Six on Saturday – 22/7/2023

Categories six on saturday60 Comments on Six on Saturday – 22/7/2023

Oh dear, my short-list for this six is 13 items long. The garden has got its second wind, especially after a couple of weeks of cooler, wetter weather. We’re open again this weekend, though the forecast for Saturday is pretty terrible so we’re not expecting many people to turn up. I’m not much bothered, in that I’m happy to have the growing season back on track with plants growing and flowering as they should and would have been no less happy if we didn’t open at all.

OK, let’s get this whittled down to six. I wonder if I could get away with posting two sixes. There are times I’m almost forgetful enough to forget that I’ve done a post within an hour or two of doing it; I could pretend I’d had a senior moment, there’d not be much pretence involved.

One.
Eryngium ‘Tetra Petra’. There is a label at the foot of these saying I sowed them 9th November 2020. The seed was kindly sent to me by Noelle aka Stasher and I planted out a small group of three or five plants at some point. I have collected seed and sown another generation since, but they’re still very small. The colour is fabulous, the bees absolutely adore it, why wouldn’t I want more. Thank you Noelle.

Two.
Every year at about this time I’m surprised afresh by the sight of Cyclamen hederifolium flowering. It just seems to get earlier every year but probably doesn’t. It served to remind me that I had a tray of seedlings that needed planting out, so I did that earlier in the week. There are more to go. I’ve been building up the numbers steadily as I find them a very useful plant to have doing something in autumn and winter, then disappearing for the summer under everything else. These in the picture are sharing space with Dicentra and Maianthemum, neither of which will be around much longer. They do self sow but the ants that are supposed to disperse the seed are mainly failing to do so and the seedlings all come up tightly clustered around the parent plant.

Three.
Inspired by some I saw in Keith Wiley’s Wildside garden, I grew Lilium leichtlinii in a pot. Then I tried a couple more varieties, including this one, ‘Anastasia’. The July RHS magazine, The Garden, reports on 9 new AGM’s awarded after a three year trial of lilies at Wisley and ‘Anastasia’ is one of them. I can see why. I think I may be adding a few more next year, though when you start to look at specialists like Harts Nursery the “few” bit starts to buckle.

Four.
Another plant that came my way courtesy of Six on Saturday is Gloriosa, which was sent to me by Fred in France. It came last autumn, with instructions to keep it dry over winter. I planted the root in a pot, kept it dry and for months nothing happened. I didn’t note when it started to shoot, must have been May or June. Now look at it. It’s a plant I’ve always wanted to grow, though I have to admit that seeing it rampaging along Australia’s east coast as an aggressive alien weed has changed my view of it a little. At the moment I have it growing in the greenhouse but as soon as it bulks up a bit I want to try it outside. Thank you Fred.

Five.
I bought a new Crocosmia this week, called ‘Twilight Fairy Crimson’, and, good as it looks to be, it’s one of the seven rejects because it can’t compete with Crocosmia ‘Paul’s Best Yellow’. Yesterday, I dug out a few stray bits of another yellow Crocosmia that we had, a poor thing even in the years it did manage to bloom. No point whatever having a poor one when a good one is as good as this.

Six.
Trigger warning!! Those of a sensitive disposition are best advised to skip this item. Leave it at five and hit page down. I don’t have a problem seeing slugs, snails et al as part of the garden ecosystem. What I do have a problem with is seeing extensive damage by pests as being indicative of a well balanced ecosystem. Partly that’s because many of the plants I choose to grow, unlike most native plants, have little or no resistance to pest damage, partly because the predators that could control the pests are missing or very depleted. In the interests of maximising the carbon sequestration potential of my garden, I take steps to protect the plants. In the end it means more plant material, ie food, for the things that depend on it, but they can’t have it until I’m finished with it. So I go out when it gets dark and I hunt down slugs and snails. Of late I’ve been seeing rather a lot of adult vine weevils as well. There are 30 weevils here, one night’s pickings, 28 of which are black vine weevil, Otiorhynchus sulcatus. I reckon my total for the last week is around 250. Favourite plants are Euonymus fortunei ‘Emerald Gaiety’, Impatiens stenantha, Hydrangea serrata ‘Fuji-no-taki’ and Polygonatum x hybridum but they’ll eat almost anything.
Did I throw them over the fence into a neighbour’s garden? Of course not, they have nutrient value and have been recycled within my own garden ecosystem.

That’s yer lot, see you next week.

Published by Jim Stephens

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

60 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 22/7/2023”

  1. Hi everyone! I hope I can be excused for posting a day late – I’ve had some technical problems! Here is my post that should have gone up yesterday, profuse apologies for bending the rules by posting today! https://notesfromtheundergardener.wordpress.com/2023/07/22/six-on-saturday-22nd-july-2023/. I am now going to indulge myself by lounging on the sofa and catching up with everyone else’s posts!

