It’s a bit parky out! -11 degrees here tomorrow in the wind. Perfect weather to curl up in the warm with a hot drink. Or, if you’re me, perfect weather to get up early and run 35km on the frozen footpaths and bridleways of South Oxfordshire. Yes, fear not, I shall wrap up warm. If I don’t snooze the whole afternoon away, I plan to get on with more rose pruning, I still have several to do. In the meantime, let’s do Six on Saturday. Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. Could be anything, you decide!

Here are my Six for this week.

1 – Echinops seed head. One of many perennials I haven’t yet got around to cutting back, this clump of echinops is still adding a certain spiky something to the sunny border.

2 – Climbing roses, pruned. Last weekend I braved the elements for a couple of hours. I cut back a few clematis but most of the time was spent pruning and training a few of my climbing roses. There are two in this picture, ‘The Pilgrim’ on the left and the exceedingly thorny ‘Dr Eckener’ on the right. I have wires at 30cm (ish) intervals up the wall so it was a matter of selecting suitable stems then carefully bending them into place and tying in. I’m aiming for close to horizontal as this is best for encouraging new stems to break. While I was at it, I removed all of last year’s foliage. This is a ‘just in case’ measure to reduce the spread of disease. I’ve also cleared all the dead leaves from the base of the plant.

3 – Hedera azorica. This amber-fruited ivy hasn’t done a great deal since I planted it late August, but it has begun to send out tendrils. I am hoping this will cover a good section of this fence, it allegedly gets to 10m if left to its own devices.

4 – Miscanthus zebrinus. Remember this from a couple of weeks ago? Its wavy perm has frizzed out significantly into a seedy bouffant.

5 – Yet another rose, pruned. This one is ‘Mme Alfred Carriere’ or mad alfie. She has grown enthusiastically since planting last spring. The stems are quite thin and bendy so relatively straightforward to train. This space is the height of the house, but quite narrow, so I’m constraining it a little by doubling it back on itself along the next wire up. Other stems I’ve just left to grow, with the intention of training them further up the wall this time next year. I’m hoping for lots of flower-bearing stems to break from the main stems.

6 – Magnolia buds. My dwarf magnolia is getting ready to burst forth. It will be superb for a couple of weeks, smelling fabulous too.

That’s your lot for this week. 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 brief participant guide.

Have a super weekend, I hope it isn’t too arctic where you are.

I’ll back next weekend with another #SixOnSaturday.