Six on Saturday – 12/9/2020

Categories six on saturday, , , 42 Comments on Six on Saturday – 12/9/2020

The glasshouse floor is finished, I have staging and shelving on order. I’ll make it item number one even though nothing much is happening in there today. If a thing is just statically there, in situ, going nowhere, does it qualify as happening on a Saturday? A flower or plant is transitory, so it is happening. I may be over-thinking this.

There’s no shortage of things happening elsewhere, it’s plants all the way from number two down. At this time of year it’s all about the weather; fine and the show goes on, wet and everything turns to mush. At the moment it’s fine.

One.
Glasshouse floor. One of the new block features is a before and after picture compare thing with a slider that takes you from one image to the other. I should have used it for this but if the two pictures are not perfectly aligned it doesn’t really work. I’ll do it the old fashioned way. I’m kind of picking up from where I left off last week.

The half dismantled mist system on 30/8/2020, chaos and squalor rule.
The left hand picture shows what it looked like 5/9/20, the other was five days later.

Two.
Amaryllis belladonna. This is the later of the two forms I have to flower so I’m assuming the other one is going to do nothing this year. Not surprising, it had become buried under an overgrown and recently removed Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’. I keep meaning to look at the clump in the back garden, overshadowed by Hedychium out there. They don’t like it, insist on full sun.

Three.
By way of a progress report and a thank you rolled into one, Impatiens arguta ‘Alba‘ and Cyclamen hederifolium seedlings.

The Impatiens cutting is thriving, thank you Gill, and a couple of exciting looking Cyclamen seedlings have appeared, thank you Noelle.

Four.
Anemone hupehensis ‘Bressingham Glow’. Just as well I checked the name, I was going to call it ‘Hadspen Abundance’. Pretty much speaks for itself methinks. The plant, not me getting the name wrong, though that does too.

Five.
Cleome. Gardening friend Becky gave us three plants early in the season and they’ve been flowering for months. It looks like they’re going to set loads of seed which I will collect and sow. Do they come true from seed does anyone know? They were mixed in among Ammi and have stood up better and flowered longer; I very definitely want more next year.

Six.
Fuchsia ‘Lady in Black’. The difference between this and ‘Lady Boothby’ is minimal. Both will get described as climbing Fuchsias, a description I scorned until I saw ‘Lady Boothby’ 30 feet up a tree in Tresco garden. I was tying this in quite carefully earlier in the year but like much else, it’s got away from me. This is my new trellis installed last year.

And that’s what’s jumping out at me this week. Endsleigh Garden Centre and Plants Galore today, we’re going out of the county, across the bridge, into England. I can’t even remember what the trumped up excuse was now. Pot stands possibly. I’ll be back later to see what everyone is up to, links in the usual place.

Published by Jim Stephens

Gardener, no-dig allotmenteer, camellia enthusiast. I love colour, it cheers me up. Retired nurseryman.

42 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 12/9/2020”

  2. Wow Jim, the greenhouse looks amazing! I only wish I could lift up my shed and have a new floor laid as the one it has is rotting away 😮 The Anemone certainly glows – a very similar colour to my ‘Pamina’ – which is lovely. As for the Amaryllis – I have 3 Amarine bulbs in a pot. They have been in full sun all year as much as I am able to provide. Still no flowers though it looks as though there are more bulbs. Sigh… one more year and then I’ll turf them out. Or maybe they need three years to get going (like the bessera elegans did)?

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    1. I have three clumps of Amaryllis and only one has flowers. I also have Amarine in a pot and no flowers on it so far this year. My Nerines are a disaster too, hardly any flowers. It’s not like I’m doing anything different, but they’re not happy.

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      2. I think they suffered in the hot weather back in May, when they were in leaf and presumably forming flower buds. My Nerines came from my sister in Turriff, 30 odd miles north of Aberdeen.

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  3. Gosh! You certainly have worked hard, and the end result is just amazing! Well worth the effort. It will be interesting to see the next stage of your renovation. I have never come across a climbing fuschia, and think your one is magnificent. The belladonna lilies are lovely. I planted bulbs last year, but they did not flower and I dug them up and moved them to another location, with a little more shade in the late afternoon. Hopefully they will flower. I love the color of the anemones. I think I purchased the paler coloured ones, although mine hasn’t flowered as yet but has grown a lot bigger during our winter month, so hopefully flowers will appear early next year.

