Tag: gardening

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.

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

Still no rain to speak of here in Berkshire although we’re forecast to get some on Monday. I hope so because our water butts are all empty and we’ve had to resort to using the hose, watering only those plants that absolutely need it. They all need it really. Anyway, enough grumbling, here are my six:

One – Clematis growing up the supports for our cordon pears. I think it’s ‘Étoile Violette’ but the label is hidden beneath a large clump of purple sage growing at its foot, providing the shade its roots like.

Two – A penstemon of unknown variety, a gift from a neighbour who does not do labels.

Three – The purple flowers of campanula persicifolia.

Four – A lovely deep pink shrub rose of unknown variety (it came with the house).

Five – What I think is a nice combination of Salvia nemorosa and – at the moment – a diminutive Sambucus nigra ‘Black Lace’.

Six – Another combination, this time of foliage. Alchemilla mollis, bronze-leaved heuchera, hardy geranium and bergenia all getting along together.

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.