Six on Saturday – 2/9/2023

Categories six on saturday53 Comments on Six on Saturday – 2/9/2023

The speed at which these Saturdays come around is terrifying. It’s not like I lead a busy life and there isn’t a great deal needs doing in the garden just now. My allotment is a different matter but there’s been just enough rain to provide an alibi for putting that off. Yet here we are again, a Friday evening, sorting out six things from the garden to go global on Saturday. If you’re unsure how it all works, check out the participants guide.

The weather has settled a bit, rain on alternate days rather than every day, and a lot of plants are making new growth when perhaps they should be winding down. I was bemoaning the state of our Fuchsias a week or two back and they are forcing me to eat my words. For the next couple of months they will be big contributors of colour. Dahlias are flowering surprisingly well, given the lack of sun but Salvias are below par. Whatever the weather, it’s going to suit some things better than others. Right, tempus fugit, onwards.

One.
Fuchsia ‘Lady Bacon’. I think I’m right in saying that these Fuchsias with red tubes and white sepals are variants that occur very rarely in the wild. It’s certainly what I read about ‘Arauco’, which has similar colouring and which we also have. ‘Lady Bacon’ is a pretty standard Fuchsia magellanica except for the flower colour, hardy enough for the top growth to escape serious damage in most winters in the milder counties, so capable of growing into a large shrub.

Two.
Hylotelephium telephium. A plant that grows wild in the hedgerows hereabouts and this is simply the wild form, though I acquired it from a garden. As a local native plant it is pretty bombproof, but left to its own devices it grows 60-75 cm tall and falls over. This year I gave it a Chelsea chop, a treatment meted out at the same time to its hybrid with H. spectabile, ‘Herbstfreude’. It’s worked a treat with both of them, I have compact domes about 30cm high which are still standing up. The most impressive thing about the plant pictured is that on almost every night for the last two months I have picked off several vine weevil adults, usually two or three, sometimes more. I’m amazed it’s still alive. It received a very generous dose of nematodes when I was treating stuff a week or so back. There are selected forms of it about, purple leaved, yellow flowered; which would probably succeed here too.

Three.
Looking at the picture, I can forgive myself for failing to notice that Clematis ‘Golden Harvest’ has evidently been flowering for a while. Supposedly a hybrid between C. serratifolia and C. tangutica, it isn’t the most flamboyant Clematis ever raised. Plenty of flowers though, and seemingly lacking the thuggish tendencies of some of the yellows, so I’m happy with what I’ve got.

Four.
Eucomis ‘Pink Gin’ has proved robust enough to leave in the ground, unlike most of the other Eucomis I have grown. That still leaves open the question of whether they would be even better if lifted and overwintered dry. They are native to summer rainfall areas in South Africa so a soggy Cornish winter isn’t really what they want. The white flowered plant is E. pole-evansii, not as big as it should be this year, not even as big as ‘Pink Gin’.

Five.
Thinking that I had probably not ever put Colocasia gaoligongensis into a six before, I took its picture and here it is. As it turns out, it appeared on the 3rd of September last year, along with Eucomis ‘Pink Gin’ and Clematis ‘Golden Harvest’. Perhaps things don’t change as much from one season to the next as we like to think. I have since obtained a couple more Colocasias but they’re still in pots and you’re probably going to have to wait another year to see them featured.

Six.
I think this must be Actaea pachypoda ‘Misty Blue’, which I grew from HPS seed back in 2019. It has nice bluish foliage earlier in the year but it went skanky quite early on. The flowers fall short of being spectacular and I will leave you to make up your own minds on the fruits. I’m thinking that eating them would be a very bad idea.

That’s it for another week. I seem to be sneaking in another plant with a header picture of Plectranthus argentatus. Nothing like setting a bad example.

We’re off to Tremenheere Sculpture Garden down near Penzance on Sunday, it’s their annual rare plant fair. We really don’t need more plants but will doubtless feel obliged to justify driving so far by buying several anyway.

Have a good week.

Published by Jim Stephens

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

53 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 2/9/2023”

  5. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Slow and Steady Does It | Rambling in the Garden

  8. That’s one large fuchsia! My neighbour has one of a similar size with dainty white flowers and a hint of pink which seems to have self-seeded near my house. It’s funny how many of the gang are lamenting the arrival of September, it really does feel as though we’ve barely had any summer and now the sun is lower, it’s dark at 8:30 and the plants are going over. Still looks like we may be in for a last hurrah this week so I am hoping to get my new raised beds in place and get shot of plants that no longer deserve a place in the garden.

    Six on Saturday | In the Pink #2

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  9. Perhaps don’t graze on the Actaea, but have you nibbled on those Fuchsia berries before? It’s so huge that it could actually provide a decent crop, so I’m curious. I’m letting a few berries on my smaller plants mature to try them out, too, though they will be overwintered even if they taste foul. Still, one that is both decorative and edible would be a huge plus.

