#SixOnSaturday : Gardening in Tier 2

The second lock down officially ended on Wednesday, and we in Swindon, like much of the country are in Tier 2, and relieved not to be in Tier 3. What has changed? Not a lot, there's still lots of time to garden, although not the hours of daylight any more. It is possible to have up to six people in the garden, which it wasn't before. It's now a bit chilly to be outside for any length of time, so I tried using my chiminea for the first time to see if the grandchildren would be able to visit in the garden warmed by it. I have been very pleased, it works very well with dry wood, and gives out lots of heat, so along with some nightlights, because it gets dark quickly after school, I have made quite a pleasant area to sit in a socially distanced manner. Here's a photo of the area taken this morning without children, the first of my six:

I put cushions on the seats to make it a bit comfier. When I went out this morning, to have a look at any plants still showing off, I was pleased to say Salvia 'Phyllis Fancy' is still looking fantastic. It may be a slightly late flowerer, but it certainly knows how to extend the season.

My third outdoor plant which suffered a bit in the dry summer, but is now reveling in the moisture it's getting is Fuchsia 'Delta's Sarah' a beacon in the front garden.. In fact for October-December joy, I would say get Phyllis and Sarah, you can't go wrong.

I should have finished the linking section of brick path, but didn't get outside enough this week to finish it. I've dug it out and laid the sandy gravel, so I'll show you next week what it looks like.

Indoors there are lots of houseplants still growing, albeit more slowly than in the summer, but they do need some attention, and give lots of pleasure. I did very much enjoy a video made by the fabulous Geoff Stonebanks of Driftwood garden in Sussex for NGS. I visited Driftwood on a garden tour a few years ago, and was very impressed by the garden, and the work that goes into it. Here he is talking about his house plants, and giving a guided tour of his house plants, some of which are very unusual:

https://ngs.org.uk/discover-the-pleasure-of-house-plants/?utm_campaign=202570_28th%20Nov&utm_medium=email&utm_source=The%20National%20Garden%20Scheme&dm_i=6Q0Z,4CAY,1U9ZBM,I5FH,1

My houseplants are not so well arranged, and are very run of the mill, however this Clivia has been with me for about 45 years, it was given to me by Freda Ferne, and has survived despite being very neglected. This one has recently been split and repotted for the first time in ages, and has rewarded me with flowers, which if you know Clivia, will turn bright orange soon.:

The next two are a fabulous Agave that really need dividing, but is very sharp and quite difficult to deal with, I was given this by a friend who wasn't looking after it at all, it doesn't need much attention, but watering now and again. I've given her a healthy offshoot back.

My final plant was in the garden all summer, it's one of those cyclamen for sale in lots of places, it's not frost hardy, and when I looked at it last month, it had buds on it, so I brought it in. It has a faint delicious perfume.

So that's my six, I wonder what The Propagator has been up to this week? Let's have a look at his six. Always a pleasure to see what he's thinking about and plotting. Well he's taken delivery of a handy looking module tray, a sort of bifold one which saves root disturbance/ wrecking when you transplant seedlings. There are some lovely toadflax leaves as well. Please visit the blog to find out more.

Counting down to Solstice when we can welcome the lengthening days.