Six on Saturday 21-10

By the time this post is published, I’ll have just arrived in sunny Dubai for a week’s holiday, visiting family and friends. Frost? Gale force winds? Bulb planting? Cleaning the greenhouse? It can all wait till I get back. Meanwhile, it’s time for another Six on Saturday. Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. Could be anything!  A job done, a good flower, some autumn colour, a design, a beastie, anything at all.  Join in!

Here are my Six.

1) Cyclamen.  I knew I had some of these somewhere! They were hiding under a sprawly mess of nicotiana which I cleared last weekend.  There is the untidy remains of one flower, cowering in the corner, but not photo-worthy.

2) Fatsia japonica. We have a flower!  Or one is at least developing.  I had no idea this shrub would flower, although I suppose most things do, eventually. I’ve seen photos of the finished article, looking forward to seeing on this plant. I hope frost doesn’t get in the way.

3) Clematis – variety unknown. This is having a little late flush of flowers, right up at the top. I had to stand on my tip-toes and hold camera at arms length to reach this.

4) Manure – after a bit of fiddling about online, I found a good source of horse manure, about 10 minutes drive from home. It’s not a stables, more a paddock, with just two horses that apparently between them produce a prodigious quantity of poo. The stash I raided is about 1 year old, straw and bedding-free, and is well rotted down.  It’s lovely stuff. I filled 15 bags and will be back for more in a few weeks time.  I’m going to spread it as a thick mulch on the veg beds and the borders once they’re all cut back for the winter.  I reckon I’ll need three or four return trips to complete the job.

5) Dahlia bishop’s children. I know, I know, I keep banging on about these, but I do love the orangey/yellow flowers of this plant against the dark dark foliage.  Very striking, I think.

6) Wisteria. Having cleared Border 3, I now have a good view of the entirety of this wisteria.  It spans across about 18 feet tip to tip, and I expect it will put on another 6 feet next year, it is now very vigorous. This is a nice problem to have. My reason for featuring it here again is the leaf colour, which I have never really noticed before at this time of year.

That’s my Six for this week, what are yours?  Our little community of fellow Six posters is growing each week, why not add your voice? We’d love to have a nose round your garden! If you’d like to take part, just add a comment below, with a link to your post, and maybe add a link back to this blog in yours. Go on, you know you want to – see participant guide for more details.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, don’t forget to check back in over the next couple of days as more links get added.

I’ll be back next week with another Six on Saturday.