Purple poppy with a bee sitting in the centre.

Mid July 2026

bee, butterfly, garden, plants

Fatigue had kicked in and I found I had very little energy to do anything at the beginning of July.  I tried to do about an hour every day in the garden but all I could manage was to keep the conservatory, house plants and patio plants watered.  The fatigue was due to overheating, lack of sleep, dehydration and maybe  Sjögren’s related fatigue  too (I think).  Now I am feeling a bit more energised and can do a bit more work in the garden which is just as well as loads of plants have finished flowering and need a tidy up so they don’t spread seeds everywhere.  I know some gardeners leave the spent flower heads on but I only do that if I want them to spread.

The thalictrum is over now so the pollinators are  all over the meadowsweet which is nearly over.  They are also enjoying the huechera, nepeta, astrantia, lavender, astilbe, loosestrife, honeysuckle, erigeron, spirea, geranium ‘Rozanne’, and  campanula garganica .  The roses have finished their first good flush and some are looking a bit bare but the moss roses ‘William Lobb’ are looking great and the ‘Generous gardener’ is also doing well.

Rozanne looks good beside the grass ‘Briza media’.  They kind of intermingle with each other.  They will soon look rather straggly though.  Not a single bee in this photo but normally they are covered in them.

Purple flowers of hardy geranium 'Rozanne mixed with beige seedheads of the grass 'Briza media'.
Rozanne and Briza media.

The sempervivums in the conservatory are all looking healthy but only a couple have flowered this year (unlike in  June 2023 when loads of them were flowering at the same time). ‘Chocolate kiss’ has finally flowered (only one) and only one of the ‘Cinnamon starburst’ has flowered.

green sempervivum arachnoideum in a small bowl
Sempervivum arachnoideum.
Orange and green Sempervivum 'Cinnamon star' plants.
Sempervivum ‘Cinnamon star’
Pink and red star shaped flowers of sempervivum 'Cinnamon star'.
Sempervivum ‘Cinnamon star’ flowers.
Purple and green sempervivum 'Chocolate kiss' plants.
Sempervivum ‘Chocolate kiss’.
Pink andred star shaped flowers of sempervivum 'Chocolate kiss'.
Sempervivum ‘Chocolate kiss’ flowers.

I have Chocolate kiss outside too and only one is about to flower.  The colour in bright sunshine is fab and goes really well with the astilbe ‘Fanal’ red.  Sadly the astilbe are about to finish flowering so I have been dead-heading quite a few plants.

Bright dark red sempervivum plants in an urn with similar coloured astilbe in the background.
Sempervivum ‘Chocolate kiss’ with astilbe ‘Fanal red’.
Green rosettes with deep purple ,spikey tips of sempervivum 'Mint marvel' plant.
Sempervivum ‘Mint marvel’.

The sempervivum ‘Mint marvel’ looks very similar to ‘Sir William Lawrence’ except Mint marvel is much larger.

Remember that Small Copper butterfly I was trying to photograph in June – well it turned out to be a Small Skipper.  I didn’t get a great photo but here it is.

Orange coloured Small Skipper butterfly resting on a pond plant.
Small Skipper butterfly.
Orange coloured Small Skipper butterfly resting on a yellow garden hose gun.
Small Skipper butterfly.

The poppies didn’t last long but I am going to save the seed so at least I should get plenty next year.   I just had them in a pot and I don’t think they liked it. The bees loved them.

Purple poppy with a bee sitting in the centre.
Papaver somniferum ‘Lauren’s grape’.

The space behind the wall has been neglected over the last few years and I really need to get on top of that.  I had bought some weed suppressing material a couple of years ago and had planned on spreading that in some areas and topping it with large boulders and stones to keep some weeds at bay.  There are tree seedlings from the golf course that are trying the damnedest at getting through the fence and some have been succeeding.  Also the sticky willy (Galium aparine) is over 5ft high!  It has been using the wire fence as a climbing frame and goodness it really does live up to it’s name.  I have been covered in the seeds and needed help picking them all off.  Hopefully this year I can get on with what I had planned without life getting in the way again.

We haven’t had much rain at all in the last couple of weeks and I don’t know when we will get some so it is all quite dry out there despite me watering those plants that need it most.  There is less floral colour in the garden in July but there is still a lot of interesting  foliage colours: greens, yellows, silvers, bronzes and purples.

View of the garden in mid July 2026 from the patio showing shrubs, beds, pond and back ground trees. The corner of a garage to the left.
Mid July 2026.

 

Foxglove plants ranging from purple, pink, apricot and white next to s seat.

