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.
Finally: https://debbiesgardenuk.wordpress.com/2018/06/25/six-on-saturday-23-06-18/
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Just about missed the boat on this one – it was quite a hectic day! https://experimentsinpropagation.wordpress.com/2018/06/24/six-on-saturday-06-23/
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Hello again, hectic sounds familiar. Going back to work for a rest today!
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No kidding! My banged up hands may not function on a keyboard…
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Your roses! Your clematis! Everything is beautiful!
I’m very late posting my six, but proud that I managed to get it done at all (hoping I did it, anyway; my technological skills are somewhat lacking and S-L-O-W. . .) This is a very fun thing, looking at everyone’s gardens each week, and something to look forward to. Thanks so much!
myownlittleallotment.wordpress.com/2018/06/24/six-on-saturday/
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Morning, well done, I think the link you gave won’t work. Try this:
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I am so jealous of all the flowers! Here’s my post for today: https://patch405.com/2018/06/23/six-on-saturday-6-23-18/
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Hello again, welcome back.
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I forgot to put a link to my blog today https://londoncottagegarden.com/compromises-in-a-town-cottage-garden-six-on-saturday-june-23rd/
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I’m looking at your clematis and then out in the garden at my clematis and they look the same so now I know which one mine is – and the name rings a faint distant bell so thanks a great deal for that! I just wish I had cut it down a bit more in Feb as the stems are now a tangle and about 20 ft long.
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Yes it needs cutting back in late winter.
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Hope I’m not too late with this six, all about the veg patch so the only flowers are the kind that turn into fruit not quite an “Oh Wow” but eminently practical https://givingupthegoodlife.wordpress.com/2018/06/23/six-on-saturday-23-06-2018/
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Evening! No not too late. A fruit and veg Six, will have a look later on.
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Just to warn you, it does include close up pics of a healthy row of carrots…
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Ok well you can sod right off! (Well done,hardly jealous at all!)
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Still a cool Saturday morning here, nine hour time difference; huge florific and weather difference!
http://janestrong.blogspot.com/2018/06/little-things-to-be-thankful-for.html
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Here’s my six for the week.
https://itsabeautifulwordblog.wordpress.com/2018/06/23/gardening-is-my-default/
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I’m a big fan of Penstemons – they propagate so easily!
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Yes the seem to root quite readily. I’ve taken a few cuttings this year.
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Afternoon all, here’s mine for today…..https://thesmallgardenofrebecca.wordpress.com/2018/06/23/six-on-saturday-23-june-2018/
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Afternoon!
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Loving that “oh wow!’ , certainly oh wow! And it will look great with your clematis in a few years. What a beautiful day….spent in the pub and then the garden. My kind of Saturday!
Here’s mine,
https://oldhouseintheshires.com/2018/06/23/six-on-saturday-midsummer-glory/
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Yes. I’m not totally convinced. Maybe it’s a bit gimicky do the stripes. I’ll let it be and establish itself a bit.
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Yes, that would probably be good. You may love it!
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That Rosa gallica ‘Versicolor’ (Mundi) even exists throws the whole debate about stripy roses wide open. It can’t be naff because it’s from the fifteenth century. If stripy meant modern it would be a clear thumbs down.
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Sorry I’m late – that rose is gorgeous (my first lilies are out and proud but with gold anthers “thingys” , who knew they would last so long in bloom) https://tinyurbanfarmer.wordpress.com/2018/06/23/six-on-saturday-pests-and-produce/
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No apology required! Good thingys. Excellent!
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Gold…
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oh that Agastache? is beautiful! Such softness. My lilies aren’t open yet either and I managed to save some during the storm. I appear to be about a week or two behind your flowers!
My six are here: http://www.cottagenotebook.ie/grow-six-on-saturday-light-dark/
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It’s ornamental clover, it seems. Not agastache.
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I haven’t caught up with the comments yet but it is beautiful. Thank you for the correction
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Not a correction. Well, if so then it’s me I’m correcting. I wondered if it might be agastache, but was set straight later in the morning.
