The unseasonably warm weather continues, some overnight lows beating average day time temperature for the time of year. The tail end of a storm is due to hit on Sunday here, bringing heavy rain for the day. I’ll be pleased to see some rain, but would prefer it happened overnight – I’ve got stuff to do! Anyway, time for Six on Saturday. Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. You choose, could be anything – a flower, foliage, a tool, a project, a success, a failure, a weed, a pest, anything at all. Join in!
Here are my Six for this week…
1 – Garlic. I grew garlic for the first time this year and recently bought some more seed cloves to plant up for next year’s crop. I am enjoying having a supply of bulbs in storage. Last year I ordered too many bulbs for sowing and ended up growing some in bags. Most uncharacteristically, this year I have ordered too few. I sowed (or planted?) those the other day. I was going to buy some more when I was reminded that I could just plant some of my stored garlic. These three good-size bulbs have been pressed into service as seed stock for next years bulbs. I should get 6 or 7 cloves from each one, so these three should become around 20 bulbs next year. If you haven’t grown garlic before, it’s well worth a try – just plonk them in the ground around October, then leave till end of June, July time.
2 – Thalictrum x ‘Black stockings’. I grew these meadow rue from seed this year, just a few. The plants have not done much this year, just settling in. The foliage is lush though. I sometimes think it is aquilegia, then remember. Next year they should put on more growth and I should have slender near-black stems of up to 2m, topped by sprays of lavender purple flowers. For now, I wait, gardening is a long game.
3 – Dahlia ‘Otto’s Thrill’. This is Otto’s second toot of the Six on Saturday trumpet. I am left with a limited array of dahlias this year after the double whammy of winter storage failures and difficult growing conditions. So I’ll celebrate the few I have.
4 – Rudbeckia, reddun. A survivor of two winters, this plant has been moved a couple of times. It sulked a little, but is now flowering quite gamely. It is lower than it should be, but hopefully it will settle in and start behaving itself next year. If it survives.
5 – Viola ‘Heartthrob’. A recent pity bench purchase. I note it has been lightly nibbled by something. It does flower, apparently, but I bought it for the foliage. It is a good ground cover plant, apparently, but I think I will put in one of the planters, let it take care of the lower storey of the resident climbers.
6 – Aster ‘Little Carlow’. I featured this a few weeks ago, just two flowers in the picture. That was nice enough, but doesn’t nearly do this clump justice. Here it is again then, in all it’s floriferous glory. I think I will divide this group next spring.
So, those are my Six, what are yours? If you’d like to join in, please do, just publish your post, tweet your tweet, insta your gram, whatever, then pop a link to it below in the comments. If you also mention my blog in yours, that will be fab. For more details you can read the brief participant guide.
Have a great gardening weekend, I have plenty to do after being away most of last weekend. Don’t forget to check back in during the day as more links get added.
I’ll be back next week with another #SixOnSaturday.
sorry to be late with my post but been away for the weekend – your dahlia looks stunning – I’ve got plenty of dahlias on my post from where I was staying – Denman College in Oxfordshire –
and thank you for the reminder about garlic 🙂 I need to plant mine too. I use them as cat deterrents… love Bec 🙂
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Yes I’m looking forward to seeing it grow on next year.
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I’m still calling it Saturday night, although of course it’s actually Sunday morning. But I’m a late night person, obviously.
My asters look just like yours, I wonder if that means they are the same? Well, mine looked like that before the hurricane flattened them, I should say. Now they are pitiful.
Here are my six for this week: https://myownlittleallotment.wordpress.com/2018/10/14/six-on-saturday-october-13-2018/
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Great photos! I grow Elephant Garlic and really like it. The flowers are a great substitute for various other Allium species grown in flower beds. Then you get to harvest HUGE garlic heads…
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Thanks, yes im enjoying the garlic. I have some elephant garlic too.
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There are several different cultivars I would like to try out.
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I think the aster and the viola are simply beautiful and as always, am in love with the palette in your garden. Here’s mine for this week! Cheers! http://pruebatten.com/2018/10/13/six-saturday-131018/
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Thank you, although the frost will soon finish it all off. No sign of it for the next two weeks though, so I shall enjoy it while I can.
