What a mucky day Friday was weather-wise. I might have been willing to concede that it’s no longer very summery out, but this morning? Beautiful out. Still summer! 

Anyway, regardless, time for another Six on Saturday. Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday.  Could be anything.  A job completed, a project, a pest, an interesting plant, a boring plant, anything at all!

Here are my Six.

1. Wisteria. This is well established now, its home has been a trellis screen that separates the pretty end of the garden from the working end.  It has fully colonised this trellis and is busy heading over the arch to the other side.  I pruned this growth back entirely last year with a view to maximising the flowering.  I didn’t read the fine print which said “except for any growth required to train the plant” or something similar.  Fortunately, since early spring it has responded vigorously, growing across the arch, a good 4 feet of span.  I’m expecting that next year it will establish a beachhead on the other trellis that forms a similar screen on the other side of the garden. I should at least have good flowers on the arch next spring.

2. Busy Lizzies.  I grew these from seed this year, nothing fancy.  They are busy flowering away in a patio pot.  Simples.

wp-image-1127850106

3. Sedum ‘matrona’. Recently bought for peanuts (compared to the sticker price) in my local garden centre.  Currently languishing in my holding area, it is flowering away, doing its thing. As a bonus extra, there’s also a slightly out of focus garden spider.

4. Helenium autumnale.  I’m fast developing a bit of an obsession for helenium.  They look so great planted en masse. When I last featured this plant in a Six on Saturday post, there were only one or two flowers, so I’m giving them another crack here. I have several clumps now, both front and back garden.  I’d like to add to these next year with some redder varieties, ‘Moerheim Beauty’ and ‘Sahin’s Early Flowerer’ are the ones I have in mind.  Any others you’d recommend?

5. Climbing Rose.  I’m not sure of the variety (recurring theme, must do a better job of keeping track).  I recall buying it a couple of years back, with the intent of it climbing up the side of the arch.  It’s never really done anything and I don’t remember it flowering noticeably.  Bizarrely it has sprung into life the last few weeks, putting on a bit of growth to the point where I’ve started to train it vertically, and also flowering. I think the mulch applied to the borders in the spring has encouraged it to buck its ideas up.

wp-image-2022111323

6. Black elder, sambucus nigra. I like this shrub, but am feeling a little ambivalent about it at the moment.  I can’t get it into a decent shape.  I think it wants to grow bigger than I want it to.  I do like the leaf form, I like the flowers and the fruit are lovely too.  But I don’t like the overall package at the moment.  I have a small plant, a cutting from the main shrub, so I am contemplating starting again, planting it somewhere different and being more organised with the pruning.

 

That’s my Six this week – what are yours?  Why not join in with the other contributors to this meme, show us Six things in your garden this week.  If you decide to have a go please just add a link to your Six post in the comments below, and maybe a link back to this blog in your post.  You can also use facebook, just post the link to your article (not your profile).

I’ll be back next week with another Six., enjoy the rest of your weekend, and don’t forget to check back for new links to other fabulous Six posts.