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.

Once again the weather has not been ideal for gardening, the soil being either too wet or too cold. However today (Friday) the sun came out and I was able to take a few pictures.

One – One of the new shrubs I planted in the revamped front garden back in the autumn was Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘John Flanagan’. It’s not something I’ve grown before but the label tells me it should provide year round foliage and have scented flowers. Sounds good to me and it seems to be doing well so far.

Two – Another new addition to the front garden is Luma apiculata ‘Glanleam Gold’. Again it’s not something I’ve grown before but it promises aromatic foliage (although at the moment you’d have to crouch down to detect it), white flowers and colourful, non-edible fruits.

Three – Nearby I’ve planted Escallonia ‘Apple Blossom’ which I’ve grown successfully elsewhere in the garden. You may have detected a pattern here – well-behaved evergreen shrubs with either flowers or berries to provide year round interest.

Four – Continuing the theme is Photinia x fraseri ‘Red Robin’ which one of my neighbours tells me I’ve planted in the wrong place because it will grow too big. She’s probably right but I’d always intended to prune it to keep it small. I have another more compact variety in one of the raised beds.

Five – A grass of unknown variety as it was missing its label picked up in the sale section of my local garden centre. It seems to have withstood the recent cold weather which is promising.

Six – A Christmas gift from my husband, a copy of Frances Tophill’s latest book about wild flowers. I’m pretty rubbish at identifying them at the moment so hoping this will help. Even if it doesn’t it has beautiful illustrations.

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.

I definitely chose the most challenging time to start participating given there’s been a week of frost, snow, wind and rain. I hope everyone has kept safe and your gardens were not too battered.

It’s been pretty much impossible to do anything in the garden this week except grab a sledgehammer to break the ice on the pond, walk briskly down to the compost bin with vegetable peelings and make plans for the year ahead. I hope that explains the scarcity of actual plants in this week’s six and the greater focus on projects.

One – The first signs of narcissus, planted in pots because the squirrels just dig them up if I put them in the ground.

Two – Hebe ‘Rosie’ obviously didn’t check the weather forecast before deciding to risk producing a bloom.

Three – There are a few fruits remaining on the Chaenomeles japonica growing against a very ugly wire fence.

Four – Hundreds of foxglove seedlings had made themselves at home in the strawberry bed. (In fact, they’re all over the garden.) In the brief interval when it wasn’t raining or snowing, it was weeded and some young plants grown from runners added to fill gaps. The white flakes are the remains of a layer of whelk shell put down last year to deter slugs from nibbling the fruit. It worked . . . to a degree.

Five – This very boring picture is the starting point for one of my 2026 projects. We had the fence replaced at the end of last year because the old panels were falling apart and there was ivy growing over and through them. All the other shrubs growing in front had to be cut down or removed, some of which were on their last legs anyway. Now I need to get my thinking cap on…

Six – Last year’s main project was a much needed makeover of our large front garden. It involved removing an overgrown hedge largely made up of spirea japonica which had suckered into what we laughingly referred to as the lawn, clearing the whole area, having four raised beds built and new turf laid. This year’s project is to plant a few more evergreen shrubs along the fence and finish filling the raised beds with plants for year round interest. Also to clear the remaining ivy from the front hedge and fill the gaps with new hedging plants.

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.