gardening

Six On Saturday: Magic water

/ n20gardener / 11 Comments

I have been fearful of going into the garden of late. Wilting courgettes and parched tomatoes greeted my every appearance. The flower garden drooped and the lawn is brown and crispy. Today we finally have a good downpour of rain which will hopefully last for most of the day. Stored water is replenished and the good soak will help the garden revive. Here’s six from the garden this week.

One

The agapanthus are getting into full swing. These are ‘Midnight Blue’, a slightly darker version. I think they are a little darker than the camera captures them here.

Two

In comparison, I have several clumps of an unknown variety. These came from the old garden nine years ago now and have been faithfully appearing every year since. I’m hoping there’s no agapanthus gall midge to worry about for a few more years.

Three

The hollyhocks are a good example of a plant that is growing shorter and with smaller flowers this year. Perhaps the magic water will give them a surge of growth.

Four

On the other hand the leucanthemum superbum are having a riotous time. They have probably grown taller than any year since they were grown from seed some eight years ago. Much loved by hoverflies and apart from the need for vigilant staking they are trouble free.

Five

These white phlox also came from the old garden and have been moved around this garden a few times. They have done particularly well in this sunnier spot and have not suffered as much from the drought as my magenta phlox.

Six

The hibiscus ‘Red Heart’ was planted a couple of years back to replace a box that had succumbed to blight and caterpillars. The box was a blob that I inherited. This is a far more interesting plant to fill the space.

Oh dear, there seems to be a lull in the downpour. I hope there is more to come. I do have beans and raspberries to pick so a little break in the rain can be welcomed. The first courgettes are coming through and the potatoes continue to supply in reasonable quantity. It’s a quieter weekend for me so I plan to read more SOS posts and catch up with the gardening world from Jim’s Garden Ruminations website. Happy gardening to you all.

Six On Saturday: Broken promises

/ n20gardener / 17 Comments

The powers that be will say they were forecasts not promises. Whatever they were they did not materialise and the garden remains in desperate need of rain. I haven’t watered the potatoes, hoping that there was enough rain in the early growing stage to get me through to a crop. It’s not been too bad, smaller in size but the good taste compensates. The flower garden is truly suffering and as today’s promised rain faded away I took to watering the collapsing plants. Getting up close makes it clear how the self-seeders are showing their thuggish nature. There is some work to be done. I’m on a promise for a thunderstorm tomorrow. In the meantime here’s six from the garden this week.

One

The first three are annuals sown to fill the space left by the fig tree. The roots of the fig may be shallow but they are tenacious and it was all I could do to carve out some planting holes for the seedlings. The first is a pink poppy, from seed supplied by fellow SOSer Fred. They are about six inches high – lack of water I’m sure.

Two

The French marigold ‘Carmen’ seems to coping a little better with the conditions and fills the corner quite well..

Three

Cornflowers. I shared half with my daughter and now I’m wishing I’d kept them all! I’m sure they are looking good in her garden too, which I’ve not visited for a few weeks now.

Four

Here’s an unknown clematis. This was struggling early on and so I tried to give this a weekly watering can full. It’s showing positive results. It needed to re-establish after being messed about by the removal of a rose arch and rose.

Five

The drum stick alliums benefit from getting the water I empty out from the bottom of the water butt. It seems to have helped and the bees truly appreciate them.

Six

Apples. How will they fare I wonder. I’ve picked up the last of the June drop, I hope. Will the sunshine make for tastier apples? I must be patient.

I’ll make the most of today’s cooler temperatures to cut back geraniums and clear the strawberry patch of all the over ripe fruit. There’s plenty of rose bay willow herb to be pulled up as I go. I have the agapanthus to look forward to, they are just about to open up. It must be July. Jim’s garden awaits the curious, always something different as well as links to other SOS gardens. I hope that those who need rain do get some soon and those that have too much do not suffer. Happy gardening.

Six On Saturday: The garden survives

/ n20gardener / 22 Comments

I’m back in the garden after a week on the Suffolk coast. The North Sea breezes kept things a little cooler there. Here it was hot and it is going to be hot over the weekend. My collection of things in pots growing on survived, the tomatoes were drooping a little but all in all a week’s neglect did not cause too much suffering. Here’s six from today’s cloudy garden.

One

It’s hydrangea time here. This striking blue one is a fascination to me. I inherited it as a white, possibly pinkish colour but over the years it has become very much blue, with the occasional purple head. The cloud has dimmed its colour a little.

Two

Also inherited, this one has been moved around the garden three or four times. It lives in a large pot now and is possibly getting a little too big for it. Maybe next year another move will be on the cards.