That June heatwave!

conservatory, flowers, foxgloves, garden, plants, wildlife

Yep we finally got the heatwave and yes it was very hot, but thankfully not nearly as hot as it got down South.   I tried to do any watering in the morning and most of the work before lunch time as I don’t do well in the hot weather.  Just now in the garden it is mostly dead-heading and weeding and I have made the decision to get rid of the viola as they are an absolute headache.  They are popping up everywhere and spreading like wildfire.  It is going to take quite a while before the garden is rid of them.  I will need to find some clump forming perennials to replace them rather than ground cover plants.  There is/was a pink astrantia in a pot on the patio which I thought would do ok in the stumpery where we pulled out the viola but it had been totally eaten by snails!  I will give it ago anyway and see what happens.  I have given some hardy geraniums a chop back and left a few others  still for the bees.  I will chop those back shortly.  The heavy, thundery, showers that came along with the heatwave have brought down most of the petals from the philadelphus, some roses and some poppies.  Luckily I had asked Amy to put up some canes to tie in the thalictrum just in time so they stayed more or less upright.

Sadly when we moved the potted astrantia Harry found a New Zealand flatworm sitting near it.  Now I have to pull all the patio pots out and check underneath them!  Huge job.

The bees are loving the yellow thalictrum and the campanula and the foxgloves (when they can get into them). The foxglove below is actually a nice apricot coloured foxglove but the colour didn’t photograph well.

a brown garden snail having a snooze inside an apricot coloured foxglove flower.
Snoozing snail in a foxglove.

The astilbe are in full flower now, as are the roses and the campanula (which I really aught to trim back).  The foxgloves are always a joy but after the heavy rain and wind they are now all at a jaunty angle – this photo was taken just before the wind.  There is a mixture of pinks, purples, white and apricot.

Foxglove plants ranging from purple, pink, apricot and white next to s seat.
Foxgloves in the stumpery.

A couple of foxgloves however which are growing nearer the back wall are being shredded by the snails!  The flowers are ok but the leaves are now only midribs.

The other plant which has succumbed to slugs and/or snails is the Scot’s lovage It did still manage to flower but I am not sure if I will keep it as it never does very well.  However some wildlife likes it.  The ladybird and some kind of longhorn beetle shown here.

An iridescent green longhorn beetle on an umbellifer and a ladybird on the foliage.
Longhorn beetle and ladybird on Scot’s lovage.

We used to be able to have our dinner on a nice sunny patio, but with the increasing height  of the golf course trees it gets very shady by 19:30 which in a heatwave is rather nice but I think I would rather be able to enjoy the sunshine a bit more on the patio in the evening.

A view of my back garden in the shade.
Shady afternoon in the garden.

In the conservatory the Echinopsis eyriesii (only just found out what it is called) has had 2 flowers this year and the scent is amazing.  It is always a shame the flowers only last a day.

2 large white scented flowers on a cactus plant.
Echinopsis eyriesii flowers.

And I treated myself to a couple more succulent plants – lets hope I can keep them alive.

2 small green, succulent plants in terracotta pots.
Titanopsis calcarea and Haworthia cooperi v pilifera.

At the moment It is a case of keeping an eye on beasties, keeping things watered, and getting rid of unwanted plants that have become unruly.

a view of a garden in mid June with colourful plants and bird feeders.

Mid June 2026

flowers, scent, wildlife

They say we are heading for another heat  wave –  well not so far.  Still waiting for some sunshine and  warmth without that chilly wind.  We have had yet more rain which at least means I don’t have to water the garden but we didn’t get enough to fill up the pond.     It is baby frog time so they will enjoy the damp weather I am sure.  I am so happy to see damselflies again at the pond.  There were a few red damsels and the odd blue one too.  I saw a couple who had mated and the male was holding onto the female with his grippers while she laid her eggs in the pond by some vegetation.  A third one (probably a male) kept trying to butt in.  There was also a lone blue one hanging about.

single red damsel fly on a curled up lily pad.
Single red damselfly.
male red damsel fly clasping the female damsel fly while she lays her eggs.
Red damselfly couple – female laying eggs.
Male red damselfly clasping the female red damselfly while she lays her eggs.
Male red damselfly clasping female.

I am still trying to get a good photo of a small copper butterfly but this one will have to do in the mean time.

Small copper butterfly on a variegated holy bush.
Small copper butterfly on a variegated holy bush.

The red keys on my acer are tiny but very pretty against the bright green of the leaves.  My next door neighbour has a large red acer which has bright red keys and they glow when the sun catches them.

Bright green acer leaf with red keys (seed) on it.
Acer shirasawanum Aureum leaf with red keys.
Red acer leaves with red keys (seeds) beside them.
Neighbours red acer with red keys.

Lots of things are in flower just now and the place is absolutely buzzing with bees.  However just gone over are the honey lilies, weigela, syringia, stonecrop,  rhododendron, azalea, weigelia, aquilegia, hebe, saxifrages, forget-me-nots, and irises.

The stonecrop had amazing colours: bright yellow flowers, some green leaves, some purple leaves and some almost silvery with a coating of farina.

