#roses

Six on Saturday: Rethinking yet again

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Another year in this garden has been chalked up and another area of the garden has come under scrutiny. After some painful picking of the gooseberries a decision was reached. The netting and un-netting, the pruning, the gooseberry sawfly and the thorny harvesting which often results in more gooseberries than we need, has led to the decision to let the gooseberries go. That was decision one. Decision two was not to replace the greenhouse that was destroyed in a storm last winter. I was all set to invest in a shiny new one but my neighbour’s tree is still standing and the thought of a second storm hurling down branches on a new greenhouse was too painful to bear. I have one smaller greenhouse that serves well enough for seed growing and chilis. I am moving on and am now looking at re-organising the veg and fruit plot at the back of the garden. More to come, in the meantime here is six from the garden this week.

One

Last week I showed a echinacea ‘White Swan’ that had reverted to a purple form. Here is another patch of ‘White Swan’ also being invaded by a purple form. How interesting.

Two

This is my attempt to show the very delicate thalictrum delavayi which was grown from seed a few years ago. I have about three plants and they are just beginning to get to a good size in the garden. I hope you can spot it in amongst everything else.

Three

The apple crop is looking good this year. The June drop seems to have come in July, no doubt the blustery winds have helped with the thinning.

Four

The erigeron karvinskianus really suffered over the cold winter but it is tenacious here and those that held on have got going again and are reclaiming their territory.

Five

This photo of ‘James Galway’ climbing rose also sums up the weather this week. There’s not been much sunshine and the skies have been grey most of the week.

Six

I am so undecided about this one. It’s persicaria polymorpha. Billed as upright stems and suitable for semi-shade, I used it at the back of the garden in the hope of shielding the neighbour’s fence. It should reach two metres. This is the second year and it’s not made that height yet and so far it is being a little floppy. Less so this year though. I will give it another year, patience is not my strong point!

Over to Jim’s garden to see what he has on offer this weekend. Wishing you all a good gardening time whenever you can manage to get out there!

Six On Saturday: A wet and windy weekend

/ n20gardener / 15 Comments

Unusually for me I am writing this on a Friday. The forecast for Saturday is heavy rain and gusting winds. Today it is just rain all day. It has been a showery week and you would think the garden would be well lubricated by now. But the late planting out of dahlias in pots revealed dry soil just an inch down. Of course a wet top surface is perfect for the slugs and snails and sure enough by the next day the new shoots of the over wintered dahlia I spotted last week and one of the newly planted dahlias had been munched. Hopefully the potted dahlias are strong enough to push on. Here’s six from a gloomy garden.

One

This is ‘Etoile Violette’, a viticella clematis that has been flowering for weeks. It is putting the neighbouring trachelospermum jasminoides to shame. I though it would be a good combination if they entwined but so far the TJ is being a little weedy!

Two

This is an early arrival on the anemone front. But I seem to remember they came early last year too. This is ‘September Charm’, so well in advance of expectations. They have bulked up well this year after a worrying year when I thought they had a disease of some kind.

Three

I admired a white form of geranium phaeum being shared on twitter. I succumbed and bought some, really thinking it was too late in the season and I would have to wait for next year for flowers but rather generously they have put out one or two new blooms. It’s in the northish facing border but there is a moment of morning and afternoon sun. I hope it does well.

Four

I didn’t have my secateurs to hand when I took this photo so I share spent blooms and new blooms of the red rose ‘Tess of the D’Urbervilles’. It’s a climber and I was also lacking string to tie in a few wayward stems. Must be better prepared!

Five

Another inherited plant that gets by without too much attention. The magenta phlox was thinned out last year and divisions added around the garden. They have all done well. Easy peasy plant! In the background is the grass Miscanthus sinensis ‘Silberfeder’. Second year in the garden and beginning to clump up quite nicely. Also in the background, gooseberries which need picking!

Six

A survivor! This hebe – inherited and unknown – is on it’s second move in three years. I think this will be its forever home. It coped with the move and the cold winter. The bees appreciate it and I hope it will be happy here.

I’m not sure what I’ve been up to lately but I have neglected my SOS reading duties. I’ve also neglected to give the roses their mid season feed. Last weekend the blackcurrants were picked and some of those gooseberries. The summer raspberries really didn’t have enough watering to do well this year but with the current forecast I’m more hopeful for the autumn variety. Sometimes the garden is neglected a little but it pulls through. Jim, the SOS host, had an abundance of blackcurrants last weekend, stop by and see what’s happening at Garden Ruminations this week. There’s always a surprise.

