No sign of Jack Frost yet, my local 10 day forecast has overnight lows in double figures Celsius. Typical first frost day round here is mid October, so seems like it’s warmer than usual. Implications for the broader climate aside, this does mean I get to enjoy a splash of colour for a bit longer. Anyhow, time for another Six on Saturday.  Six things, in the garden, on Saturday. Could be anything, a good flower, some autumn colour, a good combination, a success, a failure, a project, anything at all. Join in!

Here are my Six.

1. Mini dahlia. I bought this near death* for pennies somewhere or other, variety not given. It is a teeny dahlia, it’s no more than 6, maybe 8 inches high. I’m not sure if that is characteristic of this variety,or if this plant is just a runt. I said runt. It didn’t do a lot for a month or two after planting but since then it has been banging out flowers a couple at a time. I’ll leave it in the ground, see if it survives the winter.

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2. Magnolia berries. I didn’t know there were berries. Fairly sure I’ve never noticed berries on this dwarf magnolia. I might grab the seed from them. Or I might not, it takes years and years to get one to flowering.

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3. Honeysuckle. This is actually in next door’s garden but it has flopped over the fence, lending me a bit of flowery colour in late summer, early autumn. This is especially welcome as my own nearby honeysuckle died (I’m ashamed to say it’s still in the ground, cluttering the place up).  Next door’s healthier specimen is almost done flowering now.  I did recently buy a honeysuckle, a pity bench job that i have earmarked for the fenceline in Border 2.

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4. Aster ‘little carlow’. Again. The first time I featured this it had just started flowering, with a few flowers and lots of buds. It’s worth another look as it is flowering profusely, there must be hundreds of flowers on this little group of two.

5. Cosmos, var unk.  I couldn’t find the packet, it wasn’t in my normal spot for used seed packets, so the variety is a mystery. It has not been a great year for me and cosmos. I have managed to get just two or three plants to flowering from three packets of seed. I sowed this one back in June when I was planting out Border 8 in the front garden, it is the only flowering plant to result from that packet. Still, looks alright, a late burst of colour.

6. Witchhazel leaf. I don’t think this is a healthy little tree. The leaves look pretty unappealing. I’m going to dig it up and bin it at some point.

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That’s my Six for this week, what are yours?  As we head further into autumn, we in the northern hemisphere would benefit hugely from some southern hemisphere Six posts. Come on all you Aussies, Kiwis and Saffers, share your spring and summer with us! If you’d like to join in, wherever you are, just add a comment below with a link to your post, and maybe add a link back to this blog in yours.  Please see the participants guide for more details. Don’t forget to check back in over the weekend as more links are added.

I’ll be back next week with another Six.

*the dahlia, not me. Although, it is possible that if I was near death, buying a plant might still be high on my list of priorities.