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Hello everyone. Bit late to the party today but oh well. Mr P I’ll be back tomorrow to drool over that rose in greater detail. Ornamental clover huh. Cool. Soooo happy right now look at all these glorious sixes to peek at 😊😊😊
Oh yeah and here’s mine…
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Evening. Or morning. Or whatever it is.
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Here it is just past midnight so I got my post in and now I need some zzzzzs. Will check out everyone’s links tomorrow. Yay!
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I love the Thingys. Mine have fat buds but are a way off flowering, I think. Also I squished the first lily beetle today so I expect they will be as leafless as yours were soon. That rose is a lovely thing ( as opposed to a Thingy), and I am jealous of your clematis as mine have done nothing. I agree, I think that fluffy purple thing is an Agastache.
Here in Wales where it always rains, it is as dry as a dry thing. The garden (heavy clay) is bone hard and cracking. We hosepipe every other night which is just about keeping things going, but, I really would love a bit of rain. Isn’t there a Ralph McTell song “Another rai -ai -ai-ai-ain has fallen…’?
Anyhow, enough of my wittering – here is my 6 for this week https://theoptimisticgardener.wordpress.com/2018/06/23/6-on-saturday-23-06-18/
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That mystery is an ornamental clover, it seems Trifolium rubens. Very reliable repeat performer.
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Ooh. I like it. My agastache is more pointy, I can see that now. Or is that too much information?
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Some people shouldn’t be let loose on a keyboard. Repeat after me – the link is –
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Your Lillies are a couple of weeks ahead of mine and looking beautiful, despite the beasties best efforts. Rebecca is stunning as well.
https://thequiltinggardener.wordpress.com/2018/06/23/six-on-saturday-23/06/18/
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Yes Rebecca is a looker alright.
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‘Thingys’ is indeed a recognized term over here as well!! Glad the lilies survived to bloom another day! I have an eclectic collection of plants now blooming: https://countygardening.wordpress.com/2018/06/23/sixonsaturday/
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Yes. Eclectic is what we like in a #SixOnSaturday post!
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Great six, I love Naughty Marietta, but the name helps! And I am a massive penstemon fan. Must rush, got to get my hostess with the mostess hat on. Here is my contribution https://offtheedgegardening.com/2018/06/23/six-on-saturday-rush-2/
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The name does help. The cheeky minx.
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Oh wow! And not just the name of your rose but all your flowers this week – those lovely lilies with their chocolate thingys, that dazzling clematis and your fluffy mystery plant. Here are my six, not from my own garden this week:
https://carrotsandcalendula.co.uk/2018/06/23/six-on-saturday-blooming-madness/
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The fluffy mystery is ornamental clover, I’m am told by my gardening betters.
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Good Morning from Washington State! That’s one healthy clematis. Looking forward to visiting all the posts this evening, as I am off to help with our annul garden tours. Here is my contribution: https://gardensatcoppertop.com/2018/06/23/six-on-saturday-june-23/
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Good luck with the tours. I had a fantastic purple clematis once that i killed somehow. Pruned too hard. Still miss it, super careful with pruning now…
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My favorite this week is the plant you are not sure about……..they look like little pink cottontails and would be welcome in my garden……..Here is my SOS https://thecadyluckleedy.com/2018/06/23/six-on-saturday-my-garden-porch-and-a-few-good-reads/
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Ornamental clover,apparently.
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Clover, Clover? Really?
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Yup. See comments earlier on.
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Wow! Sixteen Clematisis an achievement. I salute you. Climbing roses can take a few years to establish. It’s a sweetie, isn’t it?
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I think it’s closer to 20 actually.
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I thought “oh, wow!” When I saw the rose 😁 . It is gorgeous, whether it stays short or not. The clematis is so prolific, also a stunner. I’ve been catching slugs eating my lilies. Unlike your weather, ours has been unusually rainy. Here are my six: https://ajoann.com/2018/06/23/lily-we-love-you-six-on-saturday-6-23-18/
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Yes it’s quite good the rose. Not my favourite. Yet.
