Time for another Six on Saturday. Six things going on in the garden on a Saturday. Could be anything; a good flower, interesting foliage, a project, a long overdue job, anything at all. Why not join in?
1 – lobelia ‘cascade’. I grew these from seed this year. They are a trailing variety and flowering away quite happily. I might be biased but I think these are much more vigorous than shop bought plugs. I have them planted in containers and pots on the patio. Simple but effective, if I do say so myself.
2 – carex var unk. I bought this a couple of years back. I need to hack it back a bit. I don’t like it when it gets all wispy and sprawly. In fact, I’m not convinced I like it much at all. In the brutal Darwinist survival of the loveliest that is my border planning, it might have to go.
3 – cotinus ‘Grace’. I expect I’ll end up featuring this shrub again when the colour turns in the autumn. I grow this for the leaf colour rather than for the flowers which give it it’s common name of smoke bush. I’ve been trying hard to propagate this and am not really succeeding. I have one softwood cutting left that may or may not root. I pruned this shrub back hard to the framework, it has responded well with several feet of new growth since the spring.
4 – euphorbia cornigera. I tried to grow these from seed earlier in the year, nothing doing. I was pleased to get hold of this plant at a plant fair for beans. It is still small but has put on a bit of growth this year. I’m not sure if the light lime colour at the ends of the stem is new foliage or euphorbian flowers. The latter I think, based mainly on the interest shown by the buzzy thing.
5 – nasturtium. This climbing variety has self seeded from plants that I grew from seed myself last year. The flowers last year were all red or yellow, their offspring are all shades of orange, some of them quite strikingly patterned. I have not trained these plants so they are sprawling through the other plants, an effect I think I prefer.
6 – geum ‘totally tangerine’. I’m quite taken with geums in general this year. I picked up this one in a sale at a posh garden centre – one of those that has more furniture and nik-naks than plants. I was impressed though with the quality of the plants which were all a decent size, but less impressed by the prices which felt very high although that may just have been because of the size of the plants. However, they had a good sale of perennials that might not have much left to do this year, fiver a plant. I got a lot, including this fella. I haven’t yet found a good spot for it in the border so it is waiting patiently in the cold-frame along with it’s fellow bargain purchases.
That’s my Six for this week, what are yours? If you decide to join in (please do!) just add a comment below with a link to your post, and maybe a link back to this blog in your post.
Don’t forget to check back in over the weekend to see if there are more links added.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend, I’ll be back with another Six next week.
The Propagator 
Another vote for “Totally Tangerine” from me. I thought mine had finished flowering, but it was just resting for a week or two and is now in full flower again. Here is my rather downbeat six for today: http://www.parabola.me.uk/blog/2017/Aug/six-on-saturday-12th-august/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Must remember to deadhead mine when I get back.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Here’s another Six post, from Carolee over at herbal blessings. https://herbalblessingsblog.wordpress.com/2017/08/12/six-on-saturday-aug-12/
LikeLike
I am giving that carex the thumbs down – it doesn’t look nice enough for your garden. Sorry. Byeeeeeee
LikeLike
I’m inclined to agree, I think. I might transfer it to the front garden. Or perhaps a patio pot.
LikeLike
With your reluctance to dispose of it, anyone would think you were short of plants!
LikeLiked by 1 person
No such thing as too many plants. Just insufficient garden.
LikeLike
I can recommend Totally Tangerine, a really useful addition to a mixed border. I also picked up a bargain Geum recently, a bright red “Blazing Sunset”. It’s great to take advantage of the fact that it’s simply finished flowering for the year. It should be great value when it comes back in 2018. That’s just part of one of my six which can be found here: https://greenfingeredblog.blogspot.com/2017/08/six-things-garden-August.html
LikeLiked by 1 person
I too bought Blazing Sunset recently from the sale at Hardy’s Perennials. Their mail order is wonderful – I can highly recommend buying from them online.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Late summer in the US Midwest can be brown and ugly; but, this summer has brought a decent amount of rain. The garden looks perky!
https://auntjoannblog.com/2017/08/05/august-in-the-garden/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Snap. Totally agree about Lobelia (though I’ve gone for a bush variety, monsoon, which, I find, trails better than cascade. Shop-bought forced plugs and six-packs never last as long as home grown – by the time you’ve bought them and got them planted, they’ve probably been forced past half way in their flowering stage.
A few years ago I paid over the odds for some patterned nasturtium plugs. They looked just like yours. And the next year they all flowered either solid red or solid orange!
Euphorbia “flowers” are far more complex than people think. The article at http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/3208/ explains it much better than I could.
Anyhow, my belated six are over at https://rivendellgarden.blog/?p=2445.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We had Cotinus Grace once, it died. I used to prune it hard each year then just pinch the tips in July or it was all over the place by autumn. If I had to pick just one of your six this week it would be those nasturtiums; a mixture of fun and nostalgia. My six are here: https://gardenruminations.wordpress.com/2017/08/12/six-on-saturday-1282017/
LikeLike
I had a cotinus that died, it was diseased I think. It does get very leggy if not trimmed a little, you’re right.
LikeLike
Another great 6 😀love the Geums, a great group of plants, almost flower for 12 months a year in one of the gardens I look after, think this is a great meme 😀👍
Here’s mine too https://thomasdstone.blog/2017/08/12/my-6-on-saturday-12717/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on London Cottage Garden and commented:
Here is another lovely blog in the Six on a Saturday theme.
LikeLike
Another lovely blog to read and I can thoroughly recommend Totally Tangerine – what I love about geums is that you plant them in one place but their flowers appear all over the place all around the central spot on long stems and create a cloud of orange. Here are my Six on a Saturday http://londoncottagegarden.com/six-delights-on-a-saturday/
LikeLiked by 3 people
Hello again! Yes, love a geum. I divided a clump of g. ‘Mrs J Bradshaw’ into teeny plantlets earlier this year. They are all just about recovered and showing signs of a lateish flowering. I am confident of a good display next year. Can take/leave the foliage but the flowers are winners for me.
LikeLike
Hi. Have I successfully put a link to your meme in my blog today. I’ve just done it but not sure if I’ve done it right.
Also, I didn’t get any Six blogs last Saturday – was I not connected or weren’t there any? Best wishes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes your link works fine this week. Not sure what happened last week, my post was there as usual. I don’t remember seeing a comment from you with a link to your blog,which may explain why you didn’t see any click throughs.
LikeLike