Six on Saturday

Let’s see if we can get a new meme going. It’s a tribe of one at the moment, yours truly. My intention with this is to post on a Saturday,  clue’s in the name, six things going on in the garden. Could be anything –  an interesting plant, jobs that you’re pleased with, a project, patio pots in bloom, neatly striped lawn, a success, a failure, flowers, veggies, fruit, anything at all. Well, almost anything.  Six things, photos essential, pithy remarks optional but de rigueur.

So for the first of this series, here are my Six on Saturday.

1) Wisteria. I planted this as a teeny plant 6 or 7 years ago and have nursed it through growth, sort of trained it up and along a trellis. I haven’t always pruned it properly, but this year I have. In July last year, the long whippy growth was cut back to 5 leaves from the base, and again in February to two leaves from the base. This encourages lots of flower buds to form in the spring. It is looking pretty good compared to previous year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2) Black elder, or Sambucus nigra. I pruned this back to the framework in the winter. At the time I thought it was quite brutal and was a little worried it might not respond well. I needn’t have worried though, it has gone bananas already, putting on more than two feet of new growth. 

3) Lilac. This is a dwarf variety, ‘Josee’ and it’s in flower now. As I leant in to get a closeup of the flower I got a heady blast of fragrance. It smells fab.

4) Fatsia japonica.  I wanted a large-ish shrub to go in a shady corner, the chap at my local garden centre recommended this. It’s in its 3rd year now, and has grown some, but not as much as I’d have liked. There is new growth though, so it should put on a bit of height. I like the shape of the leaves, and it is evergreen so provides some needed form and interest in the off months.

5) Dogwood, cornus alba. This is an old shrub now, I’ve had it for 15 years or so. I hadn’t pruned it for a good few years and it was getting unruly, but more importantly the stems were a dull brown colour rather than the bright red that is the main reason for planting it in the first place. I chopped it right back to the trunk/framework in late winter. It has done nothing since, until recently. There are now numerous new stems beginning to show their face. Hopefully they will provide a worthwhile show in the winter. 

6) Rose ‘danse de feu’. This is a climbing rose I’ve had for a while, it looks great and is quite happy in it’s shady location. There are lots of buds ready to pop for this year’s display. I also have cuttings that I took last winter, 2 of which are now rooted and potted up. I may get flowers from them this year, but if not next year will be great. 

So that’s my six for today, now let’s see if I can keep this going.  If you choose to participate in Six on Saturday, please just add a comment to this blog post with a link back to yours, and maybe add a link back to this blog in yours.

I’ll be back with another Six on Saturday next week.