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What beautiful asters! Here is my post this week. After I hit ‘publish’ the sun came out of course. Now it is Sunday morning here in New Zealand and guess what? It is raining again.
https://basia329.wordpress.com/2018/10/13/six-on-a-saturday/
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Due to rain all day here tomorrow too. Has been lovely this afternoon, a very warm autumn day.
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Looks like Northern Europe is having a bit of an Indian summer.
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Yes i normally have frost by now. No sign yet.
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I am always blown away by your gorgeous flowers. I tried elephant garlic this year which doesn’t seem to be doing nearly as well as the regular. I plant it in big pots so nothing will eat it except me.
This week I can finally show I’m incorporating more flowers into my yard: https://stoneyknob.wordpress.com/2018/10/13/six-on-saturday-blobs-part-2/
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Enioy them while they last! Jack Frost will finish them off soon I expect.
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I grew thalictrum from seed a couple of years ago, but disappointingly they have mostly turned out to be frothy green not purple, so I’ve definitely made a note of your ‘Black Stockings’. You have a splendid clump of ‘Little Carlow’. Have fun deciding where to plant your divisions!
My Six this week are here: https://wp.me/pM8Y1-7fe
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Frothy green! what, the flowers?
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Umm, yes … creamy white with greenish stamen
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That aster shot is fantastic. Our homegrown garlic was a bit of a failure this year. It didn’t seem to form individual cloves and remained tiny. We’re still making our way through them though. I’m hoping to get some proper garlic from the local garden centre tomorrow (we usually grow it from a pack of supermarket garlic) https://onemanandhisgardentrowel.wordpress.com/2018/10/13/six-on-saturday-13-october-2018/
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Maybe you just had a duff batch of supermarket garlic. They say not to use it because it may not have been grown in our conditions and may not be disease free.
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When I run out of legitimate garlic seed, including what I’ve saved from my own crop of the previous year, I often fill in with “seed” I purchased from the farmer’s market with no problem – however, I only buy and plant organically grown garlic because I read that if it’s not organic, it is likely treated with something to keep it from sprouting on the store shelf.
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We usually go for the organic supermarket garlic to plant and cook with too.
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That might be it then. This the second year it’s not done so well. Just got back from the garden centre with some proper stuff (Marco).
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Aster ‘Little Carlow’ is one of my favorites. I have that pretty Viola but something keeps eating the leaves. I haven’t seen any flowers on mine either.
I am joining in this week https://thebloominggarden.wordpress.com/2018/10/13/six-on-saturday-13-10-2018/
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Something is nibbling mine too. Hope it survives long enough to thrive.
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https://thepotter973907073.wordpress.com
Here’s mine for today! Love the rudbeckia!
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What a lovely six this week, love the thalictrum and the aster is wonderful! I have got garlic to plant, but haven’t got around to it yet. Perhaps when the storm is with you tomorrow I will manage it. Here are mine, hope you enjoy them https://offtheedgegardening.com/2018/10/13/six-on-saturday-a-challenge/
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The weather is nasty this morning. Not windy at least, but stairrods. Indoor stuff for me today i fear. It may ease off later. Snowdrops question for you actually Gill. If I plant bulbs in my lawn, when does the foliage typically die down? When will I be able to mow over them?
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No sure really, they are so early that by the time the grass gets going they should have died back. Mind you, some snowdrops are earlier than others …….. Couldn’t you set aside a little area where it wasn’t important if you didn’t mow it for a while? Sorry, not much use really!
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I love Black Stockings and never thought about starting more from seed! Good idea!
My six: https://fromourisland.wordpress.com/2018/10/12/six-on-saturday-october-13-2018/
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Yes I’m looking forward to seeing it grow on next year.
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Here are mine. Six from someone else’s garden this week.
Your garlic look great. Mine were an abject failure–I think the soil was too lean and got hot too early in the spring, so I ended up with miniature cloves.
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Hiya. Shame about your garlic. Maybe I had beginners luck!
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Thanks Katharine. Sinceintook that photo, Otto has been overcome by strong winds. Oops.