Yellow flowers on a stonecrop plant which ahs some purple, some green and some silver leaves.
Colourful stonecrop.

I do love Pattie’s Plum poppy and there were a few planted next to the cirsiums but I only have 2 left.  I don’t think they live very long so I need a few more.

In flower right now are: most of the roses, philadelphus, erigeron, purple clematis, nepeta, some hardy geraniums, briza grass, astrantia, some primroses, cowslips, lavender, foxgloves, deutzia, cirsium, thalictrum, orange geum and honeysuckle.  The wonderful fragrance in the garden comes from the honeysuckle, philadelphus and deutzia.  You do have to be closer to the roses to catch their fragrance.

Yellow and purple honeysuckle flowers with green leaves on the very top of an arch.
Honeysuckle.

Overall the garden is looking good just now with a few areas that are dissapointing.

a view of a garden in mid June with colourful plants and bird feeders.
View from the patio mid June 2026

The damp area that runs along the side of the ramp just annoys me now.  It looks great when the persicaria are up and flowering in august but until then it is just an eyesore and now the harling is split again and some persicaria is coming up behind it.

green leaves of persicaria popping up behind some broken white harling on a wall.
Persicaria coming up behind the harling.

Snails (I think) have demolished the 3 agastache I had planted behind the garage and have had a good go at  the eupatorium and marigold on the patio.  One marigold was totally stripped but I saved a couple by putting them on the patio table.  I had used crushed oyster shells on the surface of the eupatorium pot but that did nothing.

In the conservatory 2 of  the lithops have now split but the smaller one has not done anything this year so far. ( I have now found out that they should had have a pot of their own as they are not all the same species so I have given them a little pot each now.)  I treated myself to 3 tiny new succulents when we went to the cactus  and succulent show Saughton Park and how anyone can remember the names of these things is beyond me – I am still learning how to pronounce them.  I have another couple in the post – who knew I would get interested in succulents?

Lithops splitting.
Lithops splitting.
three small succulent plants in small pots.
3 new small succulents.

So the weather forecast for today was 90 – 95 percent chance of rain all morning and we didn’t get any!

A colourful view of the back garden from the patio. Flowers and shrubs in bloom.

In the garden in May 2026.

colour, flowers, foliage, stumpery

Thundery storms, hailstones /rain – then sweltering heat! But soon there will be some respite from the heat with a little rain.  So far this year the majority of butterflies I have seen have been the orange tips and speckled woods  and one small copper (I think) and one red damselfly. Lots of little bumble bees and a few large bumble bees.  The tadpoles have grown bigger and I have spotted a few newts.  Thankfully I have noticed far fewer slugs this year.

The Jock Tamson’s Gairden (JTG) plants sale went well and most of the plants were sold.  I had propagated too many bronze fennel but that is ok as any unsold will be used at JTG.  At the sale I got talking to a lovely lady, Naomi,  who,  after blethering about our mutual love of gardening and plants  gave me a few plants from her own garden to try.  Thank you Naomi.

At the beginning of May we found more blanket weed in the pond so gave the pond a treatment of Aquaplancton which made it all look a bit cloudy.  The tadpoles, frogs and newts didn’t mind at all although we did get some on some lily pads so they look a bit grey. I am still waiting for signs of the Typha I planted a couple of years ago and I planted a variegated iris just at the beginning of the year so I hope they will appear and flower this year.

Amy, my garden help, re-located a huge cyclamen from behind the garage to underneath the spirea where is should do well as it doesn’t get too moist there.  We took out a couple of old limbs of the viburnam as it was quite congested and was resting over the purple acer so that some of it’s branches had died off.

Also re-located is the hardy geranium Mavis Simpson which hadn’t really got going in the stumpery so it is now beside the heuchera in the middle bed where it will get a bit more sunshine.

I noticed that there are flowers for the first time on the acer Shirasawanum aureum and they are so tiny but really show up against the bright,  golden-green of the leaves.  The flowers are produced in small cymes.  Soon they will turn into a pair of winged samara (keys).  A samara is a winged achene which is one dried, seeded, fruit encased in one wing.

Small clusters of red flowers on a golden green acer shrub.
Acer shirasawanum aureum flowers.

My purple acer, acer palmatum Dissectum Garnet  (which is much older) has never flowered whereas next door there is a purple/red acer peaking over the top of the garage which already has the purple/red samaras .  I have never seen the flowers on it, and it is getting pretty wide now, growing over both sides of the front of the raised bed and growing down to and along the ground now.

purple acer shrub in the corner of a raised bed with f=green shrubs and a fern in the background.
Purple acer palmatum disectum Garnet in the raised bed.

The clematis montana is doing well but has now started to pull off the support at the top.  We are soon to start work on the garage roof so it isn’t the right time to do anything about it.

Pink flowers on the climbing plant clematis montana.
Clematis montana on the garage wall.

