A vase on Monday

Is it a cheat to just plop an Orchid in a vase ? Oh well, I've been waiting for months for these blooms to open , Orchids are never in a great Rush . I just found the tag , this is Howeara Lava Burst 'Puanini'. I also made the vase which I was pleased with except the top rim is slightly wonky !

January Garden Blogger's Bloom Day and Tell the truth Tuesday

I jammed my camera  up under the Hellebore bloom . 

I noticed this little clump of Primula's the other day.

And Primula 'Wanda' 

 I almost missed  this tiny  Saxifraga  starting to bloom , Probably I need to get out more.  

Another easily missed bloom Polygala chamaebuxus .

A single Knautia 'thunder &lightning '

Hamamelis Jelena in full bloom .

This is the ugly damage the plumber caused with his huge double wide van a few weeks ago. The Cotinus  on the right  he rammed out by its roots. Philip spend hours ratcheting it back up . I think it will have to be chopped down , it's old and looks a hacked up mess . 

The big Spruce was also damaged , with big limbs ripped  off ... I hate plumbers  !

Happy New Year and a Tell The Truth Tuesday

I was all set to post for Alison's Bonnie Lassie) 'Tell the Truth Tuesday' . With photo's of the damage to the trees along the drive way when the plumber plowed through with his double wide van the other week,  I 'm too relieved that the garden didn't need to be dug up to replace the main water pipe.

So I won't show all that . Anyway it's a new year and freezing fog and stagnant air makes the garden look so good !

Merry Christmas !

A vase on Monday and a steamy eight hours

A second 'A vase on Monday" for me ...unheard of , I hardly ever bring things in from the garden. But it is  easier in the winter  , less to choose makes it fun.
I've been making so many vases , so I should make use of them .
I sniped a long branch of my NOID evergreen slender leaf shrub , It was getting too spindly anyway . I've  had it for years , must  have brought it back without a tag from the Cistus 'tough love sale'
Then I added few tiny hips of  the China Rose and  branches of  the narrow leaf Trachelospermum 'theta ' which is a Christmas  maroon this time of year. I think I might just go out and have another look for something else to add.

The reason I have so much time today ...eight hours of Christmas pudding steaming.

Tell the truth Tuesday...the back garden

 I'm joining Alison  Bonney Lassie   for my first installment of 'Tell the truth Tuesday'                                                                                   The truth is I've not done a thing in the garden since the weather turned cold and wet . And it's been very wet lately , so it is mostly mushy these days. I like to wait tell Feb/ March before I hack everything down . The birds are all over the what's left of the seed heads and dart in and out of the messy planting.

I'm hoping the worms will have pulled most of this down , so it will be less for me to do.

I did rake up most of the plum leaves around the stock tank.

And to tell the truth I've been having too much fun in my Pottery studio , which gets even more messy .

December Garden Blogger's Bloom Day

Mostly when I went out in search of blooms to photograph . I found . .. Droopy  ones

 But then I found a  few Calendula dotted about .

I almost missed the Viburnum blooms 

 'Pieris Japaonica 'Crispa' not quite blooming , but a like the foliage .

Tatty Chrysanthemums 

The Salvia's had better days.

Mahonia Charity a reliable  December bloomer 

I'm doing a bit better  with the indoor  blooms ,  Schlumbergera always a good one this time of year.

And a new African violet  which a bought more for the foliage , which is very wavy and looks like  miniature  Chard .
That's about it for my December blooms . More December blooms at Carol's blog  here.