Six Evergreens on Saturday

It may be a bleak time of year with dull, wet days and long, dark nights but when the sun occasionally breaks through, isn’t it just fabulous? A few of my #sixonsaturday pictures this week look like they could have been taken in high Summer but it was just a flash of bright sunshine, all the more appreciated as it’s so fleeting at the moment!

Choisya ternata is my first feature this week. Commonly known as the Mexican orange plant, it is a fabulously sturdy evergreen to have in the garden. I like that it doesn’t really do much: it just stays green and grows, I don’t ever smell a scent from it although it is supposed to smell like orange blossom but I’ll keep sniffing it as I pass by and maybe one day it will!

Viburnum Tinus have grown way better than I had anticipated to really fill out in the border and they give great evergreen structure all year long. At this time of year, cut stems from the Viburnum are great for adding to evergreen arrangements and I cut the stems from the back or those low to the ground so that there are plenty of buds left on the bush to enjoy.

Just look at the buds on the Rhododendrons just dying to fill out, all we need to do now is wait! I love the excitement at this time of year as we wait for the flower show to begin, you can almost feel Spring just around the corner!

Another evergreen doing well in the garden, but this time topped with red tips is the Photina Red Robin. I love the way this one only turns red on the youngest growth at the tips which gives a welcome contrast of colour against the evergreens during the Winter. I’ll prune it down around April once the herbaceous perennials start showing through in the border beside it and that means that the new shoots which grow back for next Winter will be a stunning red again.

I thought I’d also feature the growth of the green manure on one of the veg beds this week as it’s such a welcome show of green in the garden. I think I’ll leave it another few weeks before digging it in as it isn’t close to flowering yet.

I’ll finish this week with a Laurel shrub which isn’t looking so good! This is Prunus laurocerasus Novita which is supposed to be an improved variety of a Cherry Laurel, is said to be much hardier than the original species. I’ve had it in the ground for a few years now and although the leaves are a lovely, mid-green, they now look pretty diseased. It looked like this two years ago and I stripped off all the spotty leaves and cut it back a bit and it grew away with no problems. This year however, the brown spots are back, I think it’s a bacterial issue, probably pseudomonas syringae. I fear it maybe doesn’t like its feet being too damp but then who does? If anyone has any non-chemical solutions, I’d love to hear them as I’d prefer not to lose this bad boy!

Do feel free to me leave a comment on these six as I love to chat about plants and gardening or let me know what is green in your garden right now!

Enjoy reading other #SixonSaturday blogs for information and inspiration as gardeners around the world share six things from their garden on a Saturday. #SixonSaturday is hosted by The Propagator, and you’ll find lots of links on Twitter on the #SixonSaturday hashtag. You can find The Pink Wheelbarrow on Twitter at @PinkWheelbarrow.