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My lilies have also been ravaged, so yours give me hope. I like the marigold & think it’ll come into its own as the summer goes on. So here’s my offering for the week. Am hoping for some thoughts on things that aren’t working. https://lorahughes.blogspot.com/2018/06/things-that-work-things-that-dont.html
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Hi Lora, the marigolds might grow on me. Well not on me. In the garden.
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I put an @ instead of a . In my link so here I am again. Try this. N20gardener.wordpress.com. 😱😂 less haste more speed!
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Here tis.
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You look like you might have a predominance of pink too, four from six in that part of the spectrum. I’m grateful for you posting a rose that I can live without; not that I specially dislike it, just wouldn’t choose it. I need to stop digging. Here’s my sextet: https://wp.me/p6bCCa-1zD
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No it’s not my fave either. Bit gimicky. Still, it’s there now.
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I love your little tagetes. It’s very sweet – maybe you just need loads more of them to create the impact you want? Heres my Six – I’m celebrating sun worshippers, a himalayan rose and positioning my sun dial.
https://www.teabreakgardener.co.uk/my-gardening-week-six-on-saturday-23-06-18/
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Or try calendula. I have them edging my no show parsnip bed. And at least they grow happily from seed.
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Hello Katharine. Yes, more plants. Why didn’t I think of that!
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After our incredibly wet spring we were dry again. So I spent hours watering which turned the tide and we are now in our second day of rain.
Here is my SoS. https://doesthisfontmakemelookfat.com/2018/06/23/six-on-saturday-june-23-2018/
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Your neighbours appreciate your sacrifice!
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Well they are all looking lovely Prop. Especially the clematis. Sixteen you say? You must have a lot of fence to cover! I wish I could get mine to bloom so prolifically. I like your Penstemon too, wine would really go in my colour scheme, whereas the coral pink one I do have growing certainly does not!! Happy sunny weekend, I’m off to water my garden now!!
PS I was going to suggest some kind of posh clover for your mystery plant, but I see someone has managed to ID it. That’s what I love about blogging, so many friendly and useful folk about 🙂
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I think i have nearer 20 in fsct. Yes, fair bit of fence and wall. And trellis. You can plant em quite close. Always room for another. Good thing too as i have cuttings on the go…
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My clematis don’t seem to do anywhere near as well as everyone else’s.
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They take 3 or 4 years to establish really.
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Well these have probably been here much longer than that!
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It has been very dry, my arms are building muscles carrying water cans!! Lovely collection of 6 on Saturday especially the ‘oh wow’ rose, how aptly named. I’m missing the roses from my old garden but do have a patio rose, not included in my post today though. This is my patio collection making up for not having a garden http://hurtledto60.com/2018/06/23/six-on-saturday-patio-planting-23-06-2018/
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No garden! Tragic. Glad you found some space for a rose.
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Ah but I am helping daughter and SiL renovate the old garden in their new house and I’m caretaking an allotment until my name reaches the top of the list. Avidly reading allotment blogs as this is new to me. Still it doesn’t really make up for having my very own garden, but life is full of compromises.
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A lottie of your own will be great. I’m on a long waiting list.
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Number 4 is trifolium rubens in the clover family. The initial ‘A’ is silent and invisible! I grow them with allium sphaerocephalon which come into flower just before the trifolium finishes.
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Certainly looks like that. Weird though, I don’t remember it being that name. Thanks.
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So much lovely stuff in the garden right now. Lilies, roses, clematis and penstemons all looking great. I’m working via a tablet today so my link is n20gardener@wordpress.com. I hope that works for everyone.
Wishing John K well and looking forward to catching up with everyone else over the weekend. No rain could be a theme – except for Wales!
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That’s an email address N20 !!
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😂 I was in a bit of a rush!! I’ll have another go!
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Stop moaning about the lack of rain man. Morning Prop have a good weekend https://sedumsdahliasandhayfever.com/2018/06/23/six-on-saturday-23rd-june-2018/
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Not moaning, just pointing out the inevitability of rain to come!
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I have had thought same principle over the last 10 weeks! Don’t hold you breath.
