I’ve been in Connecticut, USA all week but am back in Blighty now, with another Six on Saturday. Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. Could be anything, a disease, a good harvest, a flower, an interesting plant, a job to do. Anything at all, going on in your garden now.
My Six this week require a bit of imagination as none have yet performed any great garden service but I have hopes for them next year. Have you affixed your potential goggles? Then let’s go!
1. Acanthus mollis, bear’s breeches. A rescue job from the garden centre, it was just a couple of scrappy leaves when I took it home. It has a good root system so in no time it has begun to regrow. It should get quite big. The RHS uses the words ‘robust’ and ‘vigorous’ to describe it. Should I be afraid?
2. Geranium macrorrhizum. I got this at a plant fair in May and promptly divided it. It is nestling in a shady spot in Border 4. The variety is not given on the label so who knows what the flowers are like. We will have to wait till next year to find out.
3. Berkheya species. I hope this is the pretty purple one but fear it may the uglier yellow cousin. The leaves are quite insistent, and pretty spiky. It’s like an aggressive, snarly dandelion. Grown from seed this year, no flowers yet. I’m giving it a chance but if it’s ugly it’s coming out.
4. Perovskia, Russian sage. I have two, both hardwood cuttings taken from a neighbour’s garden last November, now nicely rooted and growing on. I’ll need to cut it right back in the spring. but it should grow to a few feet and have lavender blue (i.e. purple!) flowers on spikes. It smells fabulous.
5. Hesperantha coccinea x ‘zeal salmon’. I grew these from seed this year and having seen photos of other people’s kaffir lillies, I’m a bit disappointed these didn’t bloom in year 1. Next year, I hope. They flower in September, these should be a shade of salmon red but as they are from collected seed, we’ll have to wait and see. I’ve 16 of them so they better be good!
6. Penstemon digitalis ‘husker red’. I grew these from seed this year, they should have red stems and white flowers. So far, lots of foliage, but nowt else. I’ve got quite a few dotted about in groups, I hope they’re worth it. The RHS says the plants resulting from propagation by seed are “variable” and the flowers a “murky shade”, which doesn’t hugely inspire confidence. They do seem to be busy forming quite good clumps. As always, we shall see.
That’s my Six for this week, what are yours? Join in! Just add a link to your Six in the comments below and maybe a link back to this blog. For more details, see the participants’ guide. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and don’t forget to check back throughout the weekend for links to other great Six posts.
I’ll be back next week with another Six on Saturday.
Acanthus isn’t a weed here. Every time I have tried to grow one, it has barely lasted six months. I think they don’t like our clay soil and summer humidity.
Here are my six. I stayed in the greenhouse today:
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It is so interesting seeing the variety of sixes this week as we head into autumn.
Here is my six:
http://www.parabola.me.uk/blog/2017/Sep/six-on-the-last-day-of-september/
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I’ve been following Six on Saturday for a few weeks and love the idea of it so thought I’d have a go this week. Am a technical numpty so not sure how it all works or if I’ve got it right. Hoping link adds automatically. Here goes!
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To save Jon a bit of work, the post is at https://thequiltinggardener.wordpress.com/2017/09/30/first-blog-post/. Clicking the poster ID will also get there for now but won’t once another post is made to the blog. HTH.
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Fantastic, welcome to our little (growing!) Six community. Hope to see you next week!
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Heres mine too.
https://oldhouseintheshires.com/2017/09/30/six-on-saturday/
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Brill, lovely to see a first time Six post. Hope to see you next week.
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I’ll certainly try. Thanks for having me! x
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I read somewhere that geranium macrorrhizum can cover an area the size of a tennis court in a season – but it’s a great plant and smells fantastic. I love the fact the roots run along above the ground so it’s so easy to pull up if you need to. Here is my six today http://londoncottagegarden.com/six-on-saturday-30917/
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Oh I hope not. My garden isn’t much bigger than a tennis court…
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The Acanthus is an architectural gem. I would love to sit in front of one to make a detailed drawing, but after reading this post, perhaps I will set up a camp chair in a public garden. Perovskia is a dependable and delightful plant. My own Six on Saturday can be found here: https://thepaintinggardener.wordpress.com/2017/09/30/six-on-saturday-september-30/
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Registering my approval here for ‘Husker’s Red’ which I have grown for years in Ontario, Canada. The blooms are actually a pale pink, almost white. Eventualy it became a satisfying clump in an island bed. 🙂 There is a new form of this plant, very similar, which folks seem to like as well. I also love the Russian Sage but it requires a larger and sunnier property than I have now. It has a rather wild habit which I enjoyed at our (former) farm. A neighbour had a hedge of it with about a dozen plants! It was gorgeous!
Here are my Six on Saturday: https://fromourisland.wordpress.com/2017/09/30/six-on-saturday-september-30-2017/
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Duly noted on the penstemon, sounds good!
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I like Acanthus myself, but you do need to have plenty of room for it! I had Acanthus spinosa in the middle of a border last year and it made a fine centrepiece. This year it overshadowed everything around it and I realised the border was not big enough for it. I pruned it so frequently to allow space for everything else that it didn’t even flower this year. I have put it in a pot and am hoping it will provide some architecture to the front garden next year instead. It also provided several seedlings which I’ve also potted up – no idea what I will end up doing with them, so I hope there wont be hundreds more appearing in the space it used to be.
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That’s encouraging. Perhaps I’ll give it a chance. There’s a shady corner of the front garden where it might not do too much damage
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Oh, so much love for the Acanthus! Wouldn’t give much for that one’s chances. Perhaps you could give it away.
My six for this week are here:
https://gardenruminations.wordpress.com/2017/09/30/six-on-saturday-3092017/
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Yes it has not had a large fan base so far. It’s still in a pot, at least, so I have the option of never planting it…
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Ah, Acanthus. Hope you’ve got a big enough garden to accommodate it. Statuesque, it makes a statement but will get big over time. Very big. I’ve been trying to eradicate mine for three years. It’s resistant to every weedkiller known to man and will happily regrow from the tiniest bit of root. Your leaves look like the spinosus variety. Keep young kids away. The bracts as well as leaves have sharp spines on them. Very sharp!
But I’m pretty certain the flowers on your Geranium will be flower-coloured. My six will follow later if the rain stops.
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Acanthus that is ‘robust and vigorous’ turned in to an unruly thug in our garden in North Yorkshire, was overcome by horrible mildew every year, and it was, after many attempts, turfed out. I hope it behaves itself for you.
Geranium macrorrhizum is a gem, I have ‘Ingwersen’s Variety’, a wonderful evergreen ground covering plant that tolerates any kind of conditions it is forced to put up with, and pale pink flowers early in the year. I would also like a bright magenta pink flowered form.
‘Snap’ on Penstemon ‘Husker’s Red’! Hopefully you will see my six at https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=117605805598792&id=100020481184500&pnref=story
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Hope you had a good time in the states fella, did you get much time to take in the plants? Another great six with some of my favourite plants in there, love the pentstemons, perovskia and berheya, hope it is the purple one as well!
Well here’s my little contribution for this week! https://thomasdstone.blog/2017/09/30/six-on-saturday-30092017/
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Fat chance! Airport Hotel office hotel office hotel office airport.
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That’s a shame ☹️
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Plants like the acanthus and berkheya have taps roots. Once they get established, they are almost impossible to eradicate because any pieces of root left in the ground will regrow (like a dandelion). Also, deadhead your acanthus or you will get seedlings (with their own taproots) coming up around the mother plant.
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Oh great! So I’ve grown and biught weeds, basically. Sigh…
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A weed is only a plant in the wrong place
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