Six on Saturday 25-05-2019

Chelsea already. I shall be chopping this weekend.  For the uninitiated, the Chelsea Chop is named after the RHS Chelsea flower show which conveniently occurs at just the right time for the chop, the cutting back of perennials to encourage a longer blooming season.  I tend to cut down the front half of a clump so that the later growth hides the fading growth at the back.  How much to chop?  The advice varies from a third, to a half, to two thirds, to right back to the ground.  I think I will hedge my bets and go with half, maybe two thirds if I’m feeling brave.  Sedum are a prime candidate for the chop, which also prevents the leggy and floppy growth to which they are often prone. This is lucky as I need to move my biggest sedum – I’ll cut it back first.

Before all that chopping, time for Six on Saturday. Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. Could be anything – flowers, a weed, a mystery, a harvest, a pest, a job to do, anything at all. Join in!

Here are my Six for this week.

1 – Geranium ‘Dreamtime’.  A less garish shade of pink than some geraniums, and the leaves are almost variegated, with a cream edge to the leaves. I quite like it.

2 – Thalictrum ‘Black Stockings’. Becoming a regular feature, I include again because she’s started doing something new. The flowers are out, forming a pink cloud atop the black stems, with the tiers of foliage below setting them off nicely.  Big fan of this plant.  I will collect some seed.

3 – Clematis ‘Rebecca’. I have two of these. This one is constrained in a too-small planter on the front drive. This year it is flowering its socks off, and they are all very large flowers. I’m not sure if this is the flower equivalent of “I’m not waving! I’m drowning!”, or if it is just exuberant. Either way, these first flowers almost always get eaten by earwigs, so I shall enjoy it while it lasts.

4 – Tiarella ‘Pink Skyrocket’.  I think I showed this plant a couple of months back just as it was leafing up and producing small flower buds.  Things have moved on.

5 – Digitalis.  A different foxglove plant to last week, with subtly different colouring. A less shocking shade of pink all round, and a good deal paler on the inside. Same basic model, I suspect.  These are providing an all-you-can-eat buffet for the local bumblebees. I have several more plants, all different colours. They will get their chance.

6 – Peony, unknown.  grannysgarden brought me several roots of peony earlier this year which I duly potted up and eventually planted out. This one is the first to flower, bright red as you can see.  Just the one this time.  I expect it will put on some bulk through the summer and do better next year.  Just goes to show that the idea you can’t move peonies is baloney.

Those are my Six, what are yours?  If you’d like to join in, just publish your post and pop a link to it in the comments below. For more details and other ways to participate, you can read the participant guide.

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

I’ll be back next weekend for another #SixOnSaturday,