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Those asters and rudbeckia are aimed at me and my terrible garden skills after last week aren’t they rofl! They are looking fantastic and I am really jealous of that clump of asters. My very wet six are here this week. Many thanks for your post http://www.cottagenotebook.ie/grow-six-on-saturday-pink-in-the-rain/
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Hello Nadia. No! It’s all in your mind. Honest Guv.
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I made it today and am joining you https://digwithdorris.wordpress.com. I have been looking at some wonderful gardens and have shared them with you. I hope you like them. I too love asters and the foliage of Thalictrum Elin
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Hello again, welcome back!
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I’ve just googled your Thalictrum and it the flowers look fab. The leaves are so pretty too. That’s gone on the wish list. Do I have your patience: seeds or a small pot or two!!
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I’m looking forward to it.
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I love the conversations that go on here! Garlic, dance moves, the weather and all the gardeners” trials and tribulations. So much to enjoy, Here’s my six https://wp.me/p97pee-iJ I’ll see your Otto’s Thrill and raise you a Darcy Bussell!
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Yes lots of information on offer each week.
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The foliage on the viola really is gorgeous! I’ll have to look for it here…do you think it’s hardy enough and, do you know how invasive it might be? Warm here as well, until yesterday!
Here’s my six on a seasonally cool morning (six degrees now…)
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Allegedly hardy yes. Don’t know about spreading habit, guess I’ll find out!
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The dahlia is glorious. Here’s my six for this week. https://doesthisfontmakemelookfat.com/2018/10/13/six-on-saturday-where-theres-a-will-october-13-2018/
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Hello Mala!
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Hello right back at you. I am just having breakfast after which I will go to the farmers market. It must be afternoon for you.
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Yes. Morning taken up with boys football, now building compost heap extension.
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It’s good to know that you continue to take pity on, and care for, those less fortunate. That throbbing heart will repay your care many times over once it sets seed. You will get your reward in the borders (Heaven can wait). Good luck with the tail end of the storm, which battered us yesterday and is still hanging around in the form of a great yellow blob on the Met Office web site. My six of the day is at https://rivendellgarden.blog/?p=3800 though some will not survive till lunchtime today so get in quick!
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Just got a good soaking on the touchline at #3 child’s footie.
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Your Asters are stunning; I love the colour too. I failed at garlic last year; they all went mushy? Perhaps I shall try again.
Here’s mine
https://oldhouseintheshires.com/2018/10/13/six-on-saturday-left-overs/
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Dig a bit of grit into the soil for drainage maybe.
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Yes, I think I’ll try in bags as it could have been rust?
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Oh maybe, Jim would know, his had rust last year. I grew in bags too last year. Quite small bulbs, had too many in each bag I think. They need 6″ of room each way so maybe just 2 or 3 per bag.
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Apart from Elephant garlic, my crop last year was wiped out by rust. Going to try some in pots this year which I need to get planted. Violas seem to be invasive weeds or die in my garden. I’m sure we stupidly allowed someone to give us V. labradorica. Here’s my lot: https://wp.me/p6bCCa-1Gb
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I’m going to start this one in a container, hopefully it’ll be ok. Shame about your garlic.
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The Viola leaf is very pretty, I can see why you were seduced into buying it. And your Aster photo is beautiful, all that pretty blueness! I managed to get all my hundreds of bulbs planted on Wednesday which was a glorious sunny day, though my back was severely displeased by the end of it. We had rain on Thursday and then Callum arrived. Warm, but very, very windy and wet. I’ll be glad when this storm passes by! Enjoy your Saturday Prop and make sure you tie down anything that might blow away!
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Don’t. I have hundreds of bulbs to plant. Dreading it. I love the results but find the planting to be deeply tedious. I am pleased with my tulip choices, looking forward to the spring already.
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Yes, I am not a fan of bulb planting either which is why I have gone for a lot of Narcissi in pots this year, in the hope I don’t have to plant any more for a few years. A lot of bulbs I have planted in the ground seem to just rot away or get eaten by the slugs.
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The tulip and allium bulbs I planted in large pots last fall mostly rotted. Not a success. My guess is it stayed too wet in the pots.
