Six on Saturday 27-10-2018

As I write this on Friday afternoon, we are forecast overnight lows of somewhere in the 0-2 deg c range, with clear skies, so frost is a distinct possibility. I have taken preventive measures, lopping off the remaining dahlia flowers, they are now in a vase. I’ve been off work all week, mostly spent pottering about in the garden, tidying up, cutting back, weeding, shredding, composting, all the high points. I have also been on visits to two gardens, Waterperry and Wisley. Naturally, I bought plants in both places. Quite a few plants. Not sure how that happened. Anyhow, time for Six on Saturday. Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. Could be anything – a flower, foliage, wildlife, a pest, a weed, a favourite bit of kit – anything at all. Join in!

My Six this week are from my garden visits.

1 – Scabiosa atropurpurea ‘Burgundy Beau’. The scabiouses (scabii?) I know are blue or maybe lilac, so I was interested to see this dark red scabious at Waterperry.

2 – Aster ‘Alma Potschke’

Waterperry have a lot of aster of various stripes in their herbaceous borders. Annoyingly, we were about a week late with our visit, the great majority of them had gone over already. There were enough to be interesting though, and some clues as to how fantastic it would have looked just a couple of weeks back. Alma here was one of several varieties still at it. She is mildew resistant, being of the New England persuasion. I did buy a couple of asters in the shop, but not one of these, they were sold out.

3 – Clematis tangutica ‘Bill Mackenzie’. These seed heads had such a sheen on them in the late autumn sunshine. Some of that is visible in the photo, but they were a lot shinier in the flesh.

4 – Miscanthus sinensis ‘Flamingo’. I am increasingly aware of the desirability of extending the period of interest in the garden into the latter part of the year. This grass is a good example. It can be left till the spring before cutting back to make room for new growth. In the meantime the golden stems and the wispy tops can be enjoyed. I read an article today on grasses with winter interest and this was the top of the list. Wish I’d bought one.

5 – Trapaeolum tuberosum var. lineamaculatum. This fella was in the Exotic Garden at Wisley. It looks suitably tropical, but in fact it will tolerate winter conditions in the south of England or other mild corners. If you can leave your dahlias in the ground, this will probably be ok too, otherwise the tubers need lifting and storing over the winter. It’s a climber, growing to about 2m. It’s a cousin of the typical nasturtium, and I for one would much rather have this. I’m going to look out for seed.

6 – Amsonia hubrichtii. Another plant that does a second shift in the autumn. At Wisley there were great swathes of this, and other amsonia varieties. They flower with little blue stars, pretty enough I’m sure, but the plant fades away into a golden shimmer. It’s quite something en masse. Seeking to achieve a similar effect on a smaller scale, I have bought one and will seek to increase stocks with cuttings next year.

Those are my Six, what are yours? If you’d like to join in just publish your post and pop a link to it below in the comments. If you also mention my blog in yours that would be fab. For more details and for other ways to participate, please read the brief participant guide.

Have a super weekend, don’t forget to check back in as more links are added during the day.

I’ll be back next week with another #SixOnSaturday.