My 9 day weekend draws to a close with, as predicted, much of it spent in the garden. Mostly pottering, occasionally sitting down, even less commonly snoozing. As you will soon see in a Border Patrol post (showing at this cinema by mid week), things are looking quite full and lush in the garden just now. June is probably the best month, but May is pretty good too. I have been busy planting out most of the seed-grown plants plus numerous brought forth into being via division or some other propagation magic. My itchy internet shopping finger has also been scratched, I’ve ordered some dianthus from a specialist grower. By the time they get here there won’t be a spare millimetre of planting space, but I’ll find somewhere for them. Anyhow, time for Six on Saturday. Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. Could be anything – a flower, a disaster, a job to do, foliage, a harvest, anything at all. Join in!

Here are my Six for this week.

1 – Hypericum ‘hidcote’. In April I gave this large shrub a bit of a haircut, taking maybe 6″ to 8″ off it. It has responded by putting out new growth and what must be thousands of flowers. They are just coming out now. it seems to thrive on neglect, rarely getting watered and in a very dry spot that only gets the sun from about 2pm. It is a shade of yellow that borders on distressing but I forgive it for mostly looking after itself.

2 – Poppy, ‘Lauren’s Grape’. This is the first of many to flower. I shake a couple of seed heads around once they’ve dried out, they seem quite happy to germinate the following spring. If deadheaded they flower quite well, then I just pull them up and shred them for the heap. This particular plant is on the street side of my front garden wall, in occupied territory. Occupied by me, that is, I have commandeered the verge, removing the grass and weeds and ekeing out some border space. The soil is poor, I am gradually adding organic matter to it so it should improve next year.

3 – Rose ‘Ali Baba’. A so-so performer in the past, mainly because it was obscured by the often very tall helenium planted directly in front of it. This year Ali has achieved some height and is flowering his socks off. He smells pretty good too. Open Sesame!

4 – Astrantia, maybe. I’m excited! I think this is highly likely to be my first astrantia flower. I have killed I don’t know how many of these plants, what with failed purchases, patchy germination, neglected seedings and the like. I think is likely to be a seedling of a. ‘buckland’

5 – Angelica archangelica. I have been waiting forlornly for these to turn purple, assuming at least one or two of them to be angelica gigas, but nope, they have remained stubbornly plain. Still, they are a statuesque plant, bringing good height and unusual form to the front garden party.

6 – Trollius chinensis. I had forgotten about these, grown from seed last year. In fact I am nearly certain I removed several believing them to be weeds when I expanded this border earlier this year. In my defence, the leaves look rather like that weedy geum.

Those are my Six for this week, what are yours? if you’d like to have a crack, just publish your post and pop a link to it in the comments below. if you also mention my blog in yours that would be tip top. For more details you can read the brief guide here.

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

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