That lovely weather we had before the Easter weekend was rather short lived, wasn’t it, a brief return to something more wintry being the theme this week. Desperate measures have been taken with my plums, as it very much were, with profuse yet delicate blossoms tucked in under a fleece blanket at night. I think they have been preserved, greatly increasing my chances of a decent harvest later in the year. anyhow, enough about my delicate plums, time for Six on Saturday. Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. Could be anything, you decide. Join in!

Here are my Six for this week.

1 – Muscari, grape hyacinth, blue’uns. I planted these years ago, they have gradually increased and are a reliable annual visitor. I’m not sure I like them that much (I believe in previous years here I have remarked on their vaguely haemorrhoidal appearance), but one takes what one can get in the flower department at this time of year.

2 – Hibiscus ‘Marina’. Such a slow grower, hibiscus, and so slow to come into leaf, never mind flower. This shrub might eventually get to 5′ but that feels like it might be a lifetime away at the moment. It wasn’t in a very good spot, tucked in a corner at the back of the smaller of the two borders near the patio. When it did flower it was hidden behind other plants. Last weekend it moved house, with help from me, to a nice new pot on the patio. I hope it will be happier there, and at least I’ll be able to enjoy the flowers, which are very pretty when they eventually appear.

3 – Clematis ‘Polish Spirit’. I don’t recall now when or where I bought this plant, could easily have been an end of season sale. It has been sitting in the cold frame in a pot, waiting for me to get around to conjuring into existence a planting place for it. Moving our friend hibiscus has left a nice spot near the trellis, next to a climbing rose. Perfect! As you can see there are several vigorous stems, so I expect it will make short work of clambering up. Allegedly it is a prolific flowerer, purple with a reddish tinged strip up the middle of the petals. I’m looking forward to seeing it flourish. No pressure…

4 – Wallflower ‘Fire King’, or at least I think that is what it is. I was given some plants a few years ago and plonked this one in the planter in our somewhat shady side alley. It seems quite happy there, although it stretches out half way across the alley to catch the best of the light. It’s a rather nice colour. I’ll prune it back once it has flowered and it will likely go again next year.

5 – Tulip ‘Trick’. That rare beast, a reliably perennial tulip. This group was planted deep 3 or 4 years ago and it has come back every year, and in numbers too. As I recall, the flowers are long lasting, and with one or two exceptions it is my earliest flowering tulip too. The camera on my phone doesn’t handle bright red very well, but trust me, they are quite striking.

6 – Osteospermum, salvaged. Last year I bought a bunch of small osteospermums to go in the planters in the patio. Most are not worthy of keeping, but supposedly those with the red or purple centres can be overwintered in the greenhouse, rather like a pelargonium. This one was actually planted in a pot and I just moved it from the patio to the greenhouse once the frosts started. It sulked for a while, then recently started producing white flowers. Odd, thought I, surely this plant had red flowers? Sure enough, it has now produced a single red flower. I should probably prune it right back and let it grow anew as it is a bit leggy now, but that seems a shame.

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 lush. For more details you can read the brief participant guide.

Have a splendid weekend, I shall be running a bit but mostly in the garden, I have a long list of things I want to get done. Don’t forget to check back later as more links are added during the day.

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