#pelargoniums

Six On Saturday: Teetering on the edge

/ n20gardener / 18 Comments

Oh, the garden is so nearly at lift off time. There has been some sunshine and even on a cloudier day the temperatures are climbing. I’m not worrying about poor germination this week as I can see that the borders are filling up nicely. The roses are just bursting with buds and the grasses are beginning to come through again. There seems to be an amazing number of self-seeders this year and I don’t mean those never-ending sycamores. The alchemilla mollis is doing rather too well. The astrantias, aquilegias and geranium psilostemon are definitely settling in and I even have a few seedlings of tellima grandiflora which I will treasure. Here’s this week’s six:

One

There are some plants I look forward every year and these siberian irises are probably top of the list. The first ones opened this week. I just love the colour of the flower and the promise of the buds. I was very happy to see these again.

Two

This is luzula nivea, a new plant to the garden in 2022 as part of a revamp of a dry shady border. So far, it hasn’t self seeded but it does have that attribute. I like it and so a few extra clumps wouldn’t go amiss.

Three

It’s always lovely to see the first strawberry flowers. I threw out all the old strawberry plants last year, they were inherited and so I have no idea how old they were but they were not fruiting well. Here’s hoping the new ones will do better.

Four

These are bought in aquilegias, ‘Alba’ to be precise. I collected seed last year and forgot to sow it! These are also in a dry shady border and seem to be coping quite well. I need a few more to fill out the space, in the meantime I added in some foxgloves. Rookie error – they provide a perfect home for the slugs who then shred the hosta ‘Thomas Hogg’. The foxgloves will go once they have flowered.

Five

The ubiquitous ‘Purple Sensation’ has self-seeded but there’s a long way to go before those bulbs are big enough to flower. I’m impatient so I will be buying in more bulbs in the Autumn. A cheerful plant and so easy!

Six

Lastly, can you believe it. The dead and bedraggled scented leaf pelargoniums have sprung back to life. These have been with me for several years and all have survived. Two new ones I bought last year were not so fortunate. So there I was, thinking I could add some new combinations to the summer pots but the pellies have other ideas. I’m just wondering whose garden it is!

Jim at Garden Ruminations is our not so new host. Please stop by to visit his wonderful garden and see the links to other SOS posts. I am feeling more and more confident about wishing everyone a Happy Gardening weekend. There is much to be done and much to enjoy.

Six On Saturday: Stop whingeing

/ n20gardener / 10 Comments

I’ve been a little irritable of late. The garden is definitely pushing on but at a much slower pace than I would like. No matter how much energy I expend in muttering and moaning it will not stop dragging it’s heels. I give in, honestly. Not another word will be said on the subject. All in good time. The rain of this week will help things along and although it’s a challenge to find six things it is a challenge worth responding to. Here’s my six finds this week.

One

It’s raining this morning, so I headed off to the remaining greenhouse to see how things were going. Sometime last year I sowed seeds of echinacea ‘White Swan’ and echinacea pallida. I overwintered the seedlings in the greenhouse, in the last week they have generously responded to the rising temperatures. Most of these are pallida. Way back when I sowed them I had a clear plan, now I can’t remember it. But they will have to be on the sunny side of the garden so maybe they will help rejuvenate the thin border.

Two

Also sown last year, the seeds of lychnis coronaria. Around autumn time I potted on eight of the strongest. These have not faired well but those left in the seed tray and positively flourished and look twice as healthy! I will have a generous supply to dot around the garden.

Three

There has been plenty of sighing over lost plants but amazingly the scented leaf pellies are rising from the ashes. Just a few signs of green leaf but enough, I think, to be encouraging. I’ve just started to water them again and they will get a thorough cut back some time around the end of April.

Four

Proof that pulling the stems of climbing roses down to the horizontal really does pay off. This fills me with optimism for the months to come.

Five

There’s more signs of things to come on the weigela. Masses of lovely new leaves showing up as the shrub moves from Winter brown to Spring green.

Six

There have been so many lovely hellebores featured over the last few months. This is a simple unnamed variety which has seeded freely in the border. I think those seedlings will take a few more years to flower but in the meantime I continue to enjoy the parent plants.

