Six on Saturday – 17/6/2023

Categories six on saturday70 Comments on Six on Saturday – 17/6/2023

I keep looking at the weather radar, which shows a respectable area of wet stuff heading straight at us. I’m expecting it to fizzle out, or fragment into showers, or veer to one side or the other or to split and pass on either side. We were open today, didn’t get many visitors. It’s somewhat uncomfortable when the garden is well short of what it should be, in spite of ones best efforts. We should at least get enough rain to freshen it up somewhat for tomorrow and maybe collect a bit for the water storage.

Look for the positives, this is Six on Saturday, where the good always outweighs the bad. Focus on the successes, the things that like a bit of heat. (That’s me giving myself a stiff round talking to). Six things, in your garden, happening on a Saturday, specifically this Saturday, unless, like me, you take pictures and write it up on a friday and hope they’re still doing it a day later. Then post those happening things in a blog or Twitter post or whatever and put a link to your piece in a comment down below.

And so:

One.
The overview, which I took hoping I’d taken something similar at the same time last year, but I hadn’t. It was, by comparison, lush and verdant and flowery back then, the problems came later. The gap fillers have just not grown, simply keeping them alive has been a struggle. It all looks a bit thin. Fortunately most of the permanent planting made good growth earlier and is faring OK, though a few things are starting to struggle and have been given an occasional drink.

Two.
The sales table. Neither Sue nor I can stop ourselves propagating plants. I’m often trying to grow something new from seed, or trying to get myself a backup for some rarity that may die and be irreplaceable. Sue is a bit more honest and does it to have plants to sell at craft fairs and when we’re open. Thus we have a sales table with a somewhat eclectic range of plants on it, ranging from cacti and succulents, Penstemons and Salvias through to Begonia ‘Torsa’, Bomarea edulis and Pittosporum anomalum. Predictably, it’s the things with flowers that sell.

Three.
Meanwhile, out in the garden itself, some things are doing badly, some are doing well, most are hanging on in there, hoping for respite. Self sown poppies have been a boon, filling in before the main summer stuff like Dahlias, Penstemons and Salvias get going. One appeared a couple of years back, multiplied somewhat last year and exponentially this year. They haven’t had a drop of water but seem happy with that. These are among Dahlias, Cannas, Agapanthus and Crinum. I don’t want to water the Dahlias; once you start you can’t stop and they grow huge, but they are getting a bit desperate.

Four.
Our “bog garden” is where we filled in the pond, leaving the liner in place. Everything in it is very happy until it goes dry, then, because the roots are restricted by the liner, it all rather goes over a cliff. The clump of Iris ensata looks to be part of it but is actually planted outside the liner, giving them a little more resilience. You can see them in the overview picture in item one. They’re not happy though.

Five.
Some “shade” plants are able to cope with both reduced light and competition for water from the plants they are growing under. Some would be happier in permanently damp soil in the open, beside a stream perhaps. Thus in my shady area there are both happy and miserable plants, even though they all have shade. Lilium ‘Guinea Gold’, a L. martagon hybrid, seems to be one of the happy ones.

Six.
Alstroemeria ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’. If ever there was a plant that could speak for itself, it’s this one. I have nothing to add.

On the plus side, rain in the evening has time to do a bit of good before it evaporates, and maybe I won’t need to spend three hours watering. May your water butts be forever full.

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Published by Jim Stephens

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

70 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 17/6/2023”

  1. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Singing in the Rain – Barefoot Lily Lady

  2. Jim, your garden looks quite lovely even if it is not up to your usual standards. The alstroemeria is stunning! I was up in northern Minnesota at a cabin in the Chippewa National Forest, visiting friends on the weekend, leaving my garden positively parched. One day longer and I would have risked losing some things, or at least seriously stressing my vegetable crops. Not much blooming that far north, but the deer ticks were in abundance as were the mosquitoes. Much social grooming was necessary to ensure no ticks stayed around long enough to cause trouble. See you all next week with actual photos!

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  3. The overview and the individuals are beautiful. We’re in a drought over here in the central part of the U.S., and hot (high 80s/low 90sF, 30-33C) for the next week. No rain in the forecast until at least Sunday. 😦 It’s tough for gardeners, isn’t it? But as you say, we must focus on the positives. I’d say your post and your garden are definite joys.

