We’ve had some fantastic non gardening related news this week – our daughter and her husband are expecting their first baby, our first grandchild. So exciting – we’ve quite a wait of course as the baby is due at the beginning of April 2022.

Back to all things plants and gardens, apart from ordering tulip bulbs, it’s been a very unproductive week, what with mixed weather and busy with work and golf. We were hoping to get into the garden today, but unfortunately the warning messages about the weather weren’t wrong – it’s miserable! Anyway, Ollie still needed his walk and so I’ve been to an almost deserted Arboretum.

I had no intention of taking any pictures, but as Ollie engaged in his usual sniffathon, I couldn’t help but notice the many plants and flowers holding up under the deluge. My six this week are a just a small selection of the photos I’ve taken with my phone this morning.

First up are these vibrant rose hips – I’ll have to keep an eye open for the flowers on this specimen next year to see if I can identify it – it’s an autumn beauty!

Anemone x hybrida ‘Honorine Jobert’ in a border fronting the Visitor Centre. Japanese anemones have a height and spread of 1.5 x 2.5 metres and prefer to be positioned in light shade and in well drained soil. Propagation is simply achieved with root cuttings. Using a few different varieties can provide a display from mid summer well into Autumn, they’re a fabulous addition to any garden.

Another Japanese anemone, anemone hupehensis ‘Splendens’, is growing happily in a memorial garden – dancing away unperturbed by the rain and wind. That’s one thing about using an iPhone camera, the ‘live’ function seems to cope with movement, this would have been impossible with my DSLR today.

Also in the memorial garden, a hydrangea, petals just on the turn – the blooms may be left on the shrub until spring and will add winter interest – a dusting of frost gives them magical appeal…

This is surprising – a flush of flowers on the spring flowering viburnum plicatum ‘Mariessii”, in amongst the shrub’s autumn leaves. Until late last year, I was growing one of these shrubs in our garden – it looked very unhealthy after a prolific flowering and then dropped all its leaves by August. My hopes for a spring recovery were in vain, I can only speculate that the death of a nearby silver birch three years ago has resulted in rotten root material affecting its growth.

Last up, colchicum autumnale, also known as the autumn crocus, or as the leaves follow the flowers, naked ladies! The bulbs should be planted in August/September in humous rich well drained soil. Good for naturalising in grass, ideally they should be in a sunny spot, but these pictured are in shade and are doing well.

Enjoy your gardening week – stay safe and well!

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