October already, how did that happen? I just looked back at my post for this time last year, I had Aster and Golden Rod still flowering; they’re finished this year. I had just cleared away tomatoes; this year it was a fortnight earlier. The weather is lovely, the garden is looking in good shape, we got back from Scilly in one piece on Wednesday. No huge changes were evident, for better or worse, so I feel I’m picking up where I left off.
A recap on procedure for new contributors; it’s very simple, I post six things that are happening in my garden today. You do the same, in a blog or social media post of your choosing; then you comment on my post and include a link to your own. More details are here if you need them.
One.
The Camellia season is back in my garden. Camellia sasanqua ‘Navajo’ has several blooms on it, which seems early to me but without checking back through previous years pictures I’m not sure. It always seems early.
Two.
Impatiens stenantha is looking as good as it has all summer. I put it into a June six and after that hot month it languished somewhat. It’s far happier now that it’s a bit cooler and moisture has been plentiful. I have been picking vine weevils off it every time I’ve been out at night for the last two or three months; I’m amazed it’s still alive, though it’s over the winter months that the larvae do their worst damage. It’s had nematode treatment and I’ve picked off dozens of adults, hopefully it’s safe now.
Three.
My later flowering form of Amaryllis belladonna is now out, not that they have done very well this year, with far fewer flowers than in some seasons. The sad fact is that we saw so many of them, this same form, on the Scillies that we’ve really had our fill for this year. I think we only saw one small field of them, the rest were naturalised pretty randomly on the four islands we visited.
Four.
Fuchsia magellanica has a number of wild variants and if this is one, I don’t know which. As it does every year, it really comes into its own late in the year and carries on until frost or severe weather trashes it. When I took the picture I noticed a critter that wasn’t familiar; not as far as I could tell collecting nectar, eating leaves or doing anything beyond being there.
Five.
June’s Aster. I still don’t know what this really is and probably never will, given how many varieties there are. It came from a lady called June. It’s a flopper and I never remember to support it so it sprawls about, through the contrasting foliage of Begonia ‘Torsa’ this year.
Six.
Campanula poscharskyana has already had a massive flowering earlier in the year and I don’t recall it doing quite so good an encore as it is this year. This clump is around the base of my Melaleuca squarrosa and you can see lots of new shoots coming from the ground on that, the top having been badly damaged but not killed by cold last winter.
Another week done and dusted. It’s all going along smoothly enough at the moment but there’s always that near certainty that at some point it’ll all hit the buffers. Frost, storm, persistent rain; something will spoil the party. For now though, I have plenty to enjoy in my garden and I’m looking forward to seeing what you all have in yours.
garden ruminations 
All the hardy fuchsias popping up on people’s lists have got me itching to order some now. That is such an different-looking impatiens — don’t think I’ve ever encountered one the type before but I’m fascinated.
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Impatiens is a varied group of plants with a handful that are hardy here, though only just. The trouble is that it seems to be a small step from being hardy to being invasive.
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Yes, how did this happen…October already! All your entries are beautiful…especially the Camellia at the start. I wish I could grow them here, but my winters are just a bit too cold. Lovely post.
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Too cold even for William Ackerman’s cold hardy hybrids? is my first thought but then I have no idea where you in fact are.
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Love your June’s Aster, I also called the plant form the person I obtained it from if it doesn’t have a name! Your fuchsias are exquisite!
My Six are here –
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June’s Aster may be a flopper but she’s lovely as is ‘Navajo’. I also took my tomatoes out this week. Not sure I want to meet one of those critters!
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Wonderful light again. I love the fuchsias and may learn how to spell it someday. Blue asters are almost a requirement for fall, another favorite. Thank you for hosting. https://wp.me/p3VbFx-4zl
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Seem to have dropped into the moderation hole, perhaps because of a link I put in my comment, so I’ll just post my six again here:
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Your Fuchsia magellanica is lovely! I do love Fuchsias and wish more of them tolerated the climate here.
I think the critter might be a female ichneumonid wasp with looooooong oviposter. https://www.naturespot.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/british-ichneumonid-wasps-id-guide.pdf
My six this week include a few fairly rare plants and one that almost everyone grows at one time or another (for good reason).
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Thanks for the ichneumonid link. I wish I’d managed to get a clearer picture of it, I very rarely see them in the garden.
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I have to agree about the presence of asters at this time of year, but there are still aspects I am reluctant to tolerate and if I get more than Harlow Carr I would need to choose wisely and find a spot where the bloomless greenery would be disguised earlier in the year! It must be lovely welcoming camellias into your garden, knowing you will now have a succession of them. Thanks for hosting Jim.
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Lovely Six as usual! I love the delicate pinks and the vibrant red. My garden will be done very soon with frost in the forecast. The kale will hold on a bit longer, but last week I harvested the mystery squash delicata hybrid and chopped down the plant. My aster is so tiny, but I suspect it will be a flopper too next year. Have you tried the Chelsea chop on them? My six show that the inexorable march towards winter has begun.
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Camellia susanqua that I have is not yet blooming. I expect it soon since it is well budded. I purchased some asters this week from the local nursery. Hope to show them next time. There is still so much to see in the garden since first frost is still at least a month away.
