Six on Saturday 14-09-2019

This weekend will be curtailed from a gardening perspective. There’s an away football match to ferry/endure this morning, plus tomorrow I get to return #1 child to Nottingham for the start of his second year university studies, or drinking and sleeping as it is also known.  I have quite a lot to fit in this afternoon then.  For now though, it is time for Six on Saturday. Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. Could be anything – a flower, a bug, a harvest, an unknown plant, a job to do, anything at all. Join in!

Here are my Six for this week…

1 – Geranium ‘Bloomtime’.  I have a few of these, the result of some enthusiastic dividing of a couple of bargain plants bought this time last year. As you can see, they are still flowering.  They should make a nice clump next year. They are like a pink version of the ubiquitous but lovely ‘Rosanne’.

2 – Penstemon ‘King George’.  I think this particular plant was grown from cuttings of one plant that I bought and immediately divided. Propagation squared.  I think I have just caught this one as it is in its final flush.  It is redder than the other penstemon I have, ‘Patio Wine’.

3 – Cosmos something-or-other.  So pleased was I with my first batch of cosmos this year, I sowed a second batch of these, the only seeds I had left.  They are a plain, ruffled pink. I don’t like them as much as the other batch, but given my prior difficulties with cosmos, not to be sniffed at.

4 – Verbena bananarama.  Persistently failing to self-sow itself round the garden, this one is from a cutting taken last year. I have several more in pots waiting to be planted out, grown from bought seeds so next year I should be able to have the wavy massed ranks I was so jealous of in a neighbours garden.

5  – Tithonia ‘Red Torch’.  Well these have been a disappointment compared to last year. This time last year I had several plants about 7′ tall, covered in a continuous supply of cheerily orange flowers. This year I struggled to get them to germinate, only succeeding on the 3rd attempt.  They were late getting going and are only about 3′-4′ tall and flowering sparsely in comparison. I suppose I should give them a feed.

6 – Primula vialli.  Football fans of a certain age will understand my irresistible urge to call these (Gian)Luca Vialli. I grew these from seed this year. They were slow to germinate, and even slower to grow on to garden ready size. They are still in their pots, one of them is flowering, just a single flower spike. I must plant them all out. Hopefully next year they will flower more enthusiastically and at the normal time on May to July.  It’s a strange looking flower, is Luca.

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 splendid.