Six-on-Saturday 25-09-2021

We had a few days away last weekend and were extremely lucky with very good weather. Meanwhile, our resident cat is gradually getting better but still has a sore neck.🐈‍⬛ The garden is still quite colourful but is needing to be tidied up for the winter.

1)

I’m not sure what is wrong with WordPress, my pictures in my tablet, past and present, have all been changed to the size of a postage stamp. Anyway, this trough has a third flowering of my fuchsias and a winter pansy that I cut back a couple of months ago and is looking as good as new.

2)

If you can see amongst the weeds and verbena boniarensis, the climbing rose has nearly reached the top of the obelisk.

3)

The beautiful, pink, climbing rose is flowering again and growing even taller.

4)

I bought a couple of pinks and foliage plants from Aldi a few weeks ago to go on the patio table. The perfume from the pinks is quite noticeable as you walk by.

5)

Time for another rose picture. A perfect example of pictures speaking louder than words.

6)

It’s difficult to give you an idea of the size of the Jumbo Pink Banana Squash but it is now over 15cm long. We shall see what happens. I don’t know when they are ripe or when they should be picked.

Well, I am busy sulking and getting cross with WordPress at the moment. 🤬☹

Have a good weekend in your garden. 👩‍🌾🦋🌹🌺🍅

Six-on-Saturday 18-09-2021

Rather late and rather rushed today, but once you start this Six-on-Saturday thing, there is a compulsion to participate every week.

Here we go then…..

I thought the tamarisk tree was producing weird flowers but it’s only a two metre high hollyhock.😱🙄

2)

The Jumbo Pink Banana Squash isn’t very Jumbo or very Pink. 🤔 There have been a few small “fruits” that have fallen off but this is about 7cm long and looking good….so far. 🤞

3)

Remember the Salvia Hot Lips that was completely red earlier in the year? It is nearly all white now with some red spikes from one of Mr Propagator’s plants trying to get in on the act.

4)

Yet again the Rhapsody in Blue rose is worth showing. There are still many buds waiting to open.

5)

Remember me cursing the big, green shrubs in the right hand flowerbed? Well, they are earning their place now. The nearer one is a beautiful shade of purply blue whereas the other is an interesting, variegated lighter shade.

6)

The robin sculpture is mingling well with the hedge fuchsia and other plants.

Anyway, that’s it again. Our little, resident cat had a trip to the vet to treat a swelling on the side of his neck which was due to an injury from a fight……….he’ll stop scrapping or he’ll pay for the next treatment himself! 🐈‍⬛💸💸💳 🤬

Have a good weekend in your garden. 👩‍🌾🦋🌹🍅🌺

Six-on-Saturday 11-09-2021

My daughter and grandson are with us this weekend, so another excuse for a brief post. They did the local Park Run this morning and both came first in their age groups…….I was just one of the marshals this time.

The garden is at its best at the moment, as far as colour is concerned, but could do with a tidy up.

Here are my Six-on-Saturday for this week.

1)

The sedums are beginning to show more colour now and will go on attracting the bees for several weeks.

2)

There are a few, bright groups of rudbeckia around the garden. They seem taller this year.

3)

I only have the one dahlia so it gets maximum exposure. Fred’s pale pink snapdragon is peeping out from behind.

4)

I mentioned them last week but the Morning Glory do love the greenhouse! They are doing much better than outside…… 5 blooms and more to come. 😁

5)

Suddenly, there are masses of tomatoes as well 🍅!

6)

The gaura looked rather dishevelled after the heavy rain yesterday but have recovered well now.

That’s it again. My daughter is with us until Monday morning and may be here for another visit before she goes back to Dubai. It has been lovely seeing her and we are hoping to go over there early next year.

Meanwhile, have a good weekend and in your garden. 👩‍🌾🦋🌹🍅🌺🐈‍⬛

Six-on-Saturday 04-09-2021

Our granddaughter has started at her new school ready to do her A levels. I helped sewing on labels last week……….between us, my daughter and I sewed on over 140. 😱

Meanwhile, our daughter is coming back to stay next week, so busy again.

In the garden, I have gathered raspberries, runner beans, a couple of courgettes, Swiss Chard, spinach, tomatoes and two dead voles……….nothing to do with 🐈‍⬛? Here are my Six-on-Saturday.

1)

Let’s start with a rose, for a change.

2)

I was sure that the dahlia planted here last year was a soft cream colour. Obviously not.

3)

I planted these two blue shrubs a couple of years ago. They do look nice when they flower but during most of the spring/summer, they are just big lumps of green in the left hand border. I may try moving one to the right hand side in place of some hollyhocks.

4)

This group of Fred’s amaranthus are doing well. I planted some in singles but prefer them like this.

5)

The white perennial sweet pea is much later than the pink on the other side of the garden. It’s a bit straggly but there are plenty of flowers to come.