Here are my six. Happy gardening!
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In my six I made mention of glorious clouds of Amistad, which I don’t have. But your header photo seems to be exactly that. How wonderful they are. I once again have camellia envy. Lovely to enjoy your garden. Here’s my link https://n20gardener.com/2023/10/07/six-on-saturday-its-a-beautiful-day/
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It’s great that you enjoy your garden so much.
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A gorgeous collection here, Jim. That camelia is simply stunning!
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That camelia beautifully caught with the light shining through its petals is sensational. Here are my six this week: https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2023/10/six-on-saturday-7-october-2023.html
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Hi Jim, I still have five tomatoes just waiting to ripen and a few more cucumbers, but it’s soon over in the greenhouse. You will see that I also highlight a fuchsia this week and they are magnificent this year. I hope they will last a long time. Your weird bug that is on the fuchsia flowers is a variety of ichneumon. https://fredgardenerblog2.wordpress.com/2023/10/07/six-on-saturday-07-10-23/
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Your Camellia ‘Navaho’ must be very welcome in your garden at this time of the year. Love the strong backlighting on the flower. I always admire your fuchsias, but as for the strange critter, it’s not one I’m familiar with either. I’m sure Google will have the answer though! The asters look perfect flopping through the begonia leaves, they look as though they’re made for each other.
Here’s mine for this week, and final Six for 2023.
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That Camellia is a a beauty and it’s good to read/see that the Melaleuca squarrosa is putting on new growth. That is an unusual looking insect – possibly a wasp of some sort? https://onemanandhisgardentrowel.wordpress.com/2023/10/07/six-on-saturday-7-october-2023/
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Sweetgumandpines set me on the right track to identify the insect, an ichtneumon wasp of some flavour. I very much want to get the Melaleuca through this winter intact; at least I now have a better idea of what it will take and when I need to protect it, and the new growth is at least small enough to put something over it.
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Glad you enjoyed the Scilly Isles, somewhere I am longing to go but never find the time! We are in for a good weekend weatherwise so it’s time for a good clean up. Here are my six https://davidsgardendiary.com/2023/10/07/six-on-saturday-102/
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Lovely to see your camellia, does it now flower all winter? Lovely Fuchsia magellanica, I have one by the back door and it grows through the Chaenomeles that flowers nearly all winter, they live well together. I like your michaelmas daisy, can’t beat them at this time of year.
~My six are here…………………https://www.leadupthegardenpath.com
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The Camellia will be finished by Christmas but I’ll have Camellias of some sort in flower until about May next year.
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Thanks for hosting, Jim. Navajo is beautiful, I look forward to seeing more of your camellias. I really must buy some asters, I keep seeing them and realising I’m missing out.
The first of my six this week is inspired by you!
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I think it could be a good year for Camellias, there are lots of buds. ‘Navajo’ is well ahead of any others I have though.
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Lots to admire in your garden, lovely aster. Every year, whatever garden I might be in, I promise to stake more, it never happens. Your amaryllis is beautiful. Here are mine, or someone’s anyway https://offtheedgegardening.com/2023/10/07/six-on-saturday-keep-it-in-the-family/
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I am missing the camellias we had at our last house, but not missing the 89 steps up to the house! Love the Fuchsia magellanica. We are still settling in at the new place so here is a quick six https://thistlesandkiwis.org/2023/10/07/six-on-saturday-07-10-23/
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89 steps is some serious regular exercise, I wouldn’t miss that either.
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Navajo! I remember that one from last year, and because I grew it in the late 1990s. Did you happen to notice my picture of a white Amaryllis belladonna in a Six on Saturday a few weeks ago? It already made four or five copies. I doubt that the seed would be true to type if it ever makes any. I separated it from the rest. I know that white is available, but I resent paying for it. Anyway, here are my Six.
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I did see the white Amaryllis, and very lovely it is too. I have seen it offered but have so far resisted. On the Scillies I saw a very pale pink Crinum which would be hard to resist if I saw it offered. Amaryllis were everywhere but only the form I put in the blog. They may have others that flower earlier or later but there wasn’t much sign of it and they hardly seem to be growing them as a crop at all any more. They did have the first of this season’s Narcissus in flower, Tazetta hybrids I think.
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Is that the first, . . . or the last? Does their year begin around the first of the year, with their annual bloom after winter?
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Growing the earliest daffodils/narcissus in the UK has been one of their minor industries for many years, with several varieties they have developed, presumably pushing the flowering date forward as much as possible. There were rows of Narcissus in some of the fields with foliage a foot high and flower buds showing colour. So first, which is pretty extraordinary given it’s only October. I wonder if they treat any of the bulbs in some way to break whatever dormancy they have. People cold store bulbs to delay flowering in spring, for flower shows and the like, I wouldn’t have thought there was any way it would be economic to do that for flowers now, even if it were possible.
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They are more variable now that they have ever been. Early or late is nice, but completely out of season can be a bit much. Some bloom for winter here, but I prefer them to bloom at the end of winter because that is when I expect them to do so. After all, they are early spring flowers. Did I describe my (supposedly) saffron crocus that bloomed for spring? It was nice, but . . . weird.
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