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  2. Lots to read and think about Jim. I have heard of vine weevils, but realise I am unsure what size they are and whether I have come across any myself – I will be more than happy if I haven’t, of course! I wonder if my Tetra Petra seeds came at the same time as yours, although I only managed two plants out of mine, one of which is currently very striking but not as striking as yours! I relented and decided to try again with crocosmia (previous ones gave up flowering and disappeared), including Paul’s Best Yellow, but there is no sign of them at all, not even foliage…. At least I have some other small successes: https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2023/07/22/six-on-saturday-small-successes/

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  3. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Small Successes | Rambling in the Garden

  4. What a glorious collection this week. Good hunting, too, I see. I agree with you, Jim, that it seems terribly early for the Cyclamen. But it has been a strangely timed season all around, and such beautiful flowers are always welcome to appear. They look so nice there with the other foliage, particularly the Dicentra. I am always shocked a bit by Eryngium, and that is such an intense blue! The genus seems to get more popular each year. You’ve done a lovely job with it. I am also celebrating successes this week. Apologies for the late post, yet again. It was just too hot yesterday to go out and take photos so I put that off until this morning. Hope you are enjoying your weekend! https://woodlandgnome.wordpress.com/2023/07/22/six-on-saturday-successes/

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  5. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Successes! – Our Forest Garden

  8. Rain is a meaningful thing. Your garden looks wonderful. I love the blue thistles and cannot get them to do anything here. I think the Euonymous attracts bad insects. Thank you for hosting.

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  9. Your yellow Crocosmia tucked in among fuchsias and penstemons looks fantastic! Makes me want to see more of the flower bed.

    Don’t have weevil problems here, but this is peak season for the horrible invasive Japanese beetles. I usually pick them into the traditional bowl of soapy water, but I have recently discovered that batting them with an electric flyswatter is much more satisfying.

    Here are my six: The garden at night.

    Six on Saturday #75, Garden at night (July 22, 2023)

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    1. Vine weevils made a satisfying crunch underfoot. I made the mistake of crushing one between finger and thumb and was impaled by something sharp, a claw perhaps. Unpleasant in the dark. An electric flyswatter sounds fun, almost wish we had enough flies to justify getting one.

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  10. Pingback: Six on Saturday #75, Garden at night (July 22, 2023) – Sweetgum and Pines

  11. I seem to have tiny ants all over my garden including in a stone urn where I would like to get rid of them. Any ideas? My eryngium appears to self seed a lot. I have been pulling out seedlings not knowing what they were until I realised that they must be from that plant. I was going to relocate it (though getting the long tap root out is almost impossible) maybe I should just grow some of the larger seedlings on… As for the Gloriosa superba lily, did you know it is the national flower emblem of former Southern Rhodesia? Now Zimbabwe. The red-yellow one is a woodland variety from the highveld and the one that is known as the Flame lily. I have always loved it, but assumed it must need heat to grow. Saying that the highveld is cooler and wetter.

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  12. Happy Saturday Jim and all the SOSers! I love the Eryngium. It has grown on me -the blue cultivars are very nice. Our native one is silver. It is a nice architectural plant. I feel for you with the weevils. My own battle with Japanese Beetles is going fairly well, I think due to the dry weather. I may be up to 50 total. I am not catching all of them, I am sure, but the damage to my Echinacea is minimal. I have found a couple on the eggplant and they have discovered the beans, so I need to be vigilant. Luckily, the only other pest that was worse than usual this year was aphids, but the ladybugs have been quite active. I see eggs, larvae, pupae and adults. Just yesterday I was getting ready to cut down a dill plant that was in my way, and noted a ladybug pupa, so I cut the plant above the pupa so the beetle could hatch out. Here are my six:

    https://wordpress.com/post/wisconsingarden.wordpress.com/6617

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    2. Japanese beetle has reached Europe but not yet the UK. It is very similar in appearance to our garden chafer, which seems to be pretty harmless. It’s regarded as a significant threat with us having areas climatically suitable for it to get established. That probably means it’s a matter of when, not if; we have a terrible record for keeping things out.

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  13. Pingback: July 22, 2023 Six on Saturday – Gardening in the Prairie

  14. It is a joy to have the garden refreshed by sufficient rain and favorable weather conditions. The gloriosa lily and the croscosmia are magnificent. I have crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ which can be thuggish but it can be pulled up easily to keep it tamed. Bravo on the insect patrol.
    Here is my lot for the week.

    Hot Summer Days 21 July 2023


    I am off to watch The Open today.

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    1. My issue with ‘Lucifer’ was that it always fell over, and it seeded everywhere, and that it took up a lot of space then flowered for a week. It had to go. I suspect there are inferior seed raised forms about and that I had one of them.

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    1. The big drawback of Cyclamen flowering too early is that the stuff they’re following on from is still lush and you don’t get to see them. I need to be looking for gaps that are developing now, and there aren’t many.

