Six on Saturday 23-06-2018

No rain of any worth has fallen this last few weeks, and none is forecast for the next two. Normally about this far into a dry spell, people start talking in ominous tones about empty reservoirs, hose-pipe bans, sharing baths, that kind of thing. That is usually the trigger for torrential downpours lasting for weeks on end, entirely washing out the summer. So, despite the inconvient amount of watering necessary just now, enjoy it while it lasts! Time for Six on Saturday – six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. Could be anything, a flower, a pollinator, a pest, a container, a harvest, anything at all. Join in!

Here are my Six for this week.

1 – Lily. Remember those lily stems, ravaged by lily beetle a couple of weeks back? It hasn’t prevented them flowering. I prefer the lighter coloured blooms, the contrast with the chocolate brown thingys in the middle is best. What!? Thingys is a recognised horticultural term. In my house. Or head.

2 – Tagete ‘Naughty marietta’. I’ve dotted a few marigolds around the edges of the vegetable plot. I’m a little disappointed by the size of the flowers. I’d like them to be bigger and more obvious I think.

3 – Clematis ‘rebecca’. This is my most established clematis, in position for a few years now. There are oodles of flowers and they seem to last a long time. My hope is that the other 15 or so clematis I have around the place will establish in the same fashion.

4 – I’m not entirely sure what this is. I grew them from seed a few years ago, there are several around the garden. They don’t seem to mind much whether they are in the sun or not. I have a vague (very vague) recollection that they begin with “a”. Agastache of some kind maybe? This year has been particularly good for them, they grew quite big and bushy, then got flattened by the storm a week or two back. I have been applying some belated support to prevent such a collapse in the future.

5 – Penstemon ‘Patio Wine’. I like to think of this plant as an instruction, an order even, probably involving the voice of Windsor Davies circa 1978. “You there, you snivelling little gardener. Wine! Now! On the Patio! Move it, move it, on the double, left right left right!”. I can almost see that moustache twitching now…

6 – Rose ‘Oh Wow’. I bought this last year as a container rose, finally getting around to planting it early this spring. It is a climber, preferring a sunny aspect, so it is against the trellis on the sunnish wisteria border. It is putting out a lot of flowers but not achieving much height, or not yet. I am slowly training it up some canes and from there onto the trellis. My hope is that it will take over from the wisteria when it has finished flowering, joining the other rose and a couple of clematis that are also planted along here. Expecting bigger things next year.

Those are my six, what are yours? Join in, all the best people do! Just write your post, twit your tweet, face your book, insta your gram, whatever, then just pop a link to it below in the comments. Maybe mention this blog in your thang, that would be awesome. That’s it! Couldn’t be easier. Go on, you know you want to. You can find more information in the brief participants guide.

Have a fabulous gardening weekend, but don’t forget to check back in as more links will be added over the next day or two.

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