In between the moaning I have kept myself busy doing those ‘must do’ jobs for this time of year. I have netted the gooseberries and blackcurrants. I’ve given them and the apple trees a sprinkling of Fish Blood and Bone, successfully timed to coincide with a healthy downpour of rain. More and more of the browness of winter has been cut back and this weekend I plan to feed all the roses. Onion sets have been started off in the greenhouse and I hope to find the time to sow some seeds of hardy annuals. I also need to settle down and plan out the thin border although those echinaceas may be potted on again before I plant them out. I need them to be strong and healthy to compete with the existing plants. I hope your garden plans are going well. More from the SOS team can be found at Jim’s place. All welcome.

Six On Saturday: Farewell November, farewell Autumn

/ n20gardener / 5 Comments

Finally, the hose pipe ban has been lifted! I can’t think that I will be rushing out to water the garden any time soon, it has been drenched every other day throughout November. I have only just begun to plant a few tulips and a little tidying in the border has commenced. The regular downpours have served to show how infirm the potting shed greenhouse is. This one has a wooden frame and the apex has separated allowing rain to seep in. Sogginess abounds. Out in the garden things are pretty soggy too. Here’s six things I noticed this week.

One

I have just managed to complete a task that was long hanging over me. The scented leaf pelargoniums have been cut back, removed from their summer pots and moved to the potting shed greenhouse for the winter. I have overwintered these pellies for several years now and, dare I say it, I am just at the point where if they didn’t make it I wouldn’t be too sad. On the upside the potting shed and compost smell delightful at the moment.

Two

There are just one or two splashes of colour in the garden at the moment, this little ray of coreopsis continues to send out new blooms.

Three

The continual rain has more or less done for the roses. As each new flower arrives it is deluged by the next downpour. Here is ‘Gerturde Jekyll’ valiantly having a go.

Four

Strangely the seed heads of eurybia are holding up. They caught my eye during a spell of border tidying and were spared the chop.

Five

I may have mentioned that I’m just dipping my toe into growing grasses and this miscanthus sinensis ‘Silberfeder’ has done well in its first year. Slightly fuzzy flower heads as they are so difficult to capture. I’m looking forward to seeing how it progresses.

Six

Lastly arum italicum subsp. italicum ‘Marmoratum’. I’m guessing the ‘Marmoratum’ bit. I inherited this one. There were warnings that it was a thug and would spread uncontrollably. It must be in a very inhospitable spot because it has yet to move one inch. I like it, it even looks good after rainfall .

I’ve just received notice that I have one more green bin collection for the year. That gave me a wake up call. The gardening season is coming to a close. The last of blackberries need to be cut back and added to the green bin. That’s my next task and then there are more leaves to gather. No frost yet, but overnight temperatures have been as low as 2 degrees. December approaches.

Don’t forget to visit Garden Ruminations for all the links to other SOS posts.

Six On Saturday: Last jobs to be done

/ n20gardener / 18 Comments

It’s still quite mild but the days are shortening and colder weather is forecast. I have risked leaving the lemon tree out but this is the weekend it will go into the greenhouse. The scented leaf pelargoniums went inside during the week and the evergreen agapanthuses in pots have been wrapped up in fleece. There are too many of these to move into the greenhouse so they brave the winter outside. The garden is mulched, the old shed has gone and the new shed is on schedule to arrive next week. That leaves the leaves! And the last tidying up in the borders. Oh, and a few dozen tulips still to be planted. So nearly there, but not quite. The garden looks as though it is going quiet but underneath the soggy earth the spring bulbs are waking up. Hurrah! Here’s six from the garden this week.

One

Testament to the mild weather perhaps, is this flower on one of the anemones I grew from root cuttings. I took the cuttings last autumn and managed to get them through the winter. I moved them to 9 cm pots in the summer and perhaps around the end of August planted them out in the garden. It’s a small flower on a small plant but it’s all my own work so much treasured.

Two

The figs have been falling from the tree. Some were ripe enough to make jam with but most are not. This was the result of one morning’s work and the windy weather of this morning has brought down a few more.

Three

Lockdown life is pretty dull which is my excuse for buying these purple cyclamen. Madness, I usually only entertain the white ones. But here they are, looking more pink than purple but they are purple!

Four

As mentioned the pellies are in the greenhouse, even as they continue to flower. They will need to be cut back for their overwintering, a job for next week.

Five

The leaf cage is getting full and the neighbours on both sides are contributing. It’s quite a social event!

Six

Roses are still giving little pops of colour, a cheery sight through the gloom of a drizzly afternoon.

This season is turning, there will be less gardening and more eating of hot buttered crumpets. But SOS carries on. Mr P will inspire us all with his ingenious finds to make it into each week’s six. I urge you to take a look.