Well, that’s it, the longest day has passed. The druids will all have gone home. Summer, on the other hand, hasn’t arrived here yet. As I write, it’s raining, and the forecast for next week is pretty mixed. I don’t really mind; it’s good growing weather which isn’t stressing the plants or burning my head.
There’s plenty going on, finding six things for a Saturday post is easy at this time of year. It’d be a good time to come aboard should you fancy joining in with the SoS crowd. It’s really simple but have a look at the participants guide if you want more info.
One.
Our garden visitors typically drive up our road, see there is nowhere to park, backtrack a bit then walk up the road to see our front garden sandwiched between our concrete drive and next door’s all gravel front carpark. They know they’ve come to the right place because of the signs but so far there’s not much to see. They go through the side gate and along the side of the house and discover there’s a much bigger garden at the back than they were expecting. I’m conscious that if you were ever to make it to our door, I’ve spoiled the surprise by showing this view but sadly that is not very likely.
Two.
The purple Iris ensata in the picture above, like all the other plants in our ex pond, has loved the cool and damp start to the year and has never looked better. I’ve never known its name but that doesn’t detract from its loveliness. A week ago when we were open it had just a couple of blooms on it; I suspect that in a week’s time when we open again it will have just the last few. The petals have a velvety texture that plays tricks with light; it never looks the same colour in a photo as in reality.
Three.
I seem to be having a good year with self sown things appearing. I had a mediocre Astrantia for years and while it seeded about plenty, none of the seedlings were any better than the parent. Last year I dug it out and bought three plants of ‘Roma’, which are not exactly stellar and need moving to a better spot. Then a week ago I spotted this seedling plant, a good distance from the others so who knows where the seed came from. It’s a keeper for sure.
Four.
The second of our Hydrangeas is now in flower and looks to have finally found its feet after several years of struggling. It’s H. ‘Garden House Glory’, from the garden of the same name in Devon. It’s a hybrid between H. macrophylla and H. serrata so it has probably struggled because it’s getting too much sun. The flowers are pinky-red, without having had any treatment, which is unusual in our soil which usually turns them blue.
Five.
Having enjoyed two or three years of success with Lilium leichtlinii, grown in a pot, overwintered in my tunnel, then plunged, still in the pot, into a gap at the back of the border, I have done the same with a number of other varieties this year. This is not one of them and once again it is reminding me why it probably should be. This group of L. x dalhansonii ‘Guinea Gold’ are planted in the ground where they get hammered by slugs and lily beetles, the clump shrinking every year. I shall dig what’s left when they finish flowering and put them in a pot. They usually get sold as a martagon lily but are a hybrid of that species with L. hansonii.
Six.
One of the advantages of having no open spaces in our back garden is that big birds like gulls and rooks never land in it because there isn’t space for them to get airborne again. It also seems to be an effective deterrent against being dive-bombed by gulls protecting their chicks. It’s a different matter at the front of the house where there are no such obstacles; you take your life in your hands venturing out there. Having had experience of bonxies (Great skua) attacking me in the Orkney’s years ago, I know there are worse things than our gulls but they’re still pretty nasty. They have produced three chicks and the sooner they all leave the better.
I suppose this rain will bring the slimy hordes forth. Would I feel better about gulls if slugs were on their menu? Probably not. Have a good week.
garden ruminations 
An enjoyable read – thank you Jim.
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“The flowers are pinky-red, without having had any treatment, which is unusual in our soil which usually turns them blue.”
Lucky you! I would love to habe blue Hydrangea, but in our soil they are pink or white.
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I am thankful we don’t have gulls, but this year the crows and kestrels have joined the sparrows in bullying our poor housemartins… Hopefully your gulls and our crows will move away soon. The lily is quite beautiful and I admire the fact that you have managed to keep the slugs from completely devouring it!
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I had to smile at your description of your visitors’ arrival to view the garden – it’s the same here, albeit without the front garden bit as we are a nominally end terrace house that opens directly onto the lane, with a four foot or so access down the side of the house, bordered by a huge hedge on the other side of it – it all adds to the surprise!
