Christmas approaches, and my household has swelled to six people with students returning home. People regularly turn up in the kitchen requiring food and for the last two and a half weeks there have been various family members in isolation requiring room service. Little gardening has been done.
I have a few good winter jobs lined up for the New Year though. Proper things to get stuck into, including clearing ivy in an area I’m going to devote to conifers. And the snowdrops are beginning to emerge – they always keep me going in the depths of winter.
Meanwhile, look hard enough and the garden has winter beauty to offer. Just getting out and taking these photos in the drizzle gave me a Christmas boost.
Christmas Rose – Helleborus niger
I love the pure white of this early flowering hellebore – given the common name Christmas Rose for its advent flowering habit. I think I bought this one to put in a winter container display a few years ago. I then planted it out near the top path along the upper boundary of the garden.
This path has original paving, laid out when the house was built in 1912 and I really like the pattern. It deserves a bit more attention from me and this hellebore is looking mighty lonely in flower there at the moment. It will soon be joined by more of the pink and mauve hellebore varieties and also lots of snowdrops.
Snowdrop – Galanthus plicatus ‘Three Ships’
The ‘Three Ships’ snowdrop has come sailing in for Christmas. ‘I Saw Three Ships’ is a favourite carol of mine so I love the name but I also adore the shape and texture of this particular snowdrop. When open it has the appearance of three billowing sails, each fully filled as if drifting downwind. It also has the puckered and striped patterning often described as being like seersucker fabric.
We’re very fortunate to have Paddy Tobin as part of our group of garden bloggers and if you want to see his fabulous snowdrops growing his Irish garden click here. He’s inspired me to plant a few more of my special snowdrops out in the garden. This one is still in a pot through and is brightening the table by my back door where I can see it every time I venture out.
Witch Hazel – Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena’
This witch hazel is a beautiful coral orange and is flowering in the woodland with the intensity of a glowing hearth. Witch hazels are pretty slow growing and tend to be quite expensive to buy. A year ago I was weighing up whether to shell out on this plant or not. I’m so glad I did. It’s smouldering in the woodland garden just in time for Christmas.
Tree fern – Dicksonia antarctica
Whilst we’re talking expensive plants, here’s another one. This is my Christmas present from my husband – received early as it’s pretty hard to keep it hidden and it’s certainly too large to wrap. Wrapping presents is all about building the excitement. Here the heart-stop moment was generated by my car headlights panning across a large pallet on the drive. I then spotted the huge green fronds. I’m a lucky girl.
Tree ferns are understory plants, enjoying the shade of larger trees so I think this one will be very happy in this part of the woodland garden. I’ve planted it at the intersection of paths so it can be see from multiple directions.
Twisted willow – salix tortuosa
This willow has become a twisting eruption of twigs at the side of the steps down to the pond garden. It was a single twig cutting from a friend when first planted and is now huge. I’m attempting to curve it in an arch over the steps although so far I’ve done nothing to actually shape it – it’s just growing that way.
This plant is very useful for making arrangements for the home, including Christmas decorations. My daughter, who is at art college, has been weaving shapes with the willow as it’s so pliable. I use the willow to make Christmas door wreath rings but they have many more uses than that so I’ve written an article about using twiggy cuttings from the garden for winter decorations.
Christmas Decorations
With all the usual festivities cancelled in the run up to Christmas I’ve had so much more time to get ready with the decorations.
Last year the door wreath had fern fronds for decoration, this year I went for hydrangea heads faded to lime green and burgundy. I’ve written up my methodology for making a foraged wreath using the willow ring and offcuts from the Christmas tree.
Meanwhile, I have made my first ever Christmas cake. I’m a keen baker so I don’t know what took me so long. I had so much fun with the decorations as I saw on a baking blog how to make these cute marzipan Christmas trees. I love them so much that I’m wondering if I can bring myself to eat them.
Finally – a bit of mantlescaping. I didn’t know that this was what I was doing when I decorated the mantlepiece in the hall but my Sunday newspaper supplement described mantlescaping as this year’s must do. Happy Christmas everyone!
This seasonal diary is part of a weekly link-up of garden bloggers from around the world, called Six on Saturday. For more information and links to other blogs crammed with gardening activity, check the blog of host The Propagator.
What a lovely selection Katharine! So many things I like…your cake, your wreath, your mantelpiece with the lovely painting above it, your Three Ships snowdrop…a good idea to have them in little pots to enjoy closer to home. I also like your path, and we desperately need one connecting the front path to the back of our house – I just need to get out to the builing suppliers and find materials, not a task I relish. The paving pattern works really well on yours.