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Sharp drainage required, definitely.
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Like the red Rudbeckia very much, might have to seek one/some out next year to go with mine.
Off to work now so will check back in later to see what everyone else has posted.
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Yes it’s a good one. I’d like more but this one doesn’t seem to set seed.
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Thalictrum is a plant new to me, so I had to check it out online. The one I found has the botanical name aquilegiifolium so no wonder its leaves are a similar shape. It has a rather desirable flower, I note. Your asters are very pretty and prolific. Mine never look as nice as that, probably because by Autumn everything is usually very dry and still quite hot here.
Here’s my six: http://janesmudgeegarden.com/saturday-splendours-sos-oct-13/
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Yes I’m looking forward to the black stockings getting going next year. Interesting about the botanical link. I think that horti Latin translates to ‘leaves like aquilegia’.
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Your dahlias are well worth celebrating as are all your six. That Otto’s thrill is fabulous. Here are my Six – no dahlias this week but some baby Echeveria and a shrub ID quiz for you all. https://www.teabreakgardener.co.uk/my-gardening-week-six-on-saturday-13-10-18/
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Thanks Katharine. Since I took this photo Otto has been overcome by strong winds. Oops.
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I’ve just bought me a Little Carlow aster and it features in my six this week. Great minds and all that. I am going to take your advice on the garlic and plant some this month. This year I didn’t plant it until February and perhaps unsurprisingly got nothing… Here’s my six:
https://carrotsandcalendula.co.uk/2018/10/13/six-on-saturday-new-perennials/
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It’s a good plant. Much better once established, mine has outdone itself. I’ll split it and probably take some basal cuttings too in the spring. Some garlic varieties are spring planted but I think most need a good cold winter to bulb up.
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https://sedumsdahliasandhayfever.com/2018/10/13/six-on-saturday-13th-october-2018/ Morning. The leaves of that viola are interesting will have to seek that out. Did you grow it from seed?
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No I bought it half price last week!
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Dahlia looking good. I’m looking into adding a few next year, but need to plan for the winter storage. Though I’ve seen quite a lot this year from people say they haven’t lifted.
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Yes it depends on yoyr conditions. They mind the cold less than they mind the wet. If you have good drainage they’ll probably be ok with a thick mulch. I left some in and lifted others. Ironically the lifted ones dried out and died. The ones left in were fine. Sigh.
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Already said earlier but your asters are very pretty. This featured photo is really nice. About garlic, there are 2 schools: my father’s (and yours) planting them now and mine because I plant my bulbs in February. In any case, the harvest is in June. Advantages or disadvantages … ??
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Supposedly the cold helps the bulbs form. Some varieties are spring planting but some prefer autumn.
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Having read through your Six-on-Saturday, Mr P, and having seen your lovely garden this week, where can you put and why would you need a “ground cover” plant??……the ground is completely covered already!! Anyway, good to see your delightful family last weekend, people are still talking about your 4 children’s dance moves! Here are my Six-on-Saturday, have a good weekend, all.
https://grannysgarden229242407.wordpress.com/2018/10/13/six-on-saturday
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There’s always more ground!
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Little link whoopsie. The correct link is https://grannysgarden229242407.wordpress.com/2018/10/12/six-on-saturday-13-10-2018/.
But you don’t comment on Mr P’s dance moves!
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A foliar viola? It certainly is pretty, but I think I would like it more if I did not know it is a viola. I sort of expect flowers from a viola. About how big are the individual leaves? Does it lay flat like a dichondra?
That aster is pretty sweet too. It seems to be lighter blue now. I have seen so many asters that I do not remember what they are supposed to look like. They do not look like that here of course. Our native asters do well, but are not very pretty. This is another one of those many flowers that look so much better everywhere else.
I will be back in about fifteen minutes with mine. It is still last night here.
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Here are mine. It is nine minutes into Saturday.
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It does flower too, but I haven’t seen those yet. I bought it on the strength of the foliage.
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That is like the flowering cherries that are known as ‘fruitless’ cherries. To those of us who do not know how spectacular they are in bloom, it might seem silly to plant a cherry tree that makes no cherries.
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