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Very good six this week. But I shall not be tempted to add to my “want list”. Being up the road from Cardiff, we also got those 3 days of rain. Which was good for the garden and didn’t bother me at all as I’ve spent the last week and a bit in bed with damned flu! No, not man-flu, the fully-fledged shiver and sweat, shake and rattle, lead-weighted legs version. Which is why there’ll be no six from me this week. Now to start on my seasonal campaign, reminding cat owners to remove the anthers from lilies (what you call thingies) and asking non-cat owners it they would be so considerate as to ……..
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Sounds like fun, hope you feel better soon John.
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I hope you are on the mend.
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Sorry to hear you have been unwell. Your Six-on-Saturday will be very much missed for its description, information, insults (well, kind insults if that’s not an oxymoron) …oh, and lovely plants! I hope you can see your beautiful garden from your sick bed.
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Sorry to hear you’ve been so unwell. We have all been poorly this week too – unusual for this time of year. I think the warm weather is breeding nasty bacteria.
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Stunning lilies. I hear you on the lack of rain. We are supposed to have a monsoon, and my plants are wilting. Not a drop last week.
Anyway, here’s my six- https://uttarakhandandi.blogspot.com/2018/06/little-wild-things_78.html
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Monsoon highly unlikely here!
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I thought the same thing when I saw your lilies. I remember them, eaten by slugs like some of mine but since yesterday the flowers are open! … Happy to see them again!
Here is my Six https://fredgardenerblog.wordpress.com/2018/06/23/six-on-saturday-23-06/
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Bonjour Fred! Was Lily beetle for me, but it doesn’t seem to have worried them flower-wise. Better than ever in fact.
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Very pretty Six, again. When will your new, circular, brick patio appear in your Six-on-Saturday? Will there be room for your Parisian table and chairs as well as several containers? It’s most impressive. Here are my Six-on-Saturday.
https://grannysgarden229242407.wordpress.com/2018/06/23/six-on-saturday
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Definitely room for table and chairs, And maybe people. No pls he, they’ll go round the outside in the new borders. When I’ve dug them.
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It is getting quite desperate on the water front isn’t, I have reluctantly added soaker hoses to the raised beds around the house as they are really one long container,
Enjoyed the six, penstemon is particularly lovely
Here’s mine for the weekend https://thomasdstone.blog/2018/06/23/six-on-saturday-23rd-of-june/
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I’ve got to hook up my watering system this weekend.
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You are going to need it for this summer
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https://tonytomeo.wordpress.com/2018/06/23/six-on-saturday-nursery-rhyme/
Here it is. We are a few hours later here.
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You’re a few hours earlier!
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Earlier? It posted on time last week, I just did not tell you about right away. It jut seems earlier this week because I told you on time.
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We had three days of rain here in Cardiff earlier this week, so the water butts are all full again. Just as well because the hot sun has returned and things are drying out quickly. What a crazy thing the British summer can be. Anyway I have a sort of a quiz for my six: https://greenfingeredblog.blogspot.com/2018/06/can-you-identify-mystery-plants.html
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3 days of rain would be nice. At night. Or when I’m away with work.
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#4 looks looks like some sort of red clover. I do not know all the names. Most that are used for cover crops are not as prolific with bloom. I suppose it could be an ornamental version of clover.
Is penstemon popular? I think of it as something that is popular here because it is native, and because it does well in the climate.
Gotta go. It three minutes to midnight, when my Six on Saturday posts. I will be right back with the link.
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It’s quite a tall plant. Penstemon is a good garden plant here, pretty common.
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I do not think that I have met a penstemon that I dislike. The wild ones do not transplant easily into refined gardens.
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You may be right about the clover. Ornamental clover looks like it fits the bill.
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Okay. I have not seen it before, but figured that it probably looks like the cover crop clover.
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What a great six, especially lit up by all that sunshine. ‘Rebecca’ is gorgeous and I love the idea of a rose called ‘Oh Wow’ – says it all really, doesn’t it? Must say I’ll never quite see penstemons in the same light again . . . 🙂
https://thissimplelife954.wordpress.com/
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Hello again! Lovely to see another Six from Spain.
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Thank you! Lovely to be here!
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