I love the bulging borders in that first photo and need to go out and look at at my Iris ensata tomorrow – they flowered the first time we opened, eight years agao, and haven’t flowered since… I guess I would have noticed by now if they were flowering. That martagon lily is glorious – much more attractive than my plain white one, although I am still thrilled to have it! Thanks for hosting https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2024/06/22/six-on-saturday-differences/
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You are so lucky to have the rain and cooler weather this year and your garden looks lush and beautiful. The stand of Astilbe in the first photo is particularly beautiful, along with the Iris of course. Your photo of the Astrantia is my favorite of your six this week. Just a lovely close-up of its structure. What a lovely gift to find it as a seedling.
Our climates have diverged, at least for the moment. There is nothing so lovely in my six for the week, but I am very encouraged to see the Begonias coming out with new growth. https://woodlandgnome.wordpress.com/2024/06/22/six-on-saturday-tolerant/
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Beautiful! I wish I could walk round and enjoy it in real life. Fabulous Iris ensata. And I love the lily. All wonderful, except I can do without your seagulls.
Here is my contribution
Six on Saturday. Notes from the hammock. | The Blooming Garden (wordpress.com)
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I have dreadful lizards in my garden. Nothing can make me feel better about them except the snakes that eat them! Lovely Lilies, Hydrangeas and Astrantias today! I don’t know Astrantias! at all. Everything looks great. Thanks for hosting. I hope the slugs are minimal. https://theshrubqueen.com/2024/06/22/six-on-saturday-porch-views/
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We do have a few lizards in the UK but I’ve never seen one in the garden. We get the odd slow worm, which are legless lizards. I’ve never seen a snake in the garden either, and rarely enough outside of it. I suppose I should be grateful that the gulls do no damage to the garden, they’re more intent on damaging the owners.
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Attack birds sound pretty creepy to me .. from a person with foot long red and blue lizards that bite in the garden!
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Beautiful entrance! Very inviting. I want to take a walk along the wooden walkway and see more. Well done! The hydrangeas are such a pretty color. Thank you for sharing. Here’s my six. https://artbyisabel.com/2024/06/22/six-on-saturday-06-22-2024/
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I did a couple of videos of the garden last year and must get around to doing the same this year. It gives a better sense of the garden as a whole.
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Jim Your garden looks so beautiful !!
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Thank you!
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Fortunately, slugs and beetles are not plaguing my lily garden, yet! Beautiful lace cap hydrangea.
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I love the flower with the delicate green tipped leaves and because I love all things purple, the iris is a hit with me as well. The chicks are cute, but getting dive bombed is not fun. In Seattle there were streets I could not walk in spring because the crows would bonk me in the head. There were some in a tree near enough my allotment who it seems blame me for cats being in the area so I would wear my bicycle helmet when gardening. Walking up the hill to my bus I was attacked so aggressively that people came out of their homes to see what the ruckus was. It was like a scene from The Birds. Things in my world are growing well, but soggy with an extra helping of wet.
Here are my six: https://wisconsingarden.wordpress.com/2024/06/22/june-22-2024-six-on-saturday/
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We’re down to two gull chicks now as one came off the roof and picked Agave montana to break its fall. Bad choice!
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Your garden and everything in it looks amazing Jim – and you’re right, it hasn’t minded the vagaries in moisture and temperature this year at all! We have gulls as well, but they seem to stick to the lakeshore. Dive-bombing us instead are red winged blackbirds – smaller but just as noisy near any wetland here.
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I almost posted a photo of that same hydrangea today, but swapped it for the martagon lilies. I think I shall follow your advice and dig the bulbs up and put them in pots as they were dreadfully attacked this year. The irises are stunning and your whole garden looks great. The rain does at least save us the job of watering the plants!
https://cornwallincolours.blog/2024/06/22/six-on-saturday-summer-time/
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Your first photo of your former pond is beautiful, love the iris ensata. I just have a blue one and a white one in my bog garden and they aren’t ready to flower yet. Very taken with your Martagon lily, it is amazing, think I’ll have to follow your advice and grow mine in pots in future!