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  19. Just a quick note to let you know that I have family staying at the moment, and won’t be posting a Six. I’ll catch up next week.
    I love the border in your feature image, it’s so vibrant, as is that great-looking Eryngium. I might envy some of your plants, but the vine weevil…no thank you. Have a lovely week!

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  20. My most hated and despised pests are vine weevil … treating primula and heuchera as a giant snack bar!!! I do find using a spray a couple of times a year helps … as well as night hunts!

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      1. I actually spray the plants and surrounding soil about twice a year … didn’t see one of the little devils or their larvae for a couple of years. I have now left that garden and am faced with a new build from scratch!

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      1. If a plant is good and spreads then there will ones to share with my friends locally. If I can’t get a ready grown plant locally, I’ll get some from Avon Bulbs when they get them in.

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  24. I wish I could visit your garden, rain or no rain, it looks wonderful. I love all your six, apart from the vine weevils of course, they are disgusting. How does Sue manage with all her succulents? They seem to adore echeverias. Lovely eryngium, fabulous lily and glorious Gloriosa.
    Here are mine.

    Six on Saturday. In the Red.

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    1. They do adore Echeverias and cause her no end of grief. Nematodes are fairly useless because the grubs burrow into the fleshy stems and you don’t want to keep the compost too moist in autumn. Overwintering rosettes rootless and out of compost altogether works but you don’t want to cut them off when they don’t appear to be affected. We’d be glad to hear from anyone who’s cracked it.

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  26. Weevils are things that I luckily don’t have in my area. Butterflies, snails and slugs are major pests. I’m delighted for you that the Gloriosa works well, and the result is visible right now! Mine are faded and suddenly now I completely stop watering (even if they are still in the greenhouse). By following my advice you should have some next year. ! https://fredgardenerblog2.wordpress.com/2023/07/22/six-on-saturday-22-07-23/

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  28. It’s hard limiting ourselves to just six at this time of year. Good to exercise some self restraint I suppose. That’s a scary number of vine weevils that you’re finding. Are they all on/in pots or do you find them in the ground as well? I also found C. hederifolium flowers this week but thought it was just too early to put them in. It’s feeling quite autumnal here at the moment so a floral reminder is a bit much in July.

    Six on Saturday 22/07/23

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    1. The adults are feeding on foliage at night, usually near the top of the plant. Most of those I’m finding are on plants in the ground but it’s plants in pots where the larvae are most damaging. Garden soil is a much more hostile environment for the larvae than pots, it’s harder, often very dry, there are predators and parasites aplenty. Evidently quite a lot survive to adulthood. So many garden plants were pot grown and still have soft, moisture retentive compost, ideal for vine weevil grubs, around their roots.

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  30. Would you like some of my ants, we do have rather a lot, although the sparrows have been eating some of them. Paul’s Yellow is a beauty as is your eryngium. Scary amount of vine weevil, although I don’t know what goes on at night in my garden! Happy garden opening, I’m sure you’ll have a few today and tomorrow looks much better. Here are mine https://offtheedgegardening.com/2023/07/22/six-on-saturday-spoilt-for-choice-2/

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    1. We have ants but they’re all in the wrong place, ie the warm dry places where I don’t put cyclamen. I’m only aware of one plant, a young Cosmos, that the weevils had killed, but you wonder how many are under-performing because of them.

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  31. ‘Twilight Fairy Crimson’ looks impressive. I do not give Crocosmia much consideration. I grew a feral type that I found growing wild in Montara when I was a kid, and I still have a bit of it here. However, after noticing how other types were aggressive weeds, I lost interest in the entire group. Mine is actually quite interesting, but that is another long story. A more recent acquisition stays quite contained. I have been working with it for a few years, and it has always stayed in a compact colony that is only about a foot wide now. It might have been half as wide many years ago, but could have been there for years prior to that. Anyway, These are my six, which were actually intended for last week. https://tonytomeo.com/2023/07/22/six-on-saturday-late-for-summer/

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    2. There are so many Crocosmia varieties around, they all start to look the same, but ‘Twilight Fairy Crimson’ caught my eye. Crocosmia is a very common alien weed here and very occasionally I see signs that the powers that be have been trying to control it. I’ve yet to see any sign they’ve succeeded.

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      1. Until the past decade or so, I thought that they ‘were’ all the same, with the exception of the odd yellow sort (which looked just like the ‘same’ sort, but with yellow bloom) and a small reddish sort that I thought were ‘Lucifer’. The first that I met in Montara produce big and very wide corms, like gladiolus, but even bigger. When I dug some and brought them to Saratoga (which is not coastal), the big bulbs divided into countless small corms. It was weird. That one variety had two very distinct personalities. I would say that it is the most common naturalized sort, but the sort that is naturalized here is very different.

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