Hi Sel – your path sounds like an exciting project. This one has a very interesting design with the flags laid alternatively ‘Portrait’ and ‘Landscape’ with crazy paving sets at the edges. I’ve never seen anything similar before but having read Gertrude Jekyll’s book on Arts and Crafts Gardens, I found various similar paving patterns of the time. Happy Christmas to you.
Many thanks for the very kind comment above. A peculiarity of growing snowdrops is that many people grow them in pots as a way of safeguarding them, especially those precious ones, while I rush to get them into the ground as I feel they are safer there. Thankfully, the snowdrop season is getting well under way at present and I am also enjoying ‘Three Ships’ in flower here. They bring a wonderful brightness to the garden during the winter season. That pathway you show strikes me as the perfect place for snowdrops – no need to go into the borders to admire when you can have them at your feet.
Hi Paddy – yes I’ll definitely be planting a few more special snowdrops out having seen how healthy yours are. I already have lots of nivalis and flore pleno along that top path but near the bench there is a little clump each of ‘Sprite’, ‘Mrs Macnamara’ and ‘Fiona’s Gold’ I do worry I’ll lose them though. Why do the labels always move about?
Snowdrops and Christmas rose, How uplifting. I might need to venture out in the wet to see if mine are coming out. Like you I have little.pots dotted around, mainly spring bulbs. Love the witchhazel too. Beautiful Christmas decorations .
Thanks Magdarae, snowdrops are a big thing for me but you’re right the little pots of spring bulbs provide so much to look forward to. Happy Christmas!
Multitalented. Love the decorations.
Thanks so much Linda. It’s fun to decorate when you have the time. My brother is an interior designer, and is master of the swag, so I can learn allot from him.
Lovely from start to finish! I couldn’t pick a favourite as they are all spendid, but that little ‘Three Ships’ is a beauty. What a clever husband you have, fabulous tree fern. Have a great Christmas x
Thanks so much for your lovely comments Gill. We’d spotted the tree ferns in a nursery in Cornwall during our summer holiday so he logged that as a present idea. I’m a bit worried he won’t be as happy with what I’ve bought him as it’s a bit dull in comparison. Happy Christmas to you.
I also have a twisted willow but which is much smaller than yours. It grows nicely from year to year and the yellow colours of the stems in winter are very pleasant.
I’m jealous of your tree fern which is amazing! Much bigger than mine, which will take about 15 years to reach the size of yours… See you in 15 or 20 years?! 😂
Good luck with yours for this winter: Fingers crossed that we won’t have the Beast from the East again this winter. Have a very Merry Christmas Katharine.
Hi Fred – I know, it’s such a lovely tall one. I’ve got some fleece ready to protect the crown if it gets very cold. I’m not sure we could cope with a Beast from the East again here in the UK – there’s so much to contend with already. We are now in Tier 4 lockdown because of this new highly infectious strain of corona. Hope you stay safe and have a very Happy Christmas. Joyeux Noel!
Wow to the Three Ships snowdrop. What a beautiful flower. I’m trying to figure out why I have never planted a Christmas Rose in the garden. It’s something I must rectify. Have a happy and safe Christmas.
Hi Graeme, I’m trying to work out why I only have one of the Christmas Roses. I think they can be quite expensive at this time of year – the perfect impulse buy! Happy Christmas to you too.
Lovely, varied Six-on-Saturday. I like your mantlescaping as well. Have a good Christmas, Katherine.
And you Granny and thanks for your lovely comments.
Love the mantlescaping – you have taught me a new word. What a beautiful hellebore and a fantastic gift from your husband. Hope you and your full household have a very happy Christmas!
The Sunday Times had a while feature on mantlescaping last week which is how I learned how on trend I am! Happy Christmas, Ciar.
What a lovely uplifting post. I do like your path with its mossy feature. I didn’t realise snowdrops would emerge at this time of the year…thought they were more a spring event. Your ‘Three Ships’ is so aptly named. I have planted snowdrops in my garden but they have been very disappointing. Wrong climate obviously. Snowflakes do much better here.
The peak snowdrop season for the common varieties is usually February here in the UK but it can be earlier or later depending on the weather. There are snowdrop hybrids that flower as early as September and as late as April though. I love the fact that Three Ships has a Christmas name because of when it flowers. Snowflakes are lovely too so I’m glad you’ve got them going down there. Happy Christmas, Jane.
What a lovely and calming post- is your garden open to the public? I would love to visit.