And just like that, it’s nearly the end of June and the nights are drawing in! Ok ok it’s not winter yet, we have a few months of good garden weather, in theory. it is time for Six on Saturday. Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. Could be anything, a flower, a job to do, a problem to solve, a pest, a weed, anything at all. Join in!

Here are my Six for this week.

1 – Clematis recta purpurea. A herbaceous form of clematis, this dies back to the ground every winter. I grew this from seed three or four years ago. It remained quite small, but I planted it out a couple of years ago. Last year it sprawled about the place but didn’t do anything terribly impressive. This year it is more worthy of its place, a few feet high and flowering quite nicely. The foliage is more purple green than the green this photo implies.

2 -Bean frame. The veg plot is a bit of a mess at the moment, and rather weedy too, but the beans are doing ok. I built this rather Heath Robinson affair a month or two back. Loosely modelled on a more robust Munty Frame, the idea is the beans grow up the back then over the “roof”, but you can grow other things underneath them. The runners are on the right, quite tall now, the climbing beans are on the left, a lot shorter but catching up. I will be interested to see how it copes when the bean plants have fully grown, I fear a strong wind might topple the lot. I have added two big poles to give it a bit more strength, but we shall see.

3 – Allium ‘Summer Drummer’. These are now very tall, getting on for seven feet, certainly they are taller than me and I’m fairly tall. As the name suggests they do flower later than most alliums. The flower heads are eventually the size of a fist, but they are more the size of a decent conker at the moment. I actually planted these two years ago but they didn’t do much last year, just flopped about like failed leeks. I was pleasantly surprised to see reappear this year and even more so when they grew more or less upright.

4 – Foxgloves, Pam’s choice, or variations on a theme. Some of these I grew from seed last year, some I bought cheap in the garden centre. I like a foxglove. They flowered late this year, normally they are done in May. These are nearly finished now actually, I have been selective in my photography. I will dig them up and replace with dahlias or possibly tithonia, or even ricinus. I have a few things to choose from. I have grown more foxgloves this year, those will get planted out in October, replacing the replacements. And on it goes.

5 – Rose ‘The Pilgrim’. This climber has suddenly gone into overdrive, flowering with gusto. I need to get in there and dead head a bit. One of three roses growing in containers against this bit of wall, all of which are doing fantastically well. I planted it two or three years ago and it has established very well, growing to cover quite a lot of wall.

6 – Sanguisorba menziesii. Another plant grown from seed 3 or 4 years ago. It did barely anything in year 1, planted in the ground year 2. Last year it put on a bit of growth but didn’t flower. This year as you can see it has pulled itself together, at least to the extent that it has flowered. It is planted in the shady border, but right on the edge where it gets a little bit of sun in the afternoon. I am hopeful that this year it will form a decent clump and earn its front row spot.

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

Have a super gardening weekend. Assuming my 2nd covid jab doesn’t lay me low, I shall be mainly weeding and trying to make vertical once more those plants which I failed to adequately support ahead of the heavy rain. Don’t forget to check back later as more links get added during the day.

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