One moment everything is under control, the next there is a long list of jobs to be done. A long weekend for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations should help. Yesterday I planted out the outdoor tomatoes and the courgettes. A first tray of zinnias went into the cutting patch. The cutting patch has itself been cut as half of it has been given over to a second attempt to grow asparagus and it seems more successful than the first. All four crowns have taken and now the long wait for a harvest begins. Here’s six from the garden for the first week of June.
One
Well this will make you laugh! After a whole year spent saying ‘No, I will not grow dahlias again.’ I was tempted by David Howard, an orange, shorter growing dahlia with dark foliage. I bought tubers, potted them up in April, greenhoused them through May, bringing them out on sunny days and now they have been sitting outside for about two weeks, waiting patiently to be put in the ground. Fingers crossed, David, I plan to plant you out today.
Two
There are more beautiful roses in flower. It seems to be such a good year for them. This one is the rambler ‘Wedding Day’. Beautiful small yellow buds which open to a creamy white with a crown of yellow stamens. It rambles along the back end of the garden fence, intermingling with the blackberries, which are also bursting with buds.
Three
Last year I divided the ‘Johnson’s Blue’ geranium. Two of these came with me to this house almost six years ago. I think I had about seven divisions from the plants and this one is doing superbly well. I may now have to modify the planting around it to balance the border out a little more.
Four
The purple foxgloves are truly in their stride now, of course they have almost completely taken over the white foxgloves that I had last year. In their defence they do very well at the shady end of the garden so I will let nature take the lead.
Five
The astrantias are now joining the summer party, this is a.major which self seeds prolifically here. I spread them around the garden but I am just getting to the point of maximum astrantia levels so the ruthless gardener will have to take over.
Six
Another self seeder is sisyrinchium striatum. I love its common name of pale yellow-eyed grass. These also came with me on the move. They took a few years to settle but now I have enough of them to begin to mix them in with digitalis lutea and the euphorbias.
So what needs doing this weekend? Roses to dead head, tomato side shoots to pinch out, nicotiana seedlings to plant out and of course the dahlias to free from the pots. I am also going to combine a collection of small herb pots into one large pot. With rain forecast for Sunday I will be busy today. Celebrating, gardening or reading SOS posts chez The Propagator, I hope you all have a good weekend.
n20gardener 
Your dahlias look great! You should have pretty flowers this summer.
As I said to Jon, I have the classic geranium ‘Rozanne’ but yours is really very pretty too. Last thing, I had already seen the sisyrinchium striatum but I had forgotten that it was so pretty. In addition it seems to be a fairly high flower?
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Yes the sisyrinchium is about 75cms, can get to 1m. It is very upright in a fan shape. Just has to have the old black foliage cut back. a Very simple plant. My blue geranium is ‘Brookside’ which self seeds readily. I think it is not in such continuous flower as ‘Rozanne’, which is an absolute winner!
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I have misinformed you. I forget the main geranium photo. That is ‘Johnson’s Blue’ as described. The other blue geranium is in the background of the astrantia photo, and it is that one that is ‘Brookside’!
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Thanks. I have another one with large blooms: last year I took a cutting in my in-laws’ garden of the G. ‘Sabani Blue’ – photo in the next Six.
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A lovely selection, I would love some of that sisyrinchium in my garden though I suspect it’s more of a full sun lover so might not take. Much taken with wedding day and your blue geranium too. Sadly all my astrantias get munched by the slugs.
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Yes I think the sisyrinchium does do best in full sun. Oh my, I am taken aback to hear that yr slugs eat the astrantias – so far they are untouched here! How interesting. The S&Ss are having a great deal of fun this year, rudbeckia is losing the battle here.
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I do like the purple geraniums. I only have pink ones. And the sisyrinchium striatum is brilliant, a self-seeder you say? How wonderful.
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The sisyrinchium is a generous giver, the flowers open with the sun.
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‘Wedding Day’ looks rather lovely and I’m sure my mum had sisyrinchium striatum – she calls it pig root. Good luck with the Dahlias. I vowed not to bother with them this year and yet have several nibbled pots of them.
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Aah, pig root is not such a nice name! We do keep going with dahlias, don’t we. They are such long flowers and so good for the second half of summer. We shall see….
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sisyrinchium striatum looks interesting. I saw pictures of it for the first time only within the past few years, perhaps here, but have never met it directly.
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It’s an easy going type, I’m sure you would get on well!
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What a lovely Six, it’s hard to choose a favourite but it would probably be R. ‘Wedding Day’.
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‘Wedding Day’ is a pretty one. It’s down away at the back but always lovely to come across it at this time of year.
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