Below the clematis along the back of the garage wall is only a narrow border so it can be tricky to get it to look good.  I am trying out nepeta Junior Walker, hardy geranium Vision light pink and silene coronaria on the left hand side just to see how they do.  So far the cats have been stomping all over the nepeta so I have had to put an upturned basket on it for protection and this has done the job.

The middle bed is coming on nicely just now with the hebe in flower and the other plants are looking colourful.  There are are a few different colours of foliage in the middle bed with silvery white, dark green, bright golden-green, bronzes and purples which can make a lovely palette.

Different colours of foliage in a plant bed. Silver, bronze, purple, dark green and bright green.
Colourful foliage in the middle bed.

When viewed from another angle.

Layers of colour of plants. Purple at the front, golden-green then darker green, then pink flowers at the top.
Layers of colour.

The new fronds of the  athyrium otophorum var. okanum fern look like a right old tangle but they always open up perfectly.

Tangled looking new bronze fern fronds.
Athyrium atophorum var. okanum tangled looking fronds.

I am so happy that I finally bought some geum Mai Tai as they look so pretty next to the rose and fill up that gap nicely.  I did spot another geum right in front of the rose which was looking huge and healthy and wondered what I had planted but it turned out to be a weed (wild geum urbanum) so it was pulled out but now there is a bit of a gap in front of Gertrude Jekyll.

A variety of plants in a damp corner under the down pipe.
The damp corner where the geums are thriving.
Peach, frilly petals of Geum Mai Tai flower.
Geum Mai Tai.

I bought and planted three verbascum Peach champagne last year and only one was in flower at the time  (buttery-yellow colour with purple in the centre).  However I was not prepared for the colour of the emerging flowers this year.  The first two to start flowering started a deep dusky pink, then went peach and finally to the buttery-yellow colour. The last one to flower bypassed the pink stage – it started out peach.  Hey ho.

dusky pink verbascum along with pink flowers on a hebe and green japanese anemone foliage. Bright green foliage of spirea in the top right hand corner.
I thought I had bought the wrong verbascum. Pink instead of yellow.
Peach coloured verbascum flowers next to pink hebe, green Japanese anemone and bright green spirea foliage.
Verbascum Peach Champagne changing from dusky-pink to peach colour.
Verbascum Peach Champagne yellow flowers with purple centres.
Finally the right colour on the Verbascum Peach Champagne.

The red peony is looking good right now.  Normally when they are looking their best we get a deluge of rain which knocks all the petals off.

Deep red peony flowwers next to variegated holy and pink aquilegia flowers.
Red peony (unknown variety).

The poor old witch hazel had to be taken out as it was indeed totally dead.  It didn’t take much pulling and it was very wet at the base.  I am now looking for another large shrub or small tree for that gap.  There are a few more gaps I could fill in the stumpery but otherwise it is looking fine.

Path through a woodland garden.
Stumpery at the end of May.

It is so nice to work in the garden just now with the warmth of the sun and the gorgeous scent of the syringia that fills the air.

Pink flowers on syringia with beautiful scent.
Syringa Josiflexa Belleicent

The view from the patio right now.  Over the grey winters we have in Scotland I really miss seeing all this glorious, lush  colour.  Of course it will all change over the next month.

A colourful view of the back garden from the patio. Flowers and shrubs in bloom.
Colourful view from the patio.
view of the garden from under a cherry tree.

End of April 2026

ferns, flowers, garden, plants

We had a pretty wet and windy start to April but now there is a lot more sunshine around.  There is still a chilly breeze though, and with clear nights there is still the chance of frosts.

Sadly the Duddingston Kirk Garden Club has ground to halt now but the good news is that Jock Tamson’s Gairden (JTG) is taking over our annual plant sale (May 2nd in Duddingston Kirk manse garden). I have loads of seedlings and cuttings to take along for sale so a lot of my time has been spent tending to them.  Right now that means hardening them off by taking them all out during the day and bringing them all in again in the evening.  Once the plant sale is over I should have a lot more room in the conservatory and the patio tables.

selection of house plants for sale.
House plants for sale 2026.
selection of small plants for sale on a table.
Plants for sale 2026.
Plants for sale on a bench.
More Plants for sale 2026.

In the conservatory the cactus bumps have flowers on them which I didn’t expect.  I thought the bumps would have to get larger before they flowered.  Hey-ho.   Oxalis triangularis is just starting to bloom now with its very dainty flowers and dark purple foliage.  One of my neighbours brought some old pots that she no longer wanted and would I want any?  I spotted this deep red one that goes really well with aeonium Voodoo now that it has its deep red, summer colours.

Large fluffy, spiny cactus with small bumps with pink flowers on top.
Old mother cactus flowers.
Purple triangular shaped leaves and dainty pink flowers of Oxalis triangularis plant.
Oxalis triangularis.
Deep red colours of aeonium voodoo succulent plant in a dark red pot.
Aeonium Voodoo in a dark red pot.

