Well that was all a bit damp and cool for mid June! Dunno about you but it has poured down pretty persistently here the last few days. Aside from a few flopped over casualties, I’m fine with that so long as the weather people realise it must be dry at the weekend, I’ve got stuff to do! Time for Six on Saturday then. Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. Could be anything, a flower, cool foliage, wildlife, a job to do, a success, a failure, anything at all. Join in!

Here are my Six for this week.

1 – Cercis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’. I bought this small tree a year or two ago, I think this is its second summer. It wasn’t especially vertical when I planted it, but in recent months it has begun to lean over more dramatically. Concerned for its general stability I popped to the garden centre last weekend to buy a stake and a tree tie. There is still some deviation from plumb, but it is much more upright. Lest you doubt my stake hammering competence, despite the apparent angle of dangle in the picture, the stake is dead vertical, the tree less so. Allegedly the tree flowers along the branches as the leaves emerge, but no sign of that this year or last. Perhaps it is too young still. For now I will console myself with the leaf form and colour, no great hardship.

2 – Calendula ‘Sunset buff’. I picked up this seed in an end of season sale so figured it would be rude not to sow some. I have maybe half a dozen plants, all in containers of various kinds. I think I might prefer it to ‘Snow princess’ which looks a bit anaemic in comparison.

3 – Hollyhock. I grew these from seed last year and they are strutting their stuff the following year. In theory they are perennials but usually a martyr to rust and are best replenished every year, effectively a biennial. I might leave these in place as their lower parts, where rust might be worst, are concealed by surrounding plants. A vivid burgundy, I rather like them. This is something of a turnaround for me, I have been known to refer to hollyhocks as “big hairy leaved weeds”. Oh, callow youth.

4 – Eryngium sommat-or-other. I have several of these dotted about, all from root cuttings from one uber plant. It’s definitely worth a try in October/November time, they root quite readily over the winter. They are grown for their steely blue flowers, their “out out” best, but I think they are also quite striking in their vivid green loungewear.

5 – Digitalis lutea. A dainty perennial variety with small but not tiny flowers. Most impactful in a good group, a fact I discovered by accident having stuffed a few seed-grown plants into a smallish space. I quite like them, I think they add a certain je ne sais quoi without the more in-your-face blousy shoutiness of your regular foxglove.

6 – Sidalcea ‘Rosaly’. I grew these from seed last year, the resulting handful of plants were nothing special last year and I did wonder if they would get swamped by the surrounding plants. I needn’t have worried, as is often the case, they are stronger plants in their second year. Related to the hollyhock, they send up tall spires of pink, mallowish flowers. In fact the common name is false (or prairie) mallow. They’re rather pretty. I hope for even better things next year.

Those are my Six, what are yours? If you’d like to take part, 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 splendiferous. For more details you can read the brief participant guide.

According to the forecast it should dry out this weekend, so I shall be mainly in the garden ploughing through the typically lengthy to-do list. Don’t forget to check back in more links get added during the day.

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