Two weeks today is Christmas Eve, and by now (Saturday evening) we will be full of food, beer and snaps and in recovery mode. As you all probably know by now, we celebrate Christmas Eve with a table full of food, friends and sometimes family, and it will be no different this year. Today though the weather is humid – grey, warm and unpleasant – but everything is growing so fast that every time I turn my back the rosemary has jumped a centimetre or the weeds have tripled. Anyway, 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.
So to start with, an update on the dahlias. Last year’s plant is flowering nicely, and there are clearly buds on the dahlia happy days cream. In fact the picture below were taken on Friday after a little rain, and there has been more growth since then. Hopefully more pictures for next week.
Over to herb corner, with the wild rosemary (I did take a cutting, planted it, and it seems to be doing OK so far) doing well, as is the lemon verbena and the two newest plants, the bergamot lemon (which is also rather tall) and the variegated lemon thyme. You would think I was obsessed with things that smell of lemon…
Moving on to number three, and this gorgeous bee who sat in the sun, had a good clean, then flew off to try to catch the last of the camellias.
At number four, there are still lots of the New Zealand rock lilies about, covering up ground that would otherwise be full of weeds. They are really pretty flowers close up.
At number 5, the pick ‘n’ mix counter with that gorgeous but difficult to photograph salvia blue black, the slightly too invasive but pretty violas of some sort and the nasturtiums are popping up – both those deliberately planted and those that have just appeared.
Finally, more alstroemerias, which I am afraid will be featuring for the next few weeks. I cut a few wayward ones and popped them into a vase for a bit of colour indoors.
That is my six this week, and 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
Thistles and Kiwis 
Beautiful blooms and healthy herbs – what more could you want? I have two dahlias that have come up after the rain, a few nasturtiums have popped up too – the seeds must have been in the ground for years – and I have just come in from the blazing sun after having pruned the wayward plumbago threatening to grow into our swimming pool!
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Nasturtiums pop up all over the place! Yes I am happy with the dahlias. Good luck with the pruning!
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Beautiful
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Your garden is looking lovely.. I hope you get plenty of sunshine as Christmas approaches, and best wishes for your Christmas Eve celebrations..
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It is pouring with rain today…fingers crossed for a sunny Christmas.
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I love lemon thyme too, such a fresh scent! 🙂
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What better way to cheer up on a winter’s day than seeing pretty flowers from the southern hemisphere like dahlias coming up, these rock lilies and alstroemerias in bloom! Thanks
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You can cheer us up down here when it is our winter!
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Will do of course !
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Lovely flowers to get us northerners through the winter, both Dahlias and Alstroemerias are favourites of mine. Your lovely rock lilies are a reproach; I’m going to move my clump again in hopes of finding somewhere they’ll be even reasonably happy.
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I am watching my dahlias every day – they must be fed up with me talking to them! Our alstroemerias have gone a bit wild, but given where they are on a hard to get to slope, they look so pretty. It is raining today – dreich here too!
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I love the lazy bees, wish I could rest like that…but Christmas beckons!
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Hi and thanks for sharing these pictures of your flowers and garden. Not many outside flowers here in the eastern U.S. right now, but Christmas is on its way!
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Lovely to see all your lovely flowers to cheer up us northerners, though saying that I do actually still have things flowering in my garden! And there cannot be such a thing as too many lemony plants – I think you are going to have to invest in some scented-leaved pelargoniums which should do well where you live. Lemon, rose, and even peppermint!
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Pelargoniums sound a great idea. I had an elderly aunt who always had some in her garden and they are really pretty too.
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The flowers of the New Zealand rock lilies are lovely and I really like the colour of the foliage of the dahlia happy days cream.
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Gorgeous shots – especially of the bee. I’m glad that he was well and flew away after his clean!
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Oh me too! I was pleased to see him fly away.
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Your celebration sounds wonderful. Beautiful dahlia!
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The dahlia foliage looks incredibly healthy. What a lovely, fat, fuzzy bee. As always, I appreciate your herb corner.
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It has been raining here all day until about an hour ago, but I have just been out to check and pick some herbs for dinner. There is a bud on one of my other new dahlias too….
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I am also a fan of lemon thyme, etc. and the Alstromerias and Rock lilies. Hoping to find some dahlia tubers here…yours look wonderful.
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Beauriful write-up, lovely photos ❤️💛
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So lovely to see your bright colours when everything is looking a bit subdued in this part of the world
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