6)

I know, what’s a Morning Glory doing in the greenhouse among the tomatoes? I can’t pull up this beautiful plant even when it’s in the wrong place.

I’m going to clear the weeds from the drive and patio thus weekend. Any ideas how to stop them coming up between the blocks in the first place? It makes such a difference to the look of the garden, it is worth doing but very time consuming, even with my vicious patio brush.

Have a good weekend in your garden. 👩‍🌾🦋🌹🍅🌺 🐈‍⬛

Six-on-Saturday 28-08-2021

We have our daughter and granddaughter coming to visit tomorrow so another fairly brief post today.

1)

Starting with a rose. The Rhapsody in Blue has had a couple of week’s rest and is now covered in new buds. 😀

2)

The penstemons continue to provide plenty of colour and will for many weeks to come.

3)

I pull up the feverfew usually but it looks good with the crocosmia

4)

….and with another penstemon.

5)

Fred’s amaranthus with the osteospermum. Some may say they clash but my flowers don’t really clash.

6)

Finishing with another rose.

The garden is now nearly hollyhockless. They have been excellent this year, as I have probably said before, some well over 2 metres high.

Have a good weekend in your garden. 👩‍🌾🦋🌹🍅🌺 🐈‍⬛

Six-on-Saturday 21-08-2021

Such a dreadful week in the news, we are so lucky to have gardens and the freedom to do as we like without fear here.

We had a lovely time with our family last week, but they are all so BIG and eat so much! Some will be back again but our son-in-law and one of our grandsons go back to Dubai on Tuesday.

Here are this week’s Six-on-Saturday.

1)

I quite like this view of the Loosestrife (from Mr Propagator, of course) through the bamboo and gladioli. I’m thinking it is time to cut back the hollyhocks in the distance, they have more than done their bit this year.

2)

The Morning Glory usually show just one or two blooms per plant but there were six on this one earlier this week. (There is another one you can’t see hiding at the back.)

3)

This dahlia survived in the ground all through the winter……looks promising!

4)

I showed a slightly different view of this before but the rudbeckia and Fred’s sunflowers look very good with the Red orache….thank you to “30 days of wild parenting” for identifying it.

5)

This was supposed to show how well the red, climbing rose was doing but another rose joined in, as did the verbena boniarensis and various weeds.🙄

6)

Good news/bad news. The Swiss Chard is managing to produce enough leaves (and parts of leaves) to provide several portions per week, but the cabbage leaves have gone the same way as the broccoli, brussels and Romanescu cauliflowers – see the stalks to the left – and the marigolds have been completely demolished. Hey-ho.

Not a good weather forecast for the weekend, I’m afraid, but the garden does need the rain. I was hoping to re-pot the Jumbo Pink Banana Squash plants into bigger containers but it is too wet for that at the moment.

Have a good weekend anyway. 👩‍🌾🦋🌹🍅🌧☔

Six-on-Saturday 14-08-2021

Another brief post, we are going out this morning then getting ready for an invasion from our younger daughter and family who are over from Dubai. We haven’t seen her for 18 months. 😁🤸‍♀️🤹‍♀️🎉🎈🎊

1)

Some of this week’s harvest. Many things haven’t succeeded, as I may have mentioned, but I planted and ignored a few old potatoes and was very pleased with the tubful in the picture. There won’t be any further chapters in the potato saga this year. There is the occasional, small crop of runner beans, a few raspberries each day and I’m hoping this is just the start of the courgettes.

2)

As promised last week, here is that compost container. It’s hiding behind a huge, self-seeded plant which appeared in the raspberry bed. 🤔

I thought these burgundy coloured plants were all the same but the seeds on one are quite different from the other.

3)

The gladioli have just started showing their colours! There is something grand and spectacular, I think, about them.

4)

Fred’s amaranthus and snapdragons and the obelisk without Fred Sweet peas. They have been beautiful.

5)

The rudbeckia will go on now for months and months.

6)

If you look very carefully, you can see some of the miniature Kiwi fruits. There are probably 20 or so, but they hide themselves at the back of the plant. I tried one this week but they aren’t ready yet. 🤢

That’s it again. The weather seems quite settled now. We will have a busy few days so not much will get done in the garden. Have a good weekend. 👩‍🌾🦋🌹🍅

Six-on-Saturday 07-08-2021

Well, that picture of the kale last weekend was the last. In the next couple of days, the insects finished them off, similarly the broccoli, Brussels and Romanescu plants, they didn’t even get a chance to mature. 😱😬🤬☹ Hey-ho, but the Swiss Chard and raspberries are doing fine. The courgettes are growing slowly and the Jumbo Pink Banana Squash has another tiny one further up the stem. Flowers are mostly all right but deadheading takes over an hour to do properly.

After that cheerful start, here are this week’s Six-on-Saturday.

