Well this weekend is severely curtailed from a gardening point of view. Today will be spent on the road, a 12 hour round trip to Newcastle via Durham to deposit the final two students off at their respective virus hot zones (I think we used to call them universities). We’ll also make a pitstop in Nottingham to have dinner with #1 child since we’re passing by. It’s going to be a loooong day. While I’m doing all that, you’ll be busy doing Six on Saturday. Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. You decide, could be a flower, a leaf, a success, a failure, a job to do, a beastie, anything at all. Join in!

Here are my Six for this week:

1 – Physalis alkekengi. This is running a bit rampant in my front garden where the conditions clearly suit it. I hacked this chunk of plant off as it was coming up in the path, intending to bin it. Somewhere betwixt fork and bin I took pity on it and put it in a pot on the patio. The seed cases are fun.

2 – Dahlia ‘Karma Corona’. The result of a late online frenzy, a 30% off bargain I couldn’t refuse, in which I bought three established plants. The other two varieties are yet to flower, and they may not this year if they don’t get a move on. This one is making up for it, flowering con gusto.

3 – Fuchsia magellanica ‘Riccartonii’. Another result of a not infrequent one man campaign of support for independent nurseries during the lockdown. I bought nine fuchsias, three of which were Ricky here. I’ve planted one against some trellis in the border, one against the fence in the front garden, and this one is in a container on the sunny-ish side of the side passage. It replaces a ceanothus which failed to thrive. In time Ricky should get quite large and should do a good job of covering some wall. It may be a job to keep under control.

4 – Aster ‘Little Carlow’. Flowering like billio, this is a great plant. I have some in sunshine, some in partial shade, some in full shade. All are doing well, all the divided offspring of a single parent plant bought a few years ago. Despite the name, it gets to be a decent size, 3′ to 4′, and forms a decent clump that needs dividing every couple of years. How unfortunate…

5 – Aster frikartii ‘Monch’. I now have two of these plants, one a recent purchase. The other was swamped by echinops and hot lips and was presumed killed in action. On cutting back the bullies I found the limp remains of this plant and thought it was a goner. On closer inspection it was still showing signs of new growth so I planted it in a more open spot and let it be. It seems to be happy and is now a worthwhile plant again. The other one is probably a better plant, having been properly cared for in the nursery, but hasn’t flowered yet.

6 – Salvia ‘hot lips’. I have more asters, but let’s save them for another weekend, and for when I can remember what the varieties are. Sigh, I dunno, I still can’t make up my mind about this plant. I have a large one in the back garden sunny border and two more, progeny of the first, in the front garden. It’s still flowering in profusion and in the advertised two-tone fashion too. I may dig up the large one and stick it in a pot on the patio (highly likely). Or I may shred it (highly unlikely). Or I may leave it in situ (no way José).

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. If you also mention my blog in yours that would be ossum. For more details you can read the brief guide.

Have a fab weekend, I hope the weather is kind to you. Don’t forget to check back in later as more links are added during the day.

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