Three

The clematis ‘Etoile Violette’ opened up more while I was away. It scrambles away quite happily and needs very little attention. That’s what we like.

Four

Next door is a trachelospermum jasminoides or star jasmine. It scrambles too, but at a slower rate. Planted out in 2018, it has finally filled the allocated space, but even now there is still room to spread further.

Five

I’d almost forgotten what this is, I sowed seed last year and they just languished. I kept faith and overwintered three small stems which materialised into just one stem healthy enough to plant out this year. It’s antirrhinum majus ‘Chantilly Velvet. Quite lovely, more of them would be even better.

Six

My mad crazy hebe. This has also been moved around a few times and is now in it’s permanent home. It is fizzing out in all directions and is much loved by the bees. It’s about 6 feet tall and I sense that it could go higher. I dead head once the flowers fade but then it is left alone.

I was picking strawberries before I left and had a good crop. On my return the strawberry patch smelt gorgeous, mainly due to the number of over-ripe strawberries. But others were just about okay. Red currants and black currants were also picked but most of the summer fruiting raspberries were also over ripe. Sometimes the garden just gets away from me. I’ll be watering and dead heading roses this weekend. All the fruit will be used to make a summer pudding for a family lunch on Sunday. Wishing you all happy and productive gardening wherever you are. Jim, in Cornwall, hosts the SOS band as usual at Garden Ruminations.

Six On Saturday: Plants that do it by themselves

/ n20gardener / 12 Comments

There was much anticipation here on Friday. Thunderstorms and rain were forecast. Nothing significant materialised. I will have to water the potatoes today and check on the newly planted tomatoes and courgettes. A friend who is well ahead of me has her first courgette already. There may be no rain but some plants just get on with things. Here’s six from the garden this week.

One

Peony, I did bring peonies from the old garden but they didn’t seem to take. Then after eight years this one appeared. It’s in the wrong place surrounded by roses and veronicastrum but I’m not going to move it in case it takes to not flowering again.

Two

This is the garden path. Almost impassable with the sprawl of plants escaping from the borders. It’s full of bees humming through the flowers so at this time of year I take the long way round across the lawn.

Three

Self-seeders are the theme in the garden this week. These calendulas are plentiful at the veg end of the garden.

Four

This year they have been joined by self-seeded nigella love-in-a-mist. I’ve left it to edge a narrow strip where I have sown carrots.

Five

More self-seeding, mallows have come through from the compost heap which I tend to use for earthing up potatoes. I’ve let them stay at the end of one of the veg beds.

Six

My final self-seeder is alchemilla mollis. This is also happy overwintering as seed in the compost heap or self seeding in the borders.

Wishing you all well in your gardens. It’s dead-heading roses and weeding for me. Jim’s garden is open for viewing literally and digitally. Garden Ruminations is the place to be, even if I am envious of his rain.

Six On Saturday: Busy times

/ n20gardener / 14 Comments

It feels as though the garden is hurtling through it’s highlights this year. The white camassias, newly planted over the winter, were here one week and gone the next. I’ve managed to plant out strong seedlings of cosmos, cornflower, marigolds and poppies in the new new flowerbed but the phlox seedlings had barely any root system on them and have flopped and twisted. I should have added ‘not labelling’ plants to my list of careless gardening last week. These are a collection of self-seeders and candidates for relocation that I accumulated over the winter. Yes, it’s a Japanese anemone but is it the white or pink one? Thalictrum, yes but which variety? Geranium psilostemon or ‘Brookside’. Time will tell and spaces will be found. Here’s six for this week.

One

It has been a little wet this week, which has been a good thing. Here’s the rose ‘Souvenir du Docteur Jamain’ after a shower. It struggled as a climber on a shady fence. Now it is wrapped around a wigwam of canes in a sunnier spot and this year has finally agreed to get on with growing well. I should have invested in a fancy obelisk for it. I apologise.

Two

The common astrantia major with its lovely pink tinges. Does self-seed and I welcome it.

Three

I said I would come back to phlomis once it was in flower. Here it is. We call it the Martian plant because it is a little weird. There is some blue geranium ‘Brookside’ coming through between the phlomis and the red rose which sort of eases the colour clash.

Four

The penstemons are in flower now, I remember buying this white one last year from a pity bench. It’s done well. I can’t remember the name and it is not on my fallible plant list.

Five

Another generous self-seeder. Lychnis coronaria. Silver leaf and magenta flowers.

Six

I’ll finish on a rose – ‘Natasha Richardson’, seems to be a healthy rose that just flowers and flowers. Scented too.