My six are here…………https://www.leadupthegardenpath.com/
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Favorite time of the year is growing season for me, love your space.
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It is a wow view, and those irises are absolute stunners. I hope they last for your visitors. The astrantia photo is great too. One year, during a stay in Cornwall we were offered an umbrella to get us through the garden to our hotel room! Seagulls are a challenge indeed. Here’s my link to a less than perfect garden https://n20gardener.com/2024/06/22/six-on-saturday-things-that-go-wrong/
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The Astrantia is lovely and a puzzle as to its origins, and it chose to grow in front of a group of white meadow cranesbill that I grew from seed I collected from plants on the verge near Jamaica Inn which I assume are garden escapes. Serendipitous, to roll out a word that doesn’t get used enough.
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On my frequent visits to gardens open for charity, your type of garden is my absolute favourite – there is such a wow factor as people walk in to that view, and the contrast from the front garden just adds to it.
I’ll be back later to comment on everyone else’s posts, here’s mine for this week: https://mysanctuarygarden.wordpress.com/2024/06/22/six-on-saturday-22-06-24/
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The look on visitors faces when they first see the garden is my absolute favourite; I seat myself to see that moment of realisation on each of them.
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The seagulls leave us alone too, although they are always circling overhead and squawking, but we do have resident sparrowhawks nearby! Even Red Kites now regularly check us out. Those lilies are gorgeous. I would love to grow them again but can’t stand the dreaded red beetles and their disgusting habits! Here are my six https://davidsgardendiary.com/2024/06/22/six-on-saturday-121/
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I used a lily beetle deterrent spray this year with reasonably good results; not perfect, but manageable.
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What a delightful Astrantia, and it has so many flowers on it too. Nature is just wonderful. The pests of various sorts seem to be getting either bigger and noisier, or else in my case at the moment more cunning and thieving! Here are my six this week: https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2024/06/six-on-saturday-flaming-june.html
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N20 gardener: It’s a lovely collection from your garden, I enjoyed my ‘visit’, thanks for sharing.
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Pest species take full advantage of there being less predatory species about. I can’t believe their numbers have been reduced by climate change or environmental degradation.
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I’m sure your visitors must be delighted when they reach your ‘secret garden’. I’m happy to be able to see that lovely view, even if it is only digital. Plenty of beauties from your garden today – the Iris ensanta is spectacular, but for absolute elegance, the marathon lily take the prize. My offering for this week:
https://notesfrommygarden.co.uk/2024/06/22/summer-go-slow/
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Iris ensata is a new acquisition for me this year. I just got it from Tangly Cottage Gardening last April. It is variegated. I put it on next to a stream and pond because it was performing so well in a boggy area where it came from. I really do not know what to expect from it. It came with Louisiana iris, which was planted with it here.
That mediocre astrantia is rad up close like that. I am unfamiliar with it. Of course, the hydrangea and lily are rad also.
These are my six:
https://tonytomeo.com/2024/06/22/six-on-saturday-surprise-2/
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Lovely “Martagon” lilies ! And those gull chicks are cute but you’re going to have poop on your roof soon… no Six for me this week like I said. Palm glasshouse visit on my way with an English friend visiting Normandy !
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Enjoy your Normandy trip with your friend!
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Hard to pick a favourite today as they’re all great. Well, apart from number 6 perhaps – although the chicks have a certain fluffy charm in that photo. We have a pair of gulls nesting where I work – we’ve been issued with umbrellas when crossing between the two buildings on the site! https://onemanandhisgardentrowel.wordpress.com/2024/06/22/six-on-saturday-22-june-2024/
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Three chicks have become two. It probably climbed onto my solar panels and slid off the roof. The plant it chose to cushion its fall was Agave montana, which didn’t work out well for it.
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