It is the time of year that the vine weevil grubs are chomping their way through plant roots so we have given the whole back and front garden, patio pots, conservatory and the plants for sale, a nematode treatment.  This at least keeps them at bay.  I just need to keep the earth moist for the nematodes to do their job.

I love wandering around the garden at this time of year spotting all the new shoots and being thankful for the plants that have come through the wet winter.  The emerging fern fronds (fiddles) look especially nice and they are all very different.  My favourite one just now is the very hairy looking  Polystichum polyblepharum.  I love ferns!

Hairy new fronds on fern.
Polystichum polyblepharum fern.

All around the garden are little purple violets that have just spread wherever they want.  I do have to keep an eye on them or they would just take over.  The same goes for the ajuga and the periwinkle.

Purple violets on a woodland floor.
Viola riviniana purpurea (labradorica)

As for the forget-me-nots well they are popping up everywhere too.  The rain seems to have washed them down to the edge of the borders.  And under the rhododendron is a patch of dicentra formosa ‘ bacchanal red’   which has to be kept under control or it would spread everywhere.  The yellow erythroniums are needing dead-headed now to prevent them seeding everywhere as I already have 3 large patches of them.  One patch is under the crab apple which is now blooming away.  It hasn’t produced any more branches to the back of it so it is going to be drooping heavily to the front once the blooms have been replaced by the heavier crab apples.  I have to keep an eye on Harry otherwise he would just hack it back!  Although someone of FB told me about a method call Notching which can induce the bud bellow the notch to start to branch so I may try that next year and see what happens.

yellow flowers and mottled green and brown leaves of erythronium plant.
Erythronium yellow.
small pink blossoms on a crab apple tree
Crab apple tree Malus Sylvestris Evereste.

The berberis is in full flower now and if you peek up the right hand side of the garden you can see it with the white spirea flowers in the background and a few yellow tulips behind it and just in the foreground are the narcissi actaea pheasant eye.   Most of the narcissi have gone over except for a few Segovia on the patio, the small narcissi pipit  in the stumpery are still in flower.  Narcissi Pipit are always the last to come through.

Orange flowers of berberis with small white sprays of flowers of spirea in background. Foregreound is pale yellow narcissi actaea pheasant eye.
Berberis and spirea.

The view from the patio just before the cherry blossom fell and the narcissi had gone over,

view of the garden from under a cherry tree.
Before the blossom all fell and the narcissi ha gone over.

Most of the tulips have gone over but the ones in mum’s planter are still in flower.  They look nice next the narcissi Segovia and the pink silene Flos-Jovis Peggy.  The wild garlic looks pretty too.

Pink flowers on a dwarf campion plant.
Silene Flos-Jovi Peggy.
Pink tulips layered with pale narcissi and dwarf pink campion flowers.
Unknown tulips with narcissi segovia and silene Flos-Jovi Peggy.
white flowers on the wild garlic plant.
Wild gar;lic, allium ursinum.

Just beside the conservatory door to the patio is the skimmia japonica which has a really nice scent when in flower.  It is just about over now.

Tiny pink flowers against evergreen leaves of skimmia japonica plant.
Skimmia Japonica.

Somehow I have managed to have anemone  coronarai Bordeaux popping up in pots in amongst the plants I actually planted in the pots.  I don’t think they seeded themselves there so I must have re-used to compost that the anemones came from to top up the pots? Gardeners World had a bit about an anemone grower who said the corms get bigger with age but that you get the best flower from the smallest corms  – well I never knew that so I will keep that in mind.

And remember the marsh marigold being eaten by something – well I found the culprit and it totally demolished the plant!  Bloody wood pigeons!  This may also be the creature that has broken a few of my nepeta plants.  I have found a lot of broken off stems but nothing eaten.  It may well be a cat too as it is also known as cat mint but we get lots of cats in the garden and only this year has there been a problem.  I have had to put upturned baskets over them to protect them.  Such a pain.  But now, I am off to enjoy some sunshine while I can.

wood pigeon eating a marsh marigol plant at the edge of a pond.
Mystery solved – wood pigeon!

 

Dark pink tulips in front of white hellebore flowers speckled with dark purple.

Beginning of April 2026

flowers, plants, scent, spring

Ahhh sunshine at last – it makes such a difference.  The birds are singing and there is lots of colour and fragrance in the garden now.  In the stumpery the sarcococca and the winter flowering Lonicera fragrantisima  are smelling lovely, as is the viburnum in the raised bed and the skimmia japonica on the patio.  In the front garden it is the mahonia giving the very strong scent.

tiny bright yellow floers on a background of prickly dark green leaves of Mahonia shrub.
Mahonia
Dainty yellow flowers held on a wiry stem of the epimedium sulphureum plant.
Epimedium sulphureum

The leaves on the possibly dead witch hazel have finally tuned brown and shrivelled up.  There are flowers appearing everywhere now.  The epimedium sulphureum out the front is covered in tiny yellow flowers and although the big yellow daffodils have gone over,  the bright yellow mahonia is taking the spotlight.  The white periwinkle under the front hedge is covered in flowers and the odd little grape hyacinth is still hanging in there.  Out the back the pieris is looking good with all its little white bells, all the hellebores are in full flower now as are the fritillaria, some tulips, some narcissi, berberis, corydalis, wood anemone, pulmonaria and pink flowered heather.  The hebe always has a few flowers open.