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  4. Those showers keep dodging me too! A few fat drops on Friday that did nothing, some overnight rain that barely penetrated the soil and certainly not the pots. A good gentle soak would be good. Your garden looks fine to me and you do have some unusual plants to impress visitors I would imagine, and the plant stall is always the last port of call for me. Some random items from me this week:

    Six on Saturday | Mid June

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  6. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Gushing with Beauty – Barefoot Lily Lady

  7. Do you open independently, Jim, or are you part of something bigger? How many visitors would you hope to get on a typical opening? I suspect that remains one of the big unknowns, although I daresay there are some gardens that always get a huge number of visitors – that will never be us, thankfully! We had a good downpour last Sunday which made a big difference to all the borders (and the water butts), and are hopeful of another tomorrow. I was going to say ‘wow!’ when I first saw that alstroemeria…and then I saw the leaves…bleh! My six in a busy week are at https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2023/06/17/six-on-saturday-glory-of-the-garden/

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    1. I came within a whisker of replying to someone else just now that the biggest surprise with the Alstroemeria was peoples reaction to it, which I had expected to be mixed at best. It has to be the brashest, most in yer face plant I’ve ever encountered. We open under NGS, we’re in the book, on the website and so on. Today we opened for Hospice Care. We don’t get many people, 20-30 maybe, which means there are rarely more than a couple of, usually pairs, at any one time. With no lawn or open spaces, it’s as many as we really want though when we get garden club groups we can get around 20 at once and it seems to work. We’ve opened this year in conjunction with two other nearby gardens, listed as number 16 in the Cornwall section of the yellow book.

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      1. I have checked you out – I like your description! We are 14 in the Staffs section. we usually get somehere between 30 and 60, so our 146 in February was a huge shock! Parking is an issue here, and I am astonished that we still just about coped back then – but I would much rather have our typical numbers. It’s the first year we haven’t had any group visits, which makes a nice change as I can ease off after the 28th 😉

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  8. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Glory of the Garden | Rambling in the Garden
  12. Pingback: six on saturday: 06.17.23 | linnie and the jets …

    1. I should have said that there are thin areas. The established plants are doing pretty well with a few exceptions but the annuals and tender perennials we use to fill the gaps left by spring bulbs have been struggling to make good growth for lack of water. No amount of watering compares with decent rainfall and I have spent many hours watering them.

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  15. Pingback: The Fortnight Garden in mid-June - Enthusiastic Gardener

  16. Gazing at the radar on my weather app while hoping for rain is also a habit of mine. It can be a tease. We have had sufficient rain this week but drier days are sure to come as the season advances.
    The alstromeria is a beautiful specimen. Hope it provides some solace for the struggles of other plants.
    Here is my effort for the week

    It is summer 16 June 2023

    Happy gardening!

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  19. Pingback: Six on Saturday: 17 June 2023 – My Tiny Welsh Garden

  20. Your Alstroemeria ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’ sits there joyfully in a lovely pot, and probably has perfect soil, nutrition and moisture. No wonder its a happy camper in your garden. It is stunning- another great plant that hasn’t made it to the market in our area. I chuckled at your lead sentence. It perfectly describes how the rain heading our way from elsewhere just disappeared or went to the north or the south of us so many times over the past few weeks. We badly need a good, long steady rain as you do. Ours comes along with severe storms lately, which we’re happy to see go elsewhere, and the showers just don’t last very long. Despite your protests, and despite your memories of better garden years, the peeks you have shared with us this week are healthy and colorful. And your sale table is very tempting! I hope you have more visitors today. Thanks for the tip on the ‘bog garden.’ I’ve been thinking of filling in and planting a leaking liner left here by a previous gardener. Pots of Iris pseudacorus rest in it now, but I have a bog loving fern in a pot looking for a wet home. Good advice to consider. Here are my six for the week: https://woodlandgnome.wordpress.com/2023/06/17/six-on-saturday-oh-deer/

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    1. There are times when I’m tempted to be dishonest, I mean what harm is one small white lie of omission? The Alstroemeria is growing in a plain black plastic 20L tub, stood inside one of those bulbous pots that you can never get things out of without breaking the pot. It came out of my tunnel a week ago, having been in there since autumn last year, or perhaps the autumn before. It is in the same potting compost I use for absolutely everything. Too many years doing show stands at flower shows. I very much doubt that any of the people who saw it close up today noticed the potting arrangement, nor should they if I’ve done my job properly.

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      1. Well it look lovely, Jim. It has gotten exactly what it wants and needs in your tunnel, it appears. I find many ornamental plants grow much more happily in a container than in the ground and certainly survive longer that way!

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  22. Pingback: Six On Saturday: Billowing roses | n20gardener
  23. Pingback: Six on Saturday: “Oh Deer!” – Our Forest Garden

  24. That’s a very tempting sales table and I do like your Alstroemeria. Have you seen any rain yet? We have had nothing for weeks, but there is talk of some maybe tomorrow, I am easing out my saved rain water for the pond and plants that need it most.
    Here is my six, it is also a dedication to a gardening loving aunt who passed away last Saturday afternoon.

    🌼Flaming June Flowers. #SixOnSaturday From My Hampshire Garden #GardeningTwitter #LoveGardens

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    1. The Met Office have a warning out for thunderstorms tomorrow but on the timeline for the day’s weather give a maximum 10% chance for rain, less than 5% for most of it.

