Category: Six On Saturday

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

I should think we’re all pretty bored by now of talking about the weather so I’m just going to get straight on with my six:

One – Our two buddleia got attacked by something last year. One that had been there for years died completely. This one looked sickly all summer but is currently looking much more like its old self.

Two – Anonymous shrub rose brightening up the area under an apple tree.

Three – I expect the bees will soon be moving on from the lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina) pictured last week to this large clump of rose campion (Lychnis coronaria).

Four – If you look carefully you can spot the first evidence the gooseberry sawfly caterpillars have arrived.

Five – Another unwelcome visitor – a lily beetle. It’s the first one I’ve ever spotted. It didn’t live long after the photo was taken.

Six – Alchemilla mollis just coming into flower.

A bonus one… We invested in a makeover of our total mess of a front garden last year. An overgrown, invasive hedge was removed, the scrappy old lawn was dug up, raised beds were built and new turf was laid. Since then I’ve been gradually adding shrubs, perennials and bulbs in the raised beds and borders. It’s still a work in progress – isn’t every garden? – and perhaps I should have labelled the second one ‘Now’ rather than ‘After’ but here’s a record of the changes.

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.

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

Well, we got the rain I was pleading for so all the water butts are replenished and the plants look happier. So are the weeds. But now the rain doesn’t seem to want to stop. She’s never happy, is she? Enough of this grumbling, here are my six:

One – The bee magnet that is Stachys byzantina, commonly known as lamb’s ear. I split up a huge clump of this in the autumn and now I have four huge clumps.

Two – Campanula garganica growing in an area of gravel above our pond. The water never reaches it and it’s in full sun so seems quite happy.

Three – An unlikely pairing, or perhaps I should say ‘pear-ing’. Clematis ‘Etoile Violette’ entwining itself around a cordon pear.

Four – Escallonia ‘Apple Blossom’, planted last year and flowering for the first time.

Five – Coreopsis ‘Golden Joy’ growing amidst Verbena bonariensis and the ubiquitous lamb’s ear.

Six – A self-seeded poppy. It’s more of a red colour in real life.

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.