Tiny white bell shaped flowers of the Pieris shrub.
Pieris forest flame
Bright peachy orange coloured tiny flowers of the berberis shrub with tiny prickle dark green leaves.
Berberis darwinii
Dark pink tulips in front of white hellebore flowers speckled with dark purple.
Tulips in the sun.
White wood anemone in front of a log on a woodland floor.
Wood anemone
Narcissi Actaea with large pale petals and tiny dark orange corolla in the centre.
Narcissi Actaea with only one eaten so far.
Narcissi Segovia pale petals and small pale yellow corolla.
Narcissi Segovia in a pot.

There used to be three wood anemone plants there but now only one is left.  I have a few little ones growing in a pot so once they are a bit bigger I will plant them out.

I learned the other day that the beautiful colouration on fritillaries is known as tessellation – a geometric pattern and they don’t have petals or sepals but instead has tepals like tulips and lilies!  They come in completely  white versions, pale, darker and very dark version and I have every variation in my garden somewhere even the pure white ones.

Mostly white with purple checkered pattern fritillary flowers.
Pale coloured version of fritillary.
Dark purple version of the fritillary flower against grey milk churn.
Dark purple version of fritillary.

I t hasn’t all gone according to plan though as it looks as though the choke berry  shrub has died and the beautiful flowering cherry (Shiroto Mount Fuji) is not looking very happy.  One whole limb is dead and I think it is very waterlogged and there may not be anything I can do to bring it back.

Large dead branch on a cherry tree Shiroto Mount Fuji.
Cherry tree Shiroto Mount Fuji with one dead limb.

The geum mai tai,  which is in a sunny position, is looking lush whereas the orange flowered geum, which is in a more shady site,  has been eaten down to the leaf margins.  One of the huge cyclamen out of a row has rotted so has left a large gap in the row.  There are smaller ones that I can put in its place but I am not sure why that one rotted yet none of the others did – they are all planted at the same depth and are slightly proud of soil level so they shouldn’t get waterlogged in theory.

Something – possibly pigeons –  has been eating the marsh marigolds.

Yellow flowers of marsh marigold been eaten been by something.
Eaten march marigold.

In the conservatory my ponytail plant has 3 branches and one of them suddenly dropped all of its leaves and I don’t know what to do about it.  I do know that it is pot bound and that may well be the cause but it is welded into that very large pot so it probably wouldn’t come out without damaging it further.

Ponytail plant that has lost its leaves from one branch out of 3 branches
Ponytail plant (Beaucarnea recurvata).

The good news is that in the conservatory my seedlings are doing ok and hopefully they will be big enough to sell at the plant sale in early May.  Our Duddingston Kirk Garden Club is folding but the Jock Tamson’s Gairden will be taking over the plant sale.

Frogs, newts and frogspawn in a small garden pond at night.

Mid March 2026

colour, flowers, frog, newts

Mid March and it feels like we are still in winter. Rain, more rain, wind, frost, tiny bits of sunshine then more rain.  The patio pots are all still water logged but most of the plants look like they have survived although some are covered in moss like the red astrantia.  But I am hoping the astrantia will soon pop up through the moss.

moss covering the top of a plant pot.
Moss taking over the astrantia.

The crocuses that were eaten when they flowered in the trough last year have survived as I put one of the seed tray lids over it this time.  They looked great in the little bit of sunshine that we did get.

Pale purple crocus flowers with yellow centres in the sinshine.
Crocus sieberi ‘Firefly’ in the sun.

Most of the hellebores are in full flower now so here are a few:

Pale green flowers against dark green leaves of hellebore argutifolius.
Helleborus argutifolius
White flowers against green leaves of helleborus niger white.
Helleborus niger white.
Double pink flowers of hellebore picotee with shrub berberis behind with tiny jaggy leaves.
Helleborus picotee.

In the stumpery:  the small white erythronium are almost flowering.  The pulmonaria are looking lovely with their spotty leaves and pinky/mauve flowers.  The tortured hazel looks a little half and half as the side that gets the most sunshine has the most catkins on it and the shadier side is looking a bit bare.  Even the dead witch hazel that is still clinging onto it’s dead leaves has some colour – the leaves look almost red.  There are some very fragrant flowers now on the sarcococca and also on the winter flowering honeysuckle.