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  26. Beautiful as always Jim! Funnily enough I have all the problems you are describing too. When I look at my own garden they seem glaring to me, but in yours I can’t spot them – I think all gardeners have this experience, where they see only the things they want to improve, and everyone else is far less critical and more able to take the wider view. We’ve finally got some half-decent rain here – the sound of water trickling into a water butt nearly made me weep with relief this morning. I hope you’ve got some too. I have been struggling with my martagon for years, no wonder, it’s in a pot on the patio, I didn’t realise it needed damp shade! I shall correct this appalling error forthwith! Here’s my six: https://notesfromtheundergardener.wordpress.com/2023/06/17/six-on-saturday-17th-june-2013/. Hope everyone gets a little rain today at least!

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      1. Thank you! Yes I let valerian do its thing in year one, lifted it in year 2 to have a look at the roots (lift in late summer/autumn when foliage just starting to die back). I harvested the tiniest amount then – you can kind of tell whether there’s enough of a root ball there to be able to survive if you take some. Divide if possible, leave as one plant if not, then replant. Years 3 onwards you should be able to divide and to harvest modestly and after that you’re up and running. In the meantime the leaves also have some medicinal properties but not as strong – harvest, dry and use as for any other herb.

        Rose petals for medicinal, essential oil and perfume use are actually harvested at bud stage, just before opening, but I can’t bear to do that! I inspect regularly and the moment I see the petals start to fade and go over I cup the bloom lightly in my and and collect the whole head, then air dry in racks, on newspaper, in a cool dry room. You could do it fresh and they’d probably have more active constituents (including smell) then, I just can’t quite bring myself to do it! You need a lot of petals to taste rose in a tea and some varieties impart more flavour than others, but it’s a lovely thing to do, some years I really do capture that fabulous rose perfume and flavour.

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    2. I suppose I know how my garden could/should look and get depressed when it falls short. Other people take it as it looks now. We didn’t get nearly enough rain and are hoping for more. It was the fact that martagons would take shade that drew me to them originally. I was picking lily beetle grubs off them this morning, not a task I’m fond of.

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      1. I think most really keen gardeners feel the same way Jim. Don’t be despondent, yours looks amazing! Same here with both rain and lily beetle grubs – my hands were stained and slimy from crushing the little blighters today. Yuck! They are demolishing my tree lilies, despite me hunting and killing the adults without mercy. Between those, gooseberry sawfly and scale insect I feel under siege from the insect world!

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      2. My gooseberry sawfly had a free run this year, my attention was elsewhere. Scale I am not much troubled by but I could do without mealy bugs, Fuchsia flea beetles, Solomon’s Seal sawfly and tortrix moth. I know that besieged feeling well.

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    1. We had a very respectable turnout today, rather better than yesterday, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. We had 2mm of rain between 9 and 10 yesterday evening, which freshened things up for a few hours this morning but I’ve still done quite a bit of watering.

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  29. We are all suffering from lack of water but despite this your garden looks fabulous. I love the aerial view. I wish I could come to your Open Day. And I’d love a rummage round on that plant stall.

    Six on Saturday. Drum Roll Please…

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  30. Pingback: Six on Saturday 17.6.2023 | Lead up the Garden Path

    1. I got the Alstroemeria from Bob Brown at Cotswold Garden Flowers back when his online Encyclopaedia included his out of ten rankings for the plants listed. There were loads of Alstroemerias but only ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’ and ‘Indian Summer’ were ranked 10. It was in my tunnel until a week ago and I feared it might scorch in hot sun, but so far it’s standing up to it just fine.

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    1. Eight days in total, in pairs up to 12/13 August, by which time everything will be dead if we don’t get rain. It’s disheartening when so much preparation comes to nothing but that’s gardening. You tell yourself it’ll be better next year.

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      2. Sue always has cacti out for sale but doesn’t get many takers. People mostly want hardy plants they can put in their gardens, preferably full of flowers. Very few cacti will survive outdoors here.

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    1. Hope that works. The garden is not quite where we’d like it to be, though it was interesting to see how refreshed it looked this morning just on the 2mm of rain we did get. Washed the dust off mainly.

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  34. Gee, that is a nice alstroemeria. I grew it as a cut flower in the summer of 1986, when it first became popular here. There were only a few cultivars at the time, but they were all the cut flower type. That is why I am not so keen on the lower and more compact garden varieties. The sorts with colorful foliage seem to be more compact forms of the old fashioned cut flower types. Even the new sorts seem more like the old sorts.
    It was weird that your spring was earlier than ours, and it is even weirder that it is still more advanced. It is like that everywhere, even in Oregon! Our spring flowers were late, but eventually bloomed. I am still waiting for summer flowers to start. Tropical foliar plants, such as Canna and the various gingers are quite slow. The last three of my six demonstrate slow growth. I suppose I should have gotten prettier pictures. I just got pictures of what I thought to be interesting.

    Six on Saturday: Return From Arizona

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  35. Pingback: Six on Saturday | Mid June – Cornwall in Colours

    1. Seems rain is always ma·ñana, or dreckly, as they say in Cornwall. We had exactly 2mm yesterday evening. I have tried to grow martagon lilies from seed, they’ve germinated but I think not come back in year two.

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  38. Pingback: Six on Saturday 17-06-23 – Fred, a French Gardener2

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