Six On Saturday: Billowing roses

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There’s plenty of dead heading to done as the roses have gone into overdrive this year. But seeing the left hand side of the garden frothing with roses is a wonderful sight. The garden is surviving on minimal water rations. One hour of rain on Monday but it didn’t completely fill the water butt so more is needed and indeed we might get some this weekend. Here’s six for this week.

One

The first of the roses is ‘Blush Noisette’ I planted two of them to cover a good stretch of the wall.

Two

In the middle of the two ‘Blush Noisette’ I planted ‘This Sceptre’d Isle’. I underplanted that with some alchemilla mollis. The geranium psilostemon had other ideas and self seeded itself here as well. I have to agree it works very well.

Three

At the far end of the garden the rambling rose ‘Wedding Day’ is having a fabulous season.

Four

On the opposite side of the garden I planted two climbing hydrangeas to cover the fence and this year they are getting close to achieving that aim and have had their best flowering year yet.

Five

In one of the sunnier borders the pale yellow of sisyrinchium works well with geranium ‘Johnson’s Blue’

Six

In a shadier spot geranium ‘Kashmir White’ settles in with more alchemillia mollis.

That’s my stroll round the garden for today. There are plenty more gardens to stroll around at Jim’s place. I think in the UK and in Northern Europe we are all hoping for some rain this weekend. I hope we all receive enough to keep us going. Happy Gardening.

Six on Saturday: Whose garden is it?

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June is the month, that seven years ago, I took over this garden. The previous owner had loved his soft fruit and fruit trees but much of the rest of the garden had gone to weeds. That family was the second family to garden here. There is evidence in archived local newspapers that the first owner also loved his soft fruits and had won prizes for raspberries. There has been over 100 years of gardening here and I am gradually leaving my mark. I have come to appreciate that I share this garden with the past, with the numerous slugs and snails, with the foxes and cats and with the birds and insects. I share it with my neighbours too. Sometimes they have no choice as the clematis armandii knows no bounds. I also get to share theirs. Their roses peek over the fence. The hawthorn and ceanothus in Spring take my eye to their gardens and in June I enjoy a superb display of flowers from a neighbouring elder tree. Seven years of this garden has passed by so quickly and there is so much more to do. Here’s six for this week.

One

This is the creature that prompted this little outburst. A red admiral butterfly on a hosta. The hosta is in a pot at the end of garden. At this time of year it basks in the evening sun and this a favourite end of day spot for a visit. Clearly the butterfly also agrees but it is not so keen on sharing and each evening it dive bombs us in an effort to persuade us to leave this little corner. The butterfly always wins. This is the third year of this interesting behaviour.

Two

A combination of persicaria bistorta ‘Superba’ and alchemilla mollis. This has probably been in the garden for about five years. The persicaria has spread a little but not too aggressively.

Three

The suns rays shining through the lovely geranium ‘Johnson’s Blue’. This is a garden share from an aunt and has been divided and lifted many times. It has been with me for, and it seems incredible to say this, about twenty years, joining us in each house move.

Four

The roses are exuberant at the moment. This is ‘Darcy Bussell’, great colour and scent.

Five

And this is ‘Jaqueline du ‘Pré’. Looking at its very best in this photo.

Six

Lastly, the very rampant geranium ‘Brookside’ with the rose ‘Gertrude Jekyll’. One of the previous residents of this house was a Gertrude so I hope this meets her approval.

The Six On Saturday meme is all about sharing gardens. Our host is Jim of Garden Ruminations and each week he shares the links to the posts of other SOS gardeners. All are welcome to stop by to have a look and to take part. It’s going to be very hot this weekend, I will briefly mention the lack of rain and the diminishing water storage. But let us enjoy what we can – it is Summer.

Six On Saturday: It’s all happening here

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Yes, the garden is hotting up. Some good things and some bad things. In the interests of full disclosure before we get to the good I will share the bad. The lily beetles are having fun amongst the martagon lilies. At least six of them. Regular inspections will be required. My last box shrub is wriggling with box moth caterpillars and I am going to call it day. I’ve had enough spraying. If it’s not meant to be I will move on. It’s a blob anyway and has a top spot against a sunny wall. Perhaps a hibiscus for a replacement. There’s more bad. Two skimmia have yellowing, progressing to dead leaves. Perhaps their location is just too dry for them. They can go too. The last of the bad news is the tomato plants look awful. There is no spacious greenhouse for them to move to this year and frankly I think it’s barely worth planting them outside at all. It could be a problem with over-watering and/or nutrient deficiency. I’ve given them a dilute dose of tomato feed and I will plant them out this weekend. I switched brands of peat free compost this year and I have not had much success. This one seems to dry out at the surface, shrink back from the sides but still manage to be wet at the bottom of the pots. It was not a combination I handled successfully. I’ll go back to the previous brand in future. That’s cleared the air. On with six good things.