Spotty leaves and pink/mauve flowers of pulmonaria.
Pulmonaria ‘Lewis Palmer’
Red coloured dead witch hazel leaves still on the shrub.
Dead witch hazel leaves clinging on.
Dangly yellow catkins on a twisted branches of a tortured hazel shrub.
Corylus avellana contorta catkins.

The best news is that we spotted the first lot of frogspawn on 6th March this year and the other day I counted at least 30 frogs and loads of frogspawn – at least 11 clumps!  And even better than that- Harry saw loads of newts in the pond at night (he counted at least 10 but they move really fast so getting a photo was tricky).

Lots of frogs and frogspawn in a small garden pond.
Frogs and frogspawn 2026.
Frogs, newts and frogspawn in a small garden pond at night.
Frogs and newts.

The mouse plant that we are trying to get rid of in the raised bed came back with a vengeance so Harry dug down and got most of the soil out of that corner.  Before we put and soil  in there we will wait and see if any more reappears.  We have already waited over a year to get rid of this stuff.  Right next to that area is a small clump of tete-a-tete narcissi and at the other side a clump of hardy geranium so I am hoping the mouse plant will not appear in amongst them.

Dainty yellow flowers of tete-a-tete narcissi.
Tete-a-tete narcissi next to the dug out hole.

With a bit more sunshine the rest of the narcissi out the back will bloom while the large yellow daffodils out the front garden are flowering away and the mahonia it just about to bloom.  I can’t wait to get out and enjoy the garden without having to  wear about 6 layers of thermals.  I have just got over a horrid cold and am still struggling to keep warm even in the house.  On the plus side – I haven’t seen any huge slugs yet this year – it is only a matter of time.

small garden with a summerhouse, seating and pond with slab stepping stones.

Sad end to February 2026

mum's garden

It’s the end of February, and the end of an era for my family.  This year has had such a sad beginning,  with the passing of a friend, then my dear mum,  followed by my mum’s remaining sister.  Mum loved her garden and pond and also many houseplants.  I have taken a few of her houseplants to care for them as I think it is a lovely way to remember people by.  As you tend their plants you can reminisce about happier times and even talk to the plants as though you were talking to the person themselves.   Here are some pictures of my mum’s garden. small garden with a summerhouse, seating and pond with slab stepping stones.

high hedge, various shrubs and a birdhouse.

shrubs and grass

bench seat in front of a small pond.

small garden pond with plants and rocks.

small garden pond with water feature.

garden urn with trailing plants.

dark purple foliage and pink flowers of sambucus black lace.

red flowers of petunia

mum, dad, and Dandydinmont dog called Herbie sitting on a garden seat.
Gone but never forgotten.
View of the garden at the end of January 2026 shows some evergreen shrubs and ivy and a wild life pond.

End of Jan 2026 in the garden.

evergreens, garden, plants, Tools

Moan, moan ,moan, yet another cold and soggy winter.   We finally got a short spell of sunshine the other day so I nipped out into the garden to see what had started to come through.  The usual snowdrops, narcissi, a few crocus, hellebores, and yellow erythronium are just coming up.  Some of the hellebores have buds, some have a couple of open flowers and others only have leaves.  The old leaves need to come off as they are pretty manky looking and new leaves will pop up soon.

White snowdrops in bud on a carpet of wet, brown leaves. Mossy log behind them.
Budding snowdrops.
White hellebore buds surrounded by manky leaves.
White hellebore buds.
Pale green buds of hellebore argutifolius.
Hellebore argutifolious buds.
Deep purple hellebore buds and young flower with a fern growing through the plant.
Deep purple hellebore.

The rhododendron and the pieris have promising buds and hopefully (if I can keep the pigeons off) the choiysia will have some buds too.  The sarcococca has a few buds on, the lonicera fragrantissima (winter flowering honeysuckle) only has a few flowers so far, but it did get a prune in autumn as the branches were overhanging the path. The corkscrew hazel has a few catkins on but the witch hazel only has a few brown wizened leaves on it.  It usually has beautiful spidery orangey-red flowers on by now.  I do hope it is ok. This is what it looked like this time last year.   I have asked around and some people think it may not have had enough water during the summer (well I was on bed rest most of the summer) while others think it may be wind scorch.  It may well be dead but I have tried the scrape the bark test shown here Is my tree dying?   and just can’t make up my mind if it is or isn’t so I will just leave it alone and see what happens. The leaves did put on a bit of an autumn show but then just went very dark brown and didn’t really fall off.  There are some buds but they look small and skinny so I am a bit perplexed as it has been in that position for 12 years now and was only 3 meters away before that – we moved it when we got rid of the greenhouse and made the stumpery.

Brown leaves on a dead looking witch hazel shrub.
Dead looking witch hazel.

