Six on Saturday – 13/5/2023

Categories six on saturday, 56 Comments on Six on Saturday – 13/5/2023

What a lovely day yesterday was. Much gardening was done; progress was made on my allotment and it finally seemed like the 2023 growing season was properly under way. I’ve been lining things up to plant out, getting things hardened off, deciding where they are going to go. It feels like proper gardening. So, six things for Saturday, as per the participants guide and as per years of tradition. It’s been going plenty long enough to say that, this week taking The Propagator’s meme past the six year mark. Actually, last week was six years to the day, but I failed to notice the milestone.

One.
The forget-me-nots are gone and will soon be forgotten. Along with Camassias and bluebells, they have made for something of a blue them over the last few weeks and now they are gone it is largely back to green. As well as the flowers, they have made a useful contribution in keeping the soil covered in the early part of the year and creating above and below ground biomass. They have been sliced off leaving the roots in situ to break down while the tops went through the shredder and are now on my allotment.


Two.
Much of the action at this time of year is in my shady area. Holboellia brachyandra is as thuggish as ever and now runs at least twenty feet along the fence, attempting to strangle various things along the way. It has both male and female flowers, the females being larger and paler, but is not self fertile, so it never produces fruits and seed. Getting another isn’t really an option, this one is enough of a handful and why would I want seeds to grow even more?

Three.
Another absolute star of the shade garden is Maianthemum racemosum ‘Emily Moody’. Elegant, trouble free and beautifully scented, it is up early in the season and then stays there until autumn when it produces fruits; unlike many of the early risers which are ephemeral in nature. It is similar to my straight Maianthemum racemosum but at three feet tall is half as big again and with stronger scent.

Four.
There are a lot of Solomon’s Seals, I have several but this is the one I think of as the common version. I think that makes it Polygonatum x hybridum, but I’m not certain. In the last few days I’ve been spotting and squashing the black flies that are the adults of the dreaded and massively destructive Solomon’s seal sawfly. They very much favour this form, none of the others gets anywhere near so much attention and damage.

Five.
A great many of the weeds in our garden are over-enthusiastic garden plants rather than completely unwanted wild things. Like the forget-me-nots, I will tolerate some for their flowers then get them gone. Some, notably Allium triquetrum, I won’t tolerate at all. Red campion has always fallen into that camp too and I was somewhat surprised to see I’d missed this one long enough for it to get to flowering size. Now that I look at the picture, there’s another “weed” alongside it, and grass coming through from next door too.


Six.
Talking of grass, and weeds, this patch of golden oregano, Oregano vulgare ‘Aureum’ has been comprehensively invaded by couch grass. In fact the bank behind Sue’s greenhouse is a bit of a neglected mess with brambles and couch. It’s on my list of jobs to tackle. I don’t often use weedkiller but I shall make an exception here.


My featured image is the same Rhododendron seedling I featured last week, just out fully now. A dry week is forecast, after a bit of rain tomorrow night. I should be caught up with things by next weekend, might even have most of the allotment weed crop sorted out. Hopefully the bunny problem there is now sorted. I planted a few peas today; if they’re still intact tomorrow morning I shall be mightily relieved. have a good gardening week.

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Published by Jim Stephens

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

56 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 13/5/2023”

  1. Pingback: Six on Saturday: What Color is Your Garden Fantasy? – Our Forest Garden
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  5. Thanks for hosting Six on Saturday, Jim. Your garden always impresses me. Not just the beautiful flowers, but the layers and layers of various shades of green. It has so much dimension. I also appreciate the fact that you share your weeds. Especially since I spent the vast majority of my time in my garden this week pulling weeds and feeling a little defeated. Here’s my six (minus the weed photos…I’ll save that for another post).

    Six on Saturday – A New Flowerbed

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  6. Pingback: Six on Saturday – A New Flowerbed – Barefoot Lily Lady
  10. Pingback: Planting out the seedlings | Mom in the Garden

  15. I love seeing the progression of the garden! I finally have warmer temps here and will plant the peas and beans, broccoli, lettuce and spinach today. I will buy my tomato plant as well. It worked well to have the tomato in a pot next to the house – no cracked tomatoes when august rains come! It will be madness at the garden center – Mother’s day weekend is the traditional Wisconsin gardening season opener.

