Yet more business travel this week, Paris this time, which kept me away from the garden for 48 hours. Torture! Still, back home now, and time for Six on Saturday. Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. Could be anything! A project completed, germinating seeds, an inherited tool, a plan, a pest, anything at all. Join in!

Here are my Six for this week.

1. Emerging phlox. It seems my border phlox have survived the privations of a chilly winter. The new growth is coming through. In a couple of weeks time I will cut back the old growth.

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2. Aubrieta. I grew these from seed in late 2016. They didn’t do a great deal last year, busy establishing themselves I expect. This year there are signs that this clump might serve a more floriforous purpose. There are two or three flowers and lots of buds.

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3. Hydrangea bud. Talking of buds, this is from a climbing hydrangea I have growing against the same fence panel as my largest climbing rose. It is usually a little overwhelmed by the rose but even more so by the vigourous dwarf hop plant. The hydrangea has been slow to establish, it has been in place for a few years, but last year it put on a spurt of growth. Right now, each stem is fit to bust with new growth. Perhaps I will get some useful flowers from this plant this year.

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4. Monarda. Continuing the theme of emerging growth, I grew these from seed in late 2016, planting them out late last spring. They have pushed their way through the mulch and seem quite happy.

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5. Helenium autumnale. This is part of a spreading clump of helenium, all from tiny divisions made last spring. Such good value for late flower power. I am growing a few different varieties of helenium from seed this year, we’ll see how they compare to the established plants.

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6. Digitalis parviflora seedlings. Collected from a variety “Milk Chocolate”, these are perennial foxglove, growing to about 60cm. They are unusual in having brown flowers. This is a fresh batch of seed from this year’s HPS bounty, but I grew something similar from seed last year, the resulting plants of which are busy putting on new spring growth.

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Those are my Six, what are yours? If you’d like to join in, just write your post and add a link to it in the comments below. For more details, please see the brief participant’s guide.

Have a fab weekend, and don’t forget to check back in over the weekend as more links are added.

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