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      1. Boo, that’s disappointing to hear. I really do wonder where these people who say fuchsias are tasty are getting their plants? Mine have been pretty underwhelming too.

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  10. The rain has certainly made everything lush and lovely at your place, Jim. I particularly like your combo of the yellow Clematis with the Fuschia growing nearby, and the basil with your F. ‘Lady Bacon.’ Lovely associations. And your Colocasia is looking wonderful, too. Can’t wait to hear what treasures you found in Penzance. I hope you’ll give us all a peek next week.

    Here are my six for the week, finally coming into bloom after a bit of late summer rain: https://woodlandgnome.wordpress.com/2023/09/02/six-on-saturday-the-time-and-the-season/

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    1. I grow most of my Eucomis in pots and those do all go under cover for a dry winter. ‘Lady Bacon’ is lovely; ‘Arauco’ is a bit smaller, with basically the same colouring but the red is brighter.

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  19. Nice images as usual! The Actaea pachypoda is native here and goes by the name “Doll’s Eyes”. Not sure if that makes the fruit more appealing, or more creepy on the blood red stems! They also go by baneberry and indeed are quite toxic. Pink Gin is lovely – I admire those who are willing to even consider lifting plants to coddle them through winter. No wonder I find myself gravitating towards native plants – sink or swim! I will catch up with the other sixes later – now I must soak the garden in advance of the heat wave.

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  20. Pingback: September 2, 2023 Six on Saturday – Gardening in the Prairie
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    1. I’m interested that you have your Colocasias in full sun. All the many plants of it at Tremenheere today were in boggy ground in shade. Have you had to water yours massively? The Actaea has two or three flowering stems, they haven’t really taken off massively since I planted them, though they are at least getting bigger, not smaller.

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      1. I planted it near the pond and it catches the overflow from the pond. It’s in the sun from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. Otherwise yes I have to water it to keep the soil moist like its neighbor the ensete maurelii

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  28. Fuchsia ‘Lady Bacon’ appears to be a huge plant, I can’t seem to get mine beyond their second year in my garden. The Eucomis ‘Pink Gin’ is a lovely plant, and the surrounding flowers have turned it into a pretty picture. Clematis ‘Golden Harvest’ caught my eye too, I like its delicate appearance.
    Here are my six for this week:

    Welcome to Autumn

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  29. I love the eucomis until I read that they’re tender, which is a no-no for me, I’m afraid.
    Tony’s comments about the actaea are spot on, it definitely seems to be looking back and WON’T but going on my wishlist!
    Thanks for hosting Jim, I look forward to seeing what you post every week even if Saturdays do come round too quickly. My six this week is here: https://mysanctuarygarden.wordpress.com/2023/09/02/six-on-saturday-02-09-2023/

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    1. I don’t know that Eucomis are exactly tender, I’ve never lost one to cold, in pots or in the ground, and that with the top of the bulb sticking above ground. My soil is very cold and wet over winter, when they’d prefer to be dry, and I think that’s my biggets problem with them in the ground.

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  30. Your plectranthus (sneaky extra) is looking fine! Definitely somethings have enjoyed the rain this year, in some plants I seem to have a lot of strong foliage at the expense of flowers. Not sure about the dolls eyes but love actaea/cimifugas and now absolutely must have one for the garden! Lovely little clematis. Do you leave your colocasia out? Here are mine https://offtheedgegardening.com/2023/09/02/six-on-saturday-happy-accident/

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    1. The Colocasia gaoligongensis has been out through two winters and didn’t much like the second one. I should have pile some leaves on it. I may keep the other two I have in pots so they can go under cover for winter.

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  34. Pingback: Six on Saturday | In the Pink #2 – Cornwall in Colours

  35. Actaea looks weird. I have not encountered it when I was a kid, but I remember that when I looked at it, it seemed to be looking back. The berries look similar to those of some types of palms. Colocasias were a fad here a few years ago. Only a few cultivars became commonly available though. Some of the more unusual sorts remained rare. They seem to be reliably perennial within some gardens, but not others. Some people grew them merely because they were a fad, but did not take care of them for long.
    These are my Six:https://tonytomeo.com/2023/09/02/six-on-saturday-you-get-what-you-pay-for/

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    1. Colocasias and their ilk fell short of becoming a fad here for lack of availability. Now there are more varieties to be had but the moment has to an extent passed. I’m not sure I have ideal conditions for them but I’ll give them a go.

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      1. Could they become a fad a bit later than elsewhere? I mean, people there might still enjoy them for a while, and may not care if they were a fad elsewhere. Now that they are not so common, I might like to grow one or more of the larger sort. I would not purchase them though, so would need to find someone who is willing to share theirs.

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      3. Exactly. Some of the big sorts were purchased because they were such a fad, but then grew too large for their situations. Now that they are not a fad, those who purchased them want them gone. I do notice postings online for some types. It is only a matter of time before I notice a posting for something that I want.

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