It seems the autumn weather will take a back seat for a week or two. My local forecast does not promise mediterranean blue skies and sunshine, merely good summer weather. Sunshine and fluffy white clouds, 23 degrees or so, no rain. Lovely. I am still plodding along with the irrigation system, I need to get a wiggle on with that or I’ll be condemned to hours of watering. Anyway, time for Six on Saturday. Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. Could be anything – a flower, a success, a failure, a weed, a pest, a job to do, anything at all. Join in!

Here are my Six for this week…

1 – Gaillardia, blanket flower. I grew these from seed last year, possibly the year before. There are just 2 or 3 plants but they are punching above their weight, generating a lot of flower power.

2 – Gladioli. The variety is lost to history, although there is probably a label somewhere in the jungle. It’s a green one, anyway. I bought a few packs of gladioli corms for peanuts in the end of season sale last year. They look to be stronger plants this year, although they do still have an annoying habit of flopping over when the flowers are out. I’d put in some support but I am out of canes and can’t get hold of any, everywhere seems to be sold out. Fair warning, I bought even more glads this year in a similar end of season frenzy.

3 – Malope ‘vulcan’. Not a plant I’ve grown before, and it has not been plain sailing. I tend to default to sowing in pots or modules then planting out, ignoring the emphatic “sow direct” instructions. I am slowly learning that it may say that for a reason. I’ve ended up with a few spindly plants with just an occasional flower. It’s a shame, as a group of these would make an impact, I think. I love the green star glowing in the middle. Next year I shall sow direct.

4 – Papaver ‘queen’s poppy’. Another plant that would have been happier to grow where it was sown rather than transplanted. It is a spindly plant. Next year I will just scatter some seed. Learning….

5 – Hydrangea. I bought this for beans off the pity bench. I just plonked it in a spare square inch of soil in the front garden. It was a bit swamped by the much larger angelical that I planted too close, to the point where I forgot it was even there until I yanked out the angelica. It is a small one, but is flowering gamely. Variety is a mystery, I’m not sure there was a label on the plant when I bought it.

6 – Dahlia ‘collarette dandy’. It has been a mixed bag with the dahlias this year. Mostly, the slugs and snails have got the better of me, stripping bare several dahlias, both old and new. I grew this from seed this year, just a packet I picked up for 50p. The picture on the packet promised a mix of fairly lary colours. Most didn’t make it, but this one was planted in a pot on the patio where I can keep an eye on it. It is a rather plain lemon yellow, not at all lary, I quite like it. I mainly like it for not being eaten.

Those are my Six, what are yours? If you’d like to have a go, 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 triffic. For more details you can read the crib sheet.

I hope you have a productive gardening weekend, don’t forget to pop back later as more links get added during the day.

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