August already! Wow, time for another Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. Could be anything, a good plant, a pest, a predator, an interesting flower, a good harvest, anything at all. Go on, join in! Here are my Six for this week.
1 – Bramley apples. This mature tree isn’t actually in my garden, it’s in next doors. About 40% of the tree overhangs my veg plot so we usually get a decent crop. Last year I invested in a long-pole fruit picker, albeit a little late to benefit fully from its reach. This year I’m expecting a bumper harvest, especially as the long pole allows me to reach over the fence and scrump a few of his apples! Before you get all scandalised, he is not interested in the fruit but is interested in the spiced apple chutney we make, a few jars of which find their way to him.
2 – Dianthus ‘brilliancy’. I grew these from seed, a packet picked up for pence in an end of season sale. I sowed them last summer and they overwintered in trays in the greenhouse. I nipped off the top of these plants two or three times as they were growing on which has encouraged them to be fairly bushy plants. I had 80 of these, almost all of which are now planted out. It is just starting to flower in numbers and will give good front-row service around the garden and in containers.
3 – Astilbe, var unk. Weirdly, all my astilbe are going crinkly brown around the edges of the leaves, and the flowers have been less good this year. Perhaps they are just past it, I’ve had them for a number of years. More likely they haven’t enjoyed the dryish weather this year.
4 – Lobelia speciosa ‘fan burgundy’ – I bought three of these, amongst others, off the pity bench in my local garden centre a couple of weeks ago. They were greatly reduced, for no obvious reason. I’ve taken some cuttings (more plants!) just in case. My biggest problem is finding somewhere to put them. I may leave them in pots till next spring, perhaps moving them up to a larger size along the way.
5 – Rudbeckia. These were grown from pack of mixed seed last year. When they were ready to plant out I didn’t immediately have anywhere to put them so I popped them in a large pot on the patio. They didn’t exactly thrive in there, but they did ok. This year, I have a lot of flowers, different shapes, colours and sizes and it looks quite pretty, more by luck than judgement. I don’t think the pot is adequate accommodation for them so I’ll be looking for a spot in the borders later in the year. I’ll be collecting some seed from the best flowers – I particularly like the red ones and the striking yellow and black patterned ones. Who knows what I’ll get when those seeds germinate, but that’s a part of the fun.
6 – Anemanthele lessonia, or pheasant’s tail grass. I have several clumps of this dotted around the garden, both front and back. I originally had one plant which has self-seeded liberally. This might be a problem, but the seedlings are quite distinctive – I just pull them up and stick them in a pot to make the next clump. For reasons that are not totally clear to me, I also grew some more from a bought packet of seed, compounding the self-seeding problem. It’s an evergreen grass, and has dark green, brown, purple and brown tinges to the leaves which makes quite a striking effect, I think. The biggest one is a bit sprawly now, and I think has lost the best of it’s colour. I think I’ll dig it up at the end of this season.
That’s my Six, what are yours? Please, join in, more the merrier. If you do, please just add a comment below with a link to your post, and maybe add a link back to this blog from your post.
Don’t forget to check back later in the weekend to see if more links have been added.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend, I’ll be back next Saturday with another Six.
At risk of this getting repetitive, I’ll join the queue of adulation for the Rudbeckia. My Dianthus have reached the end of their lives, I think, and will go in the autumn. But I have taken cuttings of the best colours ready for next year. I’m not averse to self-seeders; it’s not hard work to yank out unwanted seedlings. It’s the underground spreaders I don’t like! Sorry, didn’t post myself this week. Things got in the way.
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Yeah they’re good ones. I will take seed but doubt they’ll come true
Might be even better of course.
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That yellow and red rudbeckia is stunning. Shall stick it on the long, long list of flowers to try. Have decided to join in fortnightly but loving seeing everyone’s pictures each week. Here’s my offering. Hope link works this time. 😉
https://homegrownheaven.wordpress.com/2017/08/05/six-on-saturday-05-08-2017/
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Yep, link is good. I must get around to labelling each rudbeckia flower so i know which ones I’m collecting seeds from. I bet they all look the same when they’re seed heads…
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Haha. Yes. Labelling is the name of my life. Every year I say I’ll get better. You can guess how that turns out.
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Those Rudbeckia are indeed excellent. I planted an Astilbe this year and it
has barely grown and its leaves are also a bit brown around the edges like
yours. It did flower though.
Here are my six: https://www.parabola.me.uk/blog/2017/Aug/six-on-saturday-5/
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Six more good’uns there, especially the rudbeckia. Anemanthele is on the long list of things we once planted and now treat pretty much as weeds. I introduced a Dianthus two years ago and am slightly afraid that will do the same. Here are my six for this week: https://gardenruminations.wordpress.com/2017/08/05/six-on-saturday-582017/
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Yeah it does self seed liberally, but not yet troublesome. I may come to regret it.
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I agree that red Rudbeckia is particularly striking. You should definitely save the seeds to see what comes up next year. Well done on your Lobelia bargain – I got three large Rosemary plants for £1 each from B&Q reduced from nearly £5 each. Nothing wrong ith them! Our theory is the Saturday boy got mixed up.
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