1)

The Potentilla in the front garden has been pretty for a few weeks now.

2)

The first Japanese anemone has come into flower.

3)

The jackmanii continues to earn its keep.

4)

The Veronica collapses each season and I can’t find an elegant way of supporting it. The colour and look of the flowers means it stays. The heuchera beneath it comes back happily each year. I grew it from seed at least 10 years ago so it and a couple of others have done well.

5)

The crocosmia is a brighter orange than this. It’s colourful, easy to grow, comes back each year so I’m happy with it.

6)

I’m not sure what this is called but it’s doing very well now. Mr Propagator gave it to me a couple of years ago and it has settled in nicely.

A sneaky extra one.

Fred’s Sweet peas have been lovely for a few months now but I think it’s time they went into Mr P’s compost container. The main group of Sweet peas are the other side of the garden and are completely over, but the ones in the picture keep convincing me to leave them for another week. I will also leave those among the runner beans. They have provided a lovely perfume while I gather – or rather, try to find – the runner beans. Yes, the blackfly are swamping what are left once whatever it is has had its night-time feast on the tiny ones. 🙄😬

I can tell that you are wondering what my garden would look like without Fred’s Sweet peas, sunflowers, amaranthus and Mr Propagator’s salvias, climbing roses, courgette etc., etc. and, of course, that amazing compost container! (I will show that next week.) Well, it looked quite nice before, I did have many roses, penstemons and hollyhocks, but now every space is filled with more colour and interesting varieties. 😉

Have a good weekend in your garden. 👩‍🌾🦋🌹🍅🐛🐜🐝🪳🪱🦠🐌☹

Six-on-Saturday 31-07-2021

I was thinking that there is lots going on in the garden but not a lot to say about it. I may follow our leader’s example and be fairly brief.

Having said that, the main news this week was the total lack of promised rain here last weekend, although I think it all fell in the first 10 minutes where GGHI and I were playing golf yesterday. We did dry out before we finished, fortunately.

Here are this week’s Six-on-Saturday.

1)

Wednesday’s harvest. The spinach and kale have been sampled by the local insect population, what they left tasted fine.

2)

I know, not roses again, but these buds looked so pretty, asking to be included.

3)

These two came from the same packet of superb-um seeds provided by Mr Propagator. Judging by those shown in previous weeks by other SoSers, they do vary in size and shape of petals.

4)

Well…..can you see it? No, not the little weed I missed when doing the patio 🙄🤷‍♀️…….the first signs of a Jumbo Pink Banana Squash! There have been several flowers (very similar to the courgette flowers) but this is the first evidence of the fruit (?) or vegetable (?).

5)

Talking of courgettes, at last some look as though they may grow to full maturity and not shrivel away to a pathetic mess.

6)

The perennial sweet pea is looking good as usual but needs a lot of support. It really does best scrambling over a stone wall but I don’t have one handy. Oh, another rose. 🤔

That’s it again. We had a postcard from Mrs Propagator this week, they were having a good holiday so I hope the recent gales didn’t spoil it for them. I wonder what Mr Propagator’s garden will look like when they get back – even lusher, I expect.

Have a good weekend in your garden. 👩‍🌾🦋🌹🍅

Six-on-Saturday 24-07-2021

No tall, dark, handsome grandsons this week, they are all off to the English Riviera with Mr Propagator. The garden has been watered and watered but is still looking a bit sorry for itself in places. I have been deadheading and path scraping which are time consuming but not exciting enough to put in the post, however, there is still plenty of colour.

1)

The bog standard hydrangea looks very pretty at this stage before it’s fully out – it looks quite good when it is fully out.

2)

One of Fred’s sunflowers. They have been coming out in stages providing a nice splash of yellow at the back of the borders.

3)

I showed the all red Hot Lips flowers a few weeks ago. Now they are nearly all white. Mr Propagator told me they are red when it’s cold and whiter when it gets hotter, if I remember correctly.

4)

Rather curly beans and Fred’s pretty Sweet peas in amongst them. Some of the beans are smothered in blackfly. I have cut off a few stems to remove them. The garlic/mint concoction has eaten through the plastic spray bottle but doesn’t seem to have had much effect on the blackfly. 🤷‍♀️🤔

5)

A couple of pretty roses just because they look nice. 🙂

6)

Tomatoes beginning to show. Yes, they are late but the first lot of seeds didn’t germinate so by the time the second lot were sown, it was rather late in the season. (A rogue Apple of Peru seedling sneaking in. There have been none in the garden but I’ve pulled up a few in the greenhouse already.)

That’s this week’s Six-on-Saturday. The weather has turned suddenly cooler and rain threatens, fine for the garden but most of our grandchildren are on holiday, so not so good for them. I think next week should be fine but not as hot. Have a good weekend. 🍅🌹🦋👩‍🌾