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    1. Some bulbs, perhaps most, seem quite exacting about the conditions they will grow in. I have another clump of Amaryllis with no flowers, probably from too little sun, just because we put a couple of pots of Fuchsias in front of them.

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    1. There isn’t much that flowers for so long at the scale of ‘Lady Boothby’ or ‘Lady in Black’. We do have F. regia serrae, a beast of a species beside which ‘Lady Boothby’ is quite restrained. Might put it in next week.

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  5. What difference you’ve made in the greenhouse. So organised and tidy – it looks brand new. When I get my tomato plants out I’m sure mine will look like that too. Or perhaps not.

    Fabulous splash of colour from the beautiful Anemone ‘Bressingham Glow’ It looks similar in colour and form to one I have at the back of the garden, but I’m sure it’s not that variety. I must take a look. If I had space for that Fuchsia, I’d grow it in a heartbeat. I’ve never had a fuchsia, but have one on my list for the plant nursery visit this week.

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    1. The glasshouse scrubbed up rather well, and being under new management (Sue’s) stands a good chance of staying that way. You’re probably mild enough to keep ‘Lady in Black’ outside in winter without it being killed to the ground, it can be touch and go here some winters.

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  6. Amaryllis belladonna seems to be appreciated more there. It is naturalized along roadsides and at the train depot here. I happen to like them enough to want to relocate them if they ever get replaced with something more interesting or more permanent. I would just put them on the outskirts of landscapes, where I would not miss their foliage when it dies back.

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    1. Another plant where if you’ve got to make a bit of an effort to grow it, you appreciate it more perhaps. I don’t think it ever naturalises here, perhaps never produces viable seed, or does it spread vegetatively out there?

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      1. Both. The bulbs split slowly, and the bit weirdly fleshy seeds float away in drainage ditches to start new colonies. I should deadhead them in a few days. Because I feel guilty about disposing of their seed, I will likely toss them out along the train tracks where a few might take hold.

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      3. That is odd. Our produce rather abundant seed, even within homogeneous (cloned) colonies. I suppose pollen can get brought in from other colonies. They are dormant through the warmth of summer, and only bloom after the warmest of the warm weather. I really do not know if they need warmth to produce seed. I really do not know who pollinates them. Whoever it is, it can not be too specialized. After all, these flowers are a long way from home and their pollinators of choice. I just found yesterday that someone had already deadheaded most of ours, before the seed were fully developed. I collected some of the discarded stems from compost, and might get a few seed. (I just can not bear to waste them, even though they are common.) If they are viable, should I send some to you? They are odd seed that must be sown before they desiccate. In your region, they would probably prefer to be sown directly, and then sheltered through their first winter, but I really do not know.

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    1. The glasshouse floor turned out well in the circumstances but if there’s a next time I’ll do the floor first, then put up the glasshouse. We didn’t come back with pot stands, or much else, but we did find what might be a useful, good value source for basic sundries and common plants. We’ll be going again.

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  9. The Glass house is now perfect. Love the Lady in Black, I must find one, and to look up into their blooms in your photograph is far bettert than on hand and knees, as I had to do, to admire the prostrate type. But then I would have to do pilates instead, but I would much rather garden. As for Amaryllis belldonna with its dark stems, it is another exquisite item in your six this week. Good to see the little seedlings up, look like they will have wavy edges to the silver leaves. Will they let you back in Cornwall? But then 14 days isolation will mean 14 uninterrupted days in your garden!

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    1. I have to admit that 14 days isolation wouldn’t make much difference to me. Lady in Black is very good, the combination of flowering for months and large scale sets it apart from most things.

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  11. What an extremely handsome greenhouse.
    You are lucky to be able to exchange plants and cuttings with blogging friends- the benefit of being in the UK and not having to suffer the tyranny of distance.

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  12. Of course your greenhouse floor qualifies! If new garden forks, spades secateurs are allowed, static structures must be. Having established that, your fuchsia looks perfect against that trellis. Hope you cope with your trip and get back safely.

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  14. That’s a great job on the glasshouse. I reckon it will be much easier to use it now. I love the amaryllis – a plant I haven’t grown as I reckoned we wouldn’t have the heat for it and it would mean another big pot in the glasshouse. Nice one!

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