It’s been a busy week all round, what with a New Year’s Eve Party and a family get together on New Years Day, along with fitting in work in between times. I’ve also joined a January photo challenge which requires the posting of a square shaped picture each day to represent a word ending in light – #January Light. Becky at Life of B has set this challenge and I’m finding it great fun. However, back to Six on Saturday and this morning I had a good mooch around our garden with my camera, these are the plants and photos I’ve chosen this week:

Mahonia x media ‘Charity’ is a fabulous plant for the back of a border – with its spiky evergreen glossy leaves it adds both structure and screen. The acid yellow flowers are produced in winter and are followed by a profusion of purple berries. Birds just love this plant – they feast on the flower buds!

The must have Ice Plant has had a recent change in it’s botanical name from sedum spectabile to Hylotelephium spectabile (bit of a mouthful!). This plant is loved by bees and butterflies during summer and loved by me in autumn and winter – its sturdy stems stay the course and it looks quite mystical when covered in frost or snow.

Geranium maderense is a super plant, but it is not fully hardy – H3 on the scale. It’s expensive to buy, but this is one of so many seedlings stemming from the original (bought about 10 years ago and long gone), I’ve lost count! I find seedlings in pots and in the borders most years and they’ve been distributed to family and friends. We are in the Midlands, but I’m not sure it would be so robust further North. With the common name of Giant Herb Robert, in summer it has long flowering stems of pink flowers and can reach a height and spread of 3 feet – a useful addition to the border.

Such a pretty little shrub, Gaultheria procumbent, or the Partridge Berry is a must for winter pot planting. This one has been in the same pot since Autumn 2018 and judging from the signs of strain in its leaves, a feed is required – a mulch of blood fish and bone should do it good.

Hydrangea paniculata is another plant with more or less year round attraction. The conical white flowering heads last all summer into autumn and although they look very delicate, the dried stems persist and endure through all weathers.

Finally, I planted this colourful pot some weeks ago – the pansies are now flowering well (although something is eating them) and it’s a cheery sight on a cold dank morning!

That’s my choice for this week, I’d recommend a visit to the home of SoS for more at: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/