The hebe Pink paradise always has a few sporadic flowers on it as does the viburnum Bodnantense Dawn.  I took out a lot of the golden Japanese rush (Acornus Ogon) as it was creeping everywhere and getting in amongst the roots of other plants but it is a nice golden colour in a winter garden when potted up in a window box.  However it needs a bit of TLC now.    It lives under the bird feeder, behind a the rose Gertrude Jekyll,  as it not only helps prevent the seeds from the feeder getting into the bed, but also stops the rush getting out and spreading through the bed.

Golden green Acornus Ogon rush in a window box.
Acornus Ogon

There are loads of evergreen to see in all parts of the garden to break up the browns and greys of winter.  A lot of ivy and ferns, cyclamen, heather, hebe, sarcoccoca, berberis, variegated holy, tree heath, epimedium, some grasses, and the saxifrages and succulents.  Even the young foxgloves and dead-nettles look ok during the winter.

At this time of year when the sun is still low we don’t get much sun sunshine in the garden.  I can see it flooding the golf course out the back and I can see it across the playing field out the front, but not much gets into the garden.

Old miscanthus grass seed heads back lit in the suns rays.
Miscanthus in the winter sun.

The conservatory gets a little bit more, but only for a short time and the patio only catches some rays on the table top through the conservatory window.

In the conservatory the crocuses have flowered as has the hyacinth and of course the cyclamen.  The oxalis palmifrons is still not showing any buds.  I did see some paler growth which I initially thought might be buds coming up but they were actually very young leaves that were not very green.  Everything needs a bit more sunshine – including me!

Pale young leaves on an oxalis palifrons.
Oxalis palmifrons young leaves looking a bit pale.
Glimmer of sunshine on the potted bulbs on the conservatory table.
Bulbs on the table in the sunshine.
Colourful bulbs in pots.
Bulbs and cyclamen.
Pale purple Crocus sieberi ‘Firefly’with orange stamens.
Crocus sieberi ‘Firefly’

While I was deadheading the crocuses the spring on my Darlac cut-n-hold snips broke.  Darlac tools have what they call a ‘limited ‘’lifetime’’ guarantee’ so it is worth holding onto the packaging and write the date of purchase on it and keep your receipt.  I couldn’t find anywhere on their website about how to get a replacement spring.  Apparently they were taken over by Fothergill’s  but their website didn’t give any clue about how to obtain a replacement spring either so I phoned the Darlac customer services and they took my details and said that Fothergill’s would send one out to me.  I use quite a few different tools from Darlac – check out some of my favourite tools.  Thank you Darlac.

broken spring of Darlac cut-n-hold snips.
Darlac broken spring.

So the end of January – beginning of February looks very cold, wet and grey still but there is so much coming through that the garden will soon be full of colour again.

View of the garden at the end of January 2026 shows some evergreen shrubs and ivy and a wild life pond.
End of January 2026
2 pots of bulbs defrosting after being frozen.

Mid January 2026

Uncategorized

Happy New Year!  Yes I know I didn’t do a blog post in December.  I didn’t forget, I was just trying to stay warm as it was pretty cold most of time.   The ramp gets extremely slippery in the freezing weather and we have been having a lot of freezing temperatures lately so I haven’t been in the garden for ages.  I don’t fancy getting stranded in the freezing cold just because I can’t make it up the ramp due to ice.  I have been putting fleece over the plants in the conservatory plus keeping an oil radiator on during the night to try and keep the room around 5o C or more.  When there is an occasional glimpse of sunshine I remove the fleece.

fleece removed from plants in the conservatory sunshine.
Sunshine in the conservatory.

Harry has been keeping a couple of areas in the frozen pond melted so the gas does not build up under the ice.  Some people keep a small ball on the pond and say that it prevents the pond from icing over completely but that has never worked for us.  Plus I don’t want the dog jumping in to try and retrieve it!  All the slabs are very icy.

ice covering a small garden pond
Frozen pond.

I have been keeping the birds fed and changing their water on the patio.  When one birdbath freezes I put out a fresh one and defrost the frozen one.   The pots are all defrosting now as the temperature has started to rise a little.  I am so looking froward to spring and feeling a bit of warm sunshine and seeing the garden come back into colour.  I am grateful for all the evergreens so I am not just looking at bare brown twigs, and soon there will be flowers on a few late winter flowering shrubs but we are just a little too early for them yet.

2 pots of bulbs defrosting after being frozen.
Defrosting bulbs.

Even the patio slabs are slippery so I still have to be careful.  At least we haven’t had the snow that a lot of other folk have been having (so far).  I remember the Beast from the East when I had to clear the snow from the patio almost every hour to keep  a path clear to the bird feeder (with Harry’s help).  Eventually I couldn’t even open the door to do that. I was stuck indoors for ages. Edinburgh is reasonably well sheltered from a lot of extreme weather so we don’t do badly really I just don’t do well in the cold.