#SixOnSaturday – Six things happening in my garden this week

Six on Saturday is a weekly meme originally hosted by The Propagator but now in the tender care of Jim at Garden Ruminations.

This week has seen another dry spell so it’s watering cans at the ready again. There’s no end in sight to the hosepipe ban until, Thames Water inform us, there has been a substantial period of rain. That means months, not weeks. Of course if we get that we won’t need to use a hosepipe anyway…

One – A very hungry caterpillar chomping away on the leaf of a rose bush. A search online reveals it’s the caterpillar of the Grey Dagger moth.

Two – A fuchsia I thought was dead has turned out to be very much alive. I don’t know the variety as it was a gift from a neighbour who doesn’t do labels. To be fair, she probably told me and I’ve forgotten.

Three – I have a lot of crab apples to clear before I can do anything with this border.

Four – Very baby carrots. I haven’t grown carrots for years and they’ve really struggled because of the dry conditions. Taste good though…

Five – A clump of penstemon, some dead and some alive. It kind of sums up this year…

Six – The cream, highly-scented flowers of Elaeagnus ebbingei. It’s alive with bees at the moment.

Do check out the posts of other participants by following the links in the comments section of Jim’s post. If you fancy taking part yourself but don’t know where to start, here’s the participant’s guide.