    Things are coming along – here are my six (or so):
    https://wisconsingarden.wordpress.com/2023/05/13/may-13-2023-six-on-saturday/

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  17. Pingback: May 13, 2023 Six on Saturday – Gardening in the Prairie
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  20. I have removed some of the forget me nots from the beds and borders, but I have a sea of them in the gravel which I will leave a while longer, they are very easy to pull out unlike the invasive bindweed. Yesterday was indeed glorious and although I am still suffering with painful joints I could not resist moving the spring pots into the ‘wild garden’ and doing a spot of weeding. It’s very hard to sit still when the weather is good. As for camassias, mine are only just appearing! The very pale blue cusickii (two) are flowering, but the rest are still green buds. Thanks for continuing the Prop’s meme, it is very much appreciated though I do understand how much time it takes to host a challenge.
    Jude

    Six on Saturday | The White Stuff

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  23. You are so incredibly generous, Jim, to share photos of your weedy patches, so the rest of us don’t feel so badly. You’ve featured a few plants I’ve not heard of or read about- like the Holboellia. From a distance it reminds me of climbing Hydrangea, Decumaria barbara or H. barbara, which is native in our area but still very enthusiastic! The Solomon’s Seal patch dotted with Hyacinthoides is my favorite photo this week… just lush and lovely. I enjoy blue/purple flowering plants, too, and have been planting blue flowering varieties of Salvia to contrast in a few months with all of the Black-eyed Susans coming in our upper, sunny garden. But this week I have focused on our shady areas, where it is so much easier to work: https://woodlandgnome.wordpress.com/2023/05/13/six-on-saturday-seeking-shade/
    Happy to hear your allotment is coming along! Enjoy the week ahead-

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    1. Holboellia is unrelated to Hydrangeas, it’s in Lardizabalaceae, perhaps my favourite family name, if not my favourite family. Weeds get away very quickly in spring and it hasn’t been the easiest of years to get on top of them. My allotment is much worse.

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      1. Jim, I could weed daily and not stay ahead of them here. All the little sprigs of Japanese stilt grass are already sprouting and I yank them out by the handful. It is an ongoing challenge, especially in spring. Thank you for highlighting new and interesting plants!

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  24. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Seeking Shade – Our Forest Garden
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  27. I’ll join the club admiring your Maianthemum, just what I need for my back border! I have a few areas like your last photo and weed killer really is the only option unfortunately. I have red campion popping up everywhere too, most gets pulled out but just a few left as they are so pretty!
    My six are here……….https://www.leadupthegardenpath.com/

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    1. I was cycling round some of the lanes here this morning and admiring the flowery verges, bluebells, campion and stitchwort and cow parsley mainly. I love the effect but road verges are probably the best place for it.

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  28. I was interested to read that you pull out the forget-me-nots at this stage. It sounds like very good practice. Red Campion is another one which I will leave be in some wilder places. I was surprised to see that you can by it from Crocus in 9cm pots, where it is described as ‘dainty’, whereas the ones here take up a lot of space.
    I loved seeing your interesting and unusual selection of woodlanders.

    Here’s my six for this week
    https://www.hortusbaileyana.co.uk/2023/05/cold-frames-and-cold-days.html

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  29. Pingback: Six on Saturday | The White Stuff – Cornwall in Colours

    1. You will certainly need to be on your guard with the Holboellia. I’ve seen far bigger plants than mine. Maianthemum did used to be Smilacena. The one I really want is Maianthemum oleracea, which I’ve had but the slugs liked it too much.

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  34. I like the little nodding flowers of your Holboellia brachyandra. It’s too large a plant for a place in my garden, but nice to see in yours. As for the couch grass, I have that problem in abundance too. Plants have to be regularly lifted and the roots of the grass removed, but it’s not a battle I’ll ever win. I hope you’re successful with yours, even if it does mean you have to use weedkiller on it.
    Here’s my six for this week:

    Farewell Tulips – you’ve been amazing.

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  36. Six on Saturday: Bearded Iris


    Mine are all of one genus! There is so much blooming right now though.
    Maianthemum racemosum is finishing bloom now. I forgot that it inhabited your garden. I can understand why you like it. It is visually unobtrusive, and delightfully fragrant. Although native, it is not prolific. It grows where it wants to, and is not easy to relocate. I am pleased that the best colony here is growing. Eventually, I will try to divide and relocate some of it.
    Forget me not is naturalized here, although I can not quite identify the species. Some species are native nearby. Yours looks just like ours, but of course, most of them do.
    Isn’t Holboellia brachyandra grown for it’s fruit?

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    2. Dan Hinkley makes no mention of Holboellia being edible but says the fruits are up to 7 inches long. He also says that his collection of H. brachyandra has 3 inch long tepals, which mine falls way short of. Maianthemum ‘Emily Moody’ produces viable seed for me, though they are painfully slow growing. I don’t know whether they are true to type or hybrids with my lesser M. racemosum.

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  37. Pingback: Six on Saturday: 13 May 2023 – My Tiny Welsh Garden

  38. My garden is lacking flowers at this point in the year but your lovely selection this week has given me some ideas to rectify that. Except the last pic, of course, I don’t envy you that:-(
    I particularly like the Maianthemum, and the fact that it’s scented is a huge plus so it’s definitely going on my wishlist.
    My rather mundane six this week is here: https://mysanctuarygarden.wordpress.com/2023/05/13/six-on-saturday-13-05-23/

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    1. Ours is a bit lacking colour now the forget-me-nots are gone; in the past we’d have had masses of Aquilegia but most of them get downy mildew now so there are very few of them. I should maybe leave a few more red campions to flower.

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