One

I seem to be having a good year with allium ‘Mount Everest’. I would say that bulbs that I had given up on seem to have re-emerged and those that are in the shadier end of the garden are reaching heights that justify their name. I like them and so do the bees.

Two

The astrantias are also doing well. This started off as ‘Roma’ but I think a little hybridisation has occurred as this year’s colour doesn’t seem, to my memory, what is was last year. I don’t mind this at all.

Three

This is my garden favourite this week, so much so that I’m sharing two photos. The first is the view of the arch from the veg plot back into the garden. The rose is ‘Mad Alf’, Madame Alfred Carriere. Mad because the flowers are held on such long stems and she climbs vigorously. A winner.

Four

This is the view of the arch from the other side, where clematis montana Wilsonii is flowering in profusion. I think it is vanilla scented but it could be slightly chocolatey. Whatever, it is a dream to walk through and I find myself doing this several times a day. There is a bench nearby and it is such a pleasure to sit their of an evening and ‘feel’ the scent drift over. Top marks.

Five

Having spent much time, along with many others, moaning about the Winter and Spring weather, I am now wondering if, in fact, it has been just what the garden needed. So many plants seem to be doing really well this year. In truth I’m a little concerned that this geranium ‘Brookside’ will go on to swamp its neighbours. I’ll update you soon.

Six

Lastly the first ‘Wisley’ rose has opened up. The bush is full of buds and it will be a splendid sight when they all get going.

It’s a long weekend in the UK and the weather looks set fair. I will be sitting on that bench and enjoying the changing scenery. I hope you too will be able to find some moments to enjoy this weekend. Jim, our host, shares the SOS links and this week looks at Cacti. Stop by and enjoy. Happy gardening everyone.

Six On Saturday: Stop whingeing

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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: Ever changing moods

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Forgive the earworm, or not if it doesn’t happen for you. Ever changing moods has been my state of mind in January. One week wanting to take down the eleagnus but then realising that it provides great cover for the birds. The next being absolutely sure that I must find room for a hamamelis but then sensibly realising that I just don’t have the right long term space for this desirable winter shrub. I’ve moaned about constant rain and grey days, haven’t we all? Then thrilled to glorious blue skies and winter sun. The garden catalogues have arrived and I am being pulled this way and that by their temptations. I’ve settled down this week. Accepting that January in the garden is what it is. I managed to prune back a good number of the rose shrubs but there are more to do. The climbing roses weigh heavily on my conscience but there’s still time. Raspberries and blackcurrants need to be looked at but they too can wait a little longer. This week I happily left the garden alone. The paths were slippery with frost and the ground is frozen once again. There’s not much to show but it is January and that is how it should be.

One

The frozen ground and frost may seem inhospitable but the garden grabs each growing moment and gets on with it. These are day lily shoots and the first leaves of geranium phaeum. It will be some months before their time to flower comes.

Two

You can see why the climbing roses are on my mind. There is quite some sorting out to be done here. The ruthless gardener must be found and all these branches thinned out and the framework tied into the wires again.

Three

The hellebores will nod their heads downward so it was a little difficult to capture this ‘Pretty Ellen’ red against the sun. Here’s my best effort.

Four

Somewhere out in the garden are some foxgloves seedlings waiting to push through the mulch. Here, in the greenhouse, are two that didn’t get planted out. It looks like they will have a head start when the time comes to relocate them.

Five

At the end of October I planted some Japanese red onion sets. They seemed very slow to get started but week by week they are making progress. Could they be ‘Electric’? I really can’t remember.

Six

A month later at the end of November I planted out the winter bedding. I filled the pots with bellis daisies. They had a week to acclimatise before they were covered by six inches of snow and experienced minus 5 degrees Celsius for a week. They made it through that and have just experienced another week of minus degrees overnight. I am so impressed by their sturdiness and I know that they will just get more and more cheerful as the warmer weather creeps in.