I managed to plant out some of the tomatoes last weekend but there’s more to do. I’m moving perennials from a holding bed into the new flowerbed and then the tomatoes and cucumbers will have a home. Thunderstorms and rain are forecast for today and I only have the morning free tomorrow. Time rushes on. I hope you find enough time for a moment or two in the garden this weekend. I’m sure Jim will as he has NGS open days coming up. All the SOS links can be found on Jim’s Garden Ruminations.

Six On Saturday: Careless gardening

/ n20gardener / 15 Comments

I’m not going to be too harsh on myself but…I did realise yesterday that the ‘Wisley’ roses have really taken over this year. The bearded irises and my last remaining clump of delphiniums are hunkered down beneath them hoping for a chance to break through. It is also very evident that the yellow phlomis and the red ‘Tess of the D’Urbervilles’ rose are not a match made in heaven. I can’t really be blamed for the self-seeded geranium psilostemon that have sprung up everywhere. I like them, but they are crowded in out other things. Like the verbena they will have to be thinned. I noticed this disarray as I was dead-heading roses, their scent rising in the sunshine as bees bobbed in and out of them. It wasn’t all bad in the garden. Here’s six for this week.

One

I looked this one up on my almost reliable planting list. Hydrangea anomala sbsp. pelitodes, to give the climbing hydrangea it’s full name. I planted two in 2019 and this year they have finally met in the middle and are looking wonderful.

Two

While the list was open, I checked the planting date for Viticella Clematis ‘Madame Julia Correvon’. Planted autumn 2021. This is also doing well this year and is twining it’s way through the roses.

Three

Planted long ago, geranium ‘Kashmir White’. I love the pink veins.

Four

I caught the sisyrinchium in full sun yesterday. It’s a ‘put your sunglasses’ on shot.

Five

The first day lily has opened. Seems a little early for this garden. This one is ‘Gentle Shepherd’. This is one of the plants being shoved out of the way by the psilostemon.

Six

The astrantias have just opened up too. This group is ‘Roma’, sprinkled in amongst the seed heads of allium ‘Mount Everest’.

The flowers are coming thick and fast now. I am trying to plant out seedlings and have trays of tomatoes, French beans, courgettes and cucumbers to deal with. There’s not much rain in sight but I did get three water butts filled this week so I have some resources. It’s going to be a busy weekend. Jim at Garden Rumination shares the SOS links, all welcome to join in. Happy Gardening.

Six On Saturday: Roses

/ n20gardener / 19 Comments

It’s not all roses this week but the garden is full of them. They seem to have enjoyed the conditions even as I was fretting at the lack of rain. Last night rain arrived and the water butts are filling up again. They are not all full but there’s a good quantity and more rain is forecast. Here’s the six for this week.

One

Almost open and not damaged by the rain, the beautiful ‘Lady of Shalott’.

Two

‘Darcy Bussell’, a lovely colour, susceptible to black spot but I persevere.

Three

‘James Galway’, a climbing rose so intricately petalled.

Four

‘This Scepter’d Isle’, a lovely shape, delicate shade and wonderful scent.

Five

Now I divert, here’s ‘Johnson’s Blue’ and absolute doer of a hardy geranium. Mid height, so useful for filling holes!

Six

The phlomis russeliana has absolutely forged ahead this year, borderline thuggish! Described as vigorous and spreading and tolerant of drought it has clearly got its feet into the ground. I will have to watch this one but for the moment it is doing a great job of filling out what was a difficult spot in the border. It’s just about to flower so it will be sure to feature again soon.

My garden will have loved the rain, I fear that in my daughter’s garden the bindweed will be greedily sucking up the moisture ready for another surge. But we are getting there. I took a tray of seedlings over yesterday. Today I fear they may have been flattened by the rain. The next project is to get the lawn back in to better shape. Bare patches to be seeded and some of the tougher grasses to be dug out. Last week my daughter dug up a collection of iron bars – the purpose of which is far from clear. Gardening eh!

Jim’s page Garden Ruminations is the place to go for more gardening news and all the links. There’s also the Participants’ Guide if you want to share your favourite garden goodies. Happy Gardening all.

Six On Saturday: Mid May border

/ n20gardener / 18 Comments

Mid May, I am watering the garden and the lawn is drying up over the old path. There was thunder and lightning on Monday but no rain. That’s the moaning done with, here are six things from the garden this week.

One

I shared this iris on Bluesky in the week. I believe it is ‘White City’. It starts out as the palest blue and then turns to white. Quite lovely.

Two

The roses seem to be covered in buds and are flowering well despite the dry conditions. This is ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ which has been a little thin in previous years. I am wondering if taking down the fig tree has improved the situation for this rose.

