Six on Saturday 29-07

Time for this week’s edition of Six on Saturday.  Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday.  It could be anything, a good flower, interesting foliage, a success, a disaster, a project, anything at all. Why not join in?

Here are my Six for this week.

1 – Veronica – Grown from seed this year, I picked up the packet of mixed colours for 10p in an end of season sale.  Rude not to!  This one is a bluey-purple but I’m expecting some in white, pink and blue as well. The plants were neglected a little once initially potted on so were stunted and leggy on planting out.  They seem to be recovering gamely enough and should be fine next year.

2 – Abelia grandiflora – This shrub came to me as part of a bulk plant purchase over 10 years ago when I first converted Border 5 into useful planting space – it was previously a line of conifers.  I have not pruned the shrub in anything other than haphazard fashion but it does not seem too bothered, although it’s not a very neat shape.  It flowers from early July on, I’d say it’s about half way through, but can’t recall from this time last year.  I’ve got one solitary cutting which may or may not root.  If it does, I may replace the parent shrub with its offspring. Failing that, some renovative pruning may be necessary over the winter.

3 – Monarda var unk. – I grew these from seed this year. I’ve planted about 20 out into border 2 and another 7 or so out into the front garden. The flowers have a definite purple tinge to them, I was expecting more like burgundy. Mind you, these were from a seed exchange rather than a plant breeder, so some variation is to be expected.

4 – Helenium autumnale – I grew these from seed a couple of years ago and divided the clump earlier this spring, getting 30-odd plants which have now grown to a decent size.  In case I didn’t have enough (!) I also grew some from seed collected last year.  I have two groups each in the front and back garden and still have 5 decent sized plants to go in somewhere. They are just beginning to flower now and I think they’ll do well this year. I hope they’ll develop into impressive mass displays next year as they establish. I also covet a couple of other earlier flowering helenium varieties but haven’t got my mitts on any yet.

5 – Hart’s tongue fern.  I’ve had this fern along with two or three others for just a couple, maybe three years. My favorite time for it is when it is unfurling earlier in the spring, but it is looking good now too.  It is in a shady spot, getting a little crowded out by an ageing clump of pheasant’s tail grass.  I’m going to attempt to propagate this fern using the spores, coming to a blog post near you soon.

6 – Dahlia ‘caribbean fantasy’. Having grown some dahlia from seed last year, I doubled down and bought some new tubers this year with two objectives.  Firstly, more dahlias!  Secondly, to get some cuttings material which in turn leads to… more dahlias!  The first flower took it’s time opening up but now there are three with more on the way. It’s pretty colourful!  My lesson for next year is to take more seriously their need to be firmly staked, I’ve lost a couple of stems to wind and heavy rain, although the main stem is largely intact.

That’s my Six for this Saturday.  What are yours?  If you’d like to join in then please just add a comment below with a link to your post, and perhaps include a link back to this blog in your post.  I love to read other bloggers Six posts, and I know the other contributors do too.  Don’t feel obliged to commit to a weekly post – monthly, fortnightly or whatever is fine, although you may find it addictive!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, I’ll be back next week with another Six.

PS, don’t forget to check back in over the weekend to see if more links have been added.