It’s a weekend of cold weather here and I am not going to feel guilty about the garden. Far better to wait for a time when the fingers won’t freeze and the paths are safer. Happy guilt free waiting to you all. Happy gardening times are around the corner. Jim, our host for SOS, features the links to other blogs on his Garden Ruminations pages. He has some lovey photos this week. No wonder he is the leader of the pack!

Six On Saturday: Farewell November, farewell Autumn

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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: Mid November with a touch of Spring

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How strange to be saying what a beautiful few days we have been having. Temperatures in the high teens, hardy geraniums still pushing out the odd flower here and there, no sign of frost and mercifully, some dry weather. The garden is moving towards Winter but slowly. The evergreen agapanthus leaves are just turning yellow so it’s time to wrap them in fleece. I have some tulip bulbs to plant and a few weeks back I did manage to plant out some ‘Electric’ red onion sets. The figs are still cropping but the size is diminishing. As the days shorten the garden will settle into its Winter phase. In the meantime, here’s this week’s six.

One

My go to autumn shot is the persimmon tree. Usually laden with fruit at this time of year. But what a strange year it has been, so much sun yet only two fruits. Was it the dry summer, or simply that last year was a bumper crop so this year is the famine year. The parakeets will have to find something else to feed on.

Two

The bergenia thinks it is early spring and is putting out fresh flowers, offering some late nectar for the bees that are still around.

Three

In a more seasonal vein, hesperantha are adding some autumnal colour. These are earmarked for lift and divide session in spring. This is partly to reinvigorate them and also another attempt to control the marauding cinquefoil weed that spreads through this corner.

Four

There’s a useful splash of lime green coming from the euphorbia oblongata, going great guns this year. I’ve talked previously about this being described as a short-lived perennial which continues to defy this description. Long may it continue.

Five

Liriope muscari. It should be a clump of three, but only one survives. It does get overlooked but grows in a shady place so I’m grateful for any display.

Six

Yes, another rose. This is rosa ‘Madame Isaac Péreire’, from the Bourbon rose group. One of my favourites for fragrance.

I need to spend some time in the garden this weekend. The ‘to do’ list includes tidying up soggy agapanthus leaves, there are hellebore leaves to be cut back, some planting out of tulips and yet more picking up glass from the old greenhouse. The site has been cleared now and I am surveying the foundations and wondering if they will do for the new greenhouse. They are, of course, not in brilliant condition. The foundations are not level and there are frost shattered bricks to be cleared out. But maybe a new course will sort things out. Over at Jim’s there is a beautiful rhodochiton plus all the links to other SOS posts for the weekend. Enjoy your gardening weekend!

Six On Saturday: Autumn or Summer?

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It is definitely November. Several gusty and very wet days have brought down leaves from the trees and much time has been spent chopping them up with the lawn mower. This year’s leaf mould stack has been started and last year’s leaf mould is ready for distribution. Fungi are popping out all over the place and yet the snapdragons, astrantia and calendular putting on a fresh show. The roses continue to flower and mild weather is again forecast for next week. Here’s this week’s six.

One

The persimmon tree contributes some beautiful shades of red the leaf mould stack at this time of year. There are also the golden leaves of the tulip tree that landed in the greenhouse. The leaves are collected in chicken wire cage in the corner of the garden and at this point offer up a truly Autumnal glow to an otherwise forgotten place.

Two

Mushrooms are appearing on the lawn and in the borders, but here they are colonising an old fig tree log in a small stack that I keep for the local wildlife. I am just wondering if this is honey fungus. I think not, but please advise if you think otherwise!

Three

The astrantia major self-seeds rather prolifically here and needs to be relocated or pulled up. But it was a joy to find these in flower yet again.

Four

The antirrhinum majus ‘White Giant’ didn’t reach giddy heights this year. But after sulking through the summer the recent rain has provoked it into action. Not exactly a giant but rather pretty all the same.

Five

The humble calendula hasn’t featured at all in SOSs for this year but the sunny glow of orange in early November deserves a mention.

Six

And once again, I can finish on a rose. These are two shrubs of ‘Wisley’, planted at the shadier end of the long border, still pumping out new buds and in the foreground the seedheads of rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’, reminding me that it really is November.

Our new host, Jim, at Garden Ruminations is into his third week. Jim regularly delivers gardening knowledge and an eclectic mix of plants which frequently send me off on an internet search to far flung places. Take a look at his posts and don’t hesitate to join the other SOS contributors. See you soon.