The season is clearly changing but the garden seems to be in a state of confusion. Here are six things from my garden this week.
One
Natasha Richardson rose, one of the English roses that just keep on flowering. Lovely pink flowers and new buds still appearing. It could be summer!
Two
Penstemon ‘Plum Jerkum’. This suffered in the scorching sun of summer but it is happily putting out new flowers now. It was a great companion to the Tithonia, which truly does know summer is over and is slowly curling up at the edges.
Three
There are one or two last flowers on the rudbeckia but most have gone to seed. I will leave them standing through the winter to give some shape to the border.
Four
The agastache ‘Black Adder’ is also in its winter clothing. This was an absolute winner this year. Great colour and always thrumming with the sound of bees.
Five
Elsewhere in the garden there are signs of Spring. The primroses are out and offering a reminder that the slugs and snails are still active.
Six
At the very back of the garden in a shady sheltered corner the hellebores are putting out new flowers. I am sure these didn’t appear last year until January. This one is Pretty Ellen.
I’ve got bulb planting to do this weekend. The start I made last weekend resulted in only 18 bulbs being planted. As usual I was distracted. The dahlias needed cutting back, zinnias were pulled up and some of the foxglove seedlings were planted out. This weekend I will be trying to put a few tulips in the border without crashing in on those that are already there. Could be interesting. Wishing you all well with your gardening pleasures. If you want to see what everyone else is up to visit The Propagator for all the latest links to other Six On Saturday posts.
n20gardener 
Ooh, you have several plants that I like. Penstemon ‘Plum Jerkum’ is a gorgeous colour. My coral ones are still flowering, they also did poorly in the summer, and a new red one I bought has a couple of buds on it, though whether it will actually flower is anyone’s guess. I have a nibbled Primula too, the S&S are definitely out and about still. They must be loving all this rain! Good luck with the bulb planting 🙂
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You are lucky to have many colors in your garden! Penstemon, hellebores and this perfect white rose … Some of them that I don’t have yet… or more …
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Lovely lot of colour in your SoS. Good luck with the bulb planting! I always end up digging up bulbs, older ones and recently planted ones.
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I am sure I am going to do that!
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I agree with Jude that penstemon is a beauty, I can just imagine it with the tithonia! I hate bulb planting, I have some to find a place for but I am finding all the excuses to avoid it. No one else is going to do it, so I am only prolonging the agony. The rose is exquisite. 🙂
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Love how those agastache look. I don’t have any of that. Must remedy. I am feeling very smug. Last of this year’s bulbs are planted. 150 tulips today! Mostly in pots, faster than in the ground.
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I think I may plant some in pots and then sink them in the ground. I know I want a few more perennials in amongst them but I have decided which ones. I like the flexibility of pots that I can move at a later date – good idea. Have to hang head a bit today as I didn’t get out in the garden once this weekend! But there’s still time.
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The tulips I had in sunken pots didn’t do that well. I’m not going to do that again.
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Oh! Well that is a well timed reply. I’m hoping to get some gardening done today, but temperatures are still holding up so I am still relaxed!
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Well, specifically the one pot I left in the ground,i forgot it was there, those tulips rotted. Not sure about those in the pots I did remove. We shall see!
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I’ll see how I get on!!
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Perfect rose and Hellebore! I’ve planted some Penstemons, a punned from the nursery, so they’re no ID ones, but they’ve been excruciatingly slow to do anything. It would be lovely if one was like your ‘Plum Jerkum’.
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I hope the penstemons get going soon, I think they are real doers. Best of luck with them.
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You have better color than we do, and it is later. That is odd. So many have better color than we do. Ours typically lasts longer. We have a bit, but is is from autumn and winter blooms, not summer blooms.
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Sounds like your gardens are not so confused! But then those David Austen roses often flower into November here. The forecast for next week is for temperatures around 17 degrees, which is mad!
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That is about how our weather is (in Fahrenheit). It will be warmer tomorrow. I do not think I would enjoy a ‘normal’ climate as much.
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Just checked my Hellebores but no flowering stems yet.
Did you grow the Agastache from seed? It’s not something I’ve grown but now I’ve looked it up …….
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I bought the agastache in 9 cm pots that bulked up in a season – I did plant 3 pots together. But I am getting braver about growing perennials from seed – and more patient!
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Another fan here of your penstamon. I’ve never had much luck w/it – do we all have certain plants that hate us or is it just me – but yours is tempting me to try again next year.
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