Three

An unknown rose from the front garden, looking very fetching earlier in the week.

Four

This is a two for one, ‘Totally Tangerine’ geum with a young viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum Mariesii. The viburnum has a some growing to do but it looks pretty even now.

Five

This persicaria bistorta ‘Superba’ is known for spreading but it has done so gently so far. It’s a great plant for just getting on with things.

Six

Finally a view of part of the border. My delphiniums were munched to ground last year and I can’t see a sign of them this year. But it’s pretty crowded out there anyway.

Stop by Garden Ruminations to see more SOS posts from the gardening gang. Jim has a wonderful selection on show as usual. I’ve got dead heading of roses to do and I’ll be looking up and performing the most effective rain dance I can find! Happy gardening.

Six On Saturday: Old favourites and a newcomer

/ n20gardener / 16 Comments

The garden is grappling with the conditions but is definitely beginning to put on a show. There has been no rain here for about three weeks and I’m out of stored water. I don’t think I’ve ever watered the garden using mains water this early in the year. The roses are opening but flowers seem smaller. The slugs are definitely out and about but they do not seem to be wreaking the same damage as last year. Here’s my six for this week.

One

First, I have a question. Do I have English bluebells in the garden? I spotted these as I was pulling out swathes of those annoying ones. I stopped just in time. Should they stay or should they go?

Two

These are pretty standard in most gardens at this time of year, purple alliums and in this case ‘Purple Sensation’. I like them for their strong colour.

Three

I also have the white allium ‘Mount Everest’. I have several clumps of them that seem to take it in turns to flower. Last year the slugs/snails stripped all the green of the stems. This year, so far so good.

Four

The climbing rose ‘Tess of the D’Urbervilles that was moved a couple of years back. It seems to have settled in and although it could do with a few more leaves in certain places it is flowering well.

Five

The variegated weigela is a reliable shrub that has been in the garden since the very beginning so about eight years now. The pink flowers work well with the leaf colouring. I do also have a hankering for my neighbour’s dark red one. I get a small glimpse of it over the fence. Borrowed gardening.

Six

The dicentra spectabilis has been in the garden for about three years now and is really becoming established. I love it’s whiteness in the surrounding greenery. There’s a white rose nearby that is just in flower and they do look good together.

There’s more bluebell pulling to be done and the in/out with the seedlings. Weeds galore but there are more and more flowers every day so there’s plenty to enjoy. I had a chuckle in the week as I started to organise the Alhambra photos, the yellow climber that I couldn’t put a name to is so obviously a rose, probably a multiflora one. I am ashamed to call myself a gardener! I blame the thornless stems. I hope you get to enjoy your garden space over the coming week. Jim, as usual, hosts the merry SOS band at his site Garden Ruminations.

Six On Saturday: Garden treasures from Spain

/ n20gardener / 17 Comments

I was away from SOS last week as I was travelling in Spain and yes the power outage did have some impact but fortunately the visit to the Alhambra in Granada was not affected. I came back to find my garden had exploded in to action. All those planting spaces that were so clear in March have now been elbowed out by new growth and I now wonder where I will squeeze in the seedlings currently in the greenhouse. I’m sharing from the Alhambra this week. It provoked some thoughts, in many ways it seemed so English to me. Box hedging, roses, irises, wisteria, pansies, alyssum, all so familiar but the use of water, the architecture and the air so heady with the scent of citrus flowers made it all so very different. Tightly clipped myrtle was used in many places where a crisp medium high hedge was required. It worked well. Here’s my six.

One

White wisteria creating a shaded walk at the start of the gardens of the Generalife.

Two

Further on, blue wisteria mixing with a yellow climber that I didn’t identify! Too early for mimosa I think.

Three

There where so many places where water played in the sunlight, I have to share two here.

Four

Here, both sides of a central water feature with a multitude of colourful plants.

Five

In contrast to the more formal planting contained inside edging there were also some loose meadow style borders.

Six

Finally, oranges. They were everywhere, lining the streets of Granada, in cloisters of monasteries and all around the Alhambra site. Wonderful.

I realise I haven’t shown the use of standard roses and the various underplanting ideas or anything from the Los Jardines del Partal with it’s beautiful reflecting ponds. There’s just too much!

In my garden the roses are just beginning to pop. The alliums are out and the later tulips are going well. My plan for the weekend is tidying up the stems of the tulips that have finished and sowing some French beans and courgette seeds. Nothing too energetic here but there will probably be some bindweed digging in my daughter’s garden, it is of course loving the warmth. Jim, our host will be ruminating in a most informative manner and there are the other SOS links to enjoy. Have a great gardening weekend.