahonia berries. Maybe next week?

Finally, over to the camellias. The top four pictures are the glorious bush at the back of the house, and you can just see the magnolia buds. On magnolia, there are some magnificent flowers in the Botanic Gardens already. The flower at the bottom is from the front of the house.

That is it for me for now – I hope to have something new to show you next week! As usual, I am looking forward to seeing everyone’s beautiful gardens in other parts of the world. Hope you are all well and enjoying your gardens in whatever the season is with you. 

You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram @thistlesandkiwis.  As for Twitter….am totally inactive these days.  If you want to get in touch, email me on thistlesandkiwis@gmail.com

Published by Thistles and Kiwis

29 Comments

  1. Such pretty blooms you have to show off. My bulbs are putting forth leaves and I hope the freesias will blossom soon. You have reminded me to get pots of herbs growing once more as mine are looking very tatty indeed.

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  4. My lemon verbena didn’t survive the winter… It’s a shame because I had it for 5-6 years and I’ve looked desperately for a life sign but the roots are rotten. You are very lucky: keep it preciously because it’s very pleasant for herbal teas, ice creams, or in dishes

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  8. I think Sarcococca confusa has black fruits and that yours may be S. ruscifolia. They’re very similar in other respects. My Magnolia, brutally cut down a couple of years ago, already has flower buds for next spring. Vulcan, raised in New Zealand.

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  10. Your hellebores are lovely, we have a few too, not as advanced as yours, but I am hopeful.
    I’ve just passed on the name of your blog to a friend in Nelson, her daughter has moved to Wellington and I’m sure she will enjoy your food and eating out posts.

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  14. I always love looking at the “greens” that each plant nicely dresses it’s leaves in or frames a flower – thanks for sharing.

    Catherine in Aks, where hopefully tonight isn’t as wild as it was last night – not much sleep with the wind and rain. And a lot of nice trees in Auckland region fell, never to be upright again…

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