It’s time for another Six on Saturday, a weekly event for garden bloggers worldwide, started by The Propagator in the U.K. All are welcome to join in!
As my photos show, Coppertop has been decidedly grey this week and snow may arrive tomorrow evening — our first real white stuff this season.
ONE – Once again I planted my garlic bed late in November. I used healthy cloves from Duganski and German Red hardneck varieties I harvested in August. Garlic is such an easy, faithful crop. It really doesn’t seem to matter when I get them in; they consistently send up their young green shoots.
TWO – In the fall, we ousted a transplanted, dying Cryptomeria in the new front bed for a Cornus sericea ‘Silver and Gold’. Sometimes this beautiful plant is called yellow-twig or golden-twig dogwood, a name that is appropriate for this season in particular. Once this variety’s variegated leaves appear, the ‘Silver’ element in its name becomes apparent. For anyone wondering about this plant’s origins, it’s a sport of Cornus ‘Flaviramea’.
THREE – Another great spot of winter color in the front bed is this blooming witchhazel, Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Diane’.
FOUR – Onto some hardware… Down in the shed, my row of grow lights doubled this week as Hubby installed another, parallel row of LED lights. I now have room on one counter for 14 trays of seedlings, all on heated mats. It’s feeling extravagant! To make all the lighting as energy efficient as possible, he retrofitted the old fluorescent fixtures with new LED tubes. He also improved the pulley system for raising and lowering the lights. This set-up is on a timer, allowing 16 hours of light each day. I won’t bore anyone with specifics of lumens or degrees of Kelvin, but will just mention we researched, and all works well. Outside night temps will dip into the 20s(F) this week, but I keep the shed’s air temp between 40 and 60, and the mats add about another 10 degrees F for the plants.
FIVE – It’s completed! The new, greenhouse was finished yesterday. The glass is clear, with the exception of a light-diffusing polycarb roof, even though these photos show a misty structure due to the drippy weather. I know we’ll have many happy years with this addition. We’re very thankful for excellent homeowner’s insurance coverage following our windstorm. Once a few days of freezing weather pass us by this week, I’ll move some pots back in.
SIX – We’re enjoying spots of color and fragrance in our breakfast room thanks to these forced Hyacinth orientalis bulbs. A bit of spring in mid-winter!
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Gardens at Coppertop 
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