When it reaches this time of year and the rain doesn’t know when to stop, you have to be grateful for anything in the garden that is hanging in there and performing in some way. Never mind that it’s as common as muck or a hideous clashy colour, at least it’s not green or brown. I seriously considered whether I could get six things from inside the house, taken with my telephoto lens, so wet has it been the last couple of days.
Six on Saturday then: six things in your garden on this very day, detailed instructions should you need them being here.
One.
Begonia ‘Illumination Scarlet’. Under this lot is a big terracotta pot about 14 inches high and 18 wide. I planted several of these red weeping begonias around the front and put a couple of upright ones at the back; same colour flowers, nearly, but with darker leaves. Big mistake, looked all wrong, so when I saw some more ‘Illumination Scarlet’ reduced, half way through the season, I grabbed them and replaced the upright plants. Keep it simple. Just how many times do I need to learn a lesson before it sticks?
Two.
Fuchsia ‘Olga Storey’ is in a similar sized pot, three plants of the same variety. One of our best performers, is Olga. Really good leaf colour, large bright flowers and seemingly, and I hope I’m not tempting providence by saying this, unattractive to all the problems we get with many other varieties, like capsid, rust, gall mite and flea beetle.
Three.
Impatiens arguta ‘Alba’, in a pot, in the greenhouse. This seeds moderately about the place and when the seedlings are in the wrong place I tend to dig them up and pot them, thinking I can give them away or even sell them from our garden open sales table. Come the winter more than a few such unwanted plants get unceremoniously dumped to make greenhouse space for things we actually want.
Four.
Begonia grandis subsp. evansiana ‘Alba’. This was the first hardy Begonia I grew; a gift from a gardening friend, like many others. It asks only for reasonably evenly moist soil and a bit of shade, then gets on with it. It comes up late and flowers in September and October, so mixes well with spring things that die down early, like Erythroniums or wood anemones. It produces numerous bulbils which go everywhere, so once you have it you’re unlikely to lose it. It’s a very clean white which lights up a shady area.
Five.
Hypericum calycinum was widely planted as groundcover when I were a lad, then a strain of rust all but wiped it out. Like all the Hypericums, it flowers on new growth, so it can be cut back to ground level every winter and will shoot up again to flower in summer. This bit is well out of sync, perhaps it was cut back very late. It’s flowering, I’ll take it.
Six.
Last but not least is this Alstroemeria. It was overwintered in my tunnel last year, brought back in bud in spring. It flowered for a good while then gave up and was just sitting there doing nothing for a while, before producing a new flush of growth and flowers for October. It’s very short, around six inches, and a somewhat mucky shade of pink, I don’t know it’s name but hey, it’s flowering; it can stay.
It starts to get more difficult to find six things at this time of year but of course a lack of things to feature makes us all appreciate the posts that people do manage to construct all the more. So get imaginative and creative, it’s not about impressing people so much as entertaining them. Six British slugs, six favourite gardening books, one plant photographed at exactly 60° different angles, six different sorts of rain, six things you’re growing from seed next year; there must be something.
garden ruminations 
So many lovely blooms still! That begonia display is really gorgeous, how many plants are in there?
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Not really countable, they spread by clumping and drop hundreds of bulbils which come up the next year. Lots.
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Your Fuchsia ‘Olga Storey has a really lovely leaf colour and contrasting flowers. We can grow fushsias in a fashion here, the main issue for me is the heat and dry. We don’t get any of those bugs, probably because it is too hot and dry!
My Six are here –
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Some Fuchsias definitely have a top limit to the temperature they’ll put up with, even in our coolish climate. You may not get the bugs because they’ve never been introduced to Australia, or as you say, they may not be able to take the heat.
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Yeah, we are a long way away from everywhere!
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The Hypericum calycinum could be the solution to some ground cover problems plaguing me. I’m going to check on its viability in Alabama. I’m glad that you included it.
It is rather late in the day, but still Saturday, so here is another link: https://aftereden.blog/2023/10/14/six-on-saturday-14-october-2023/
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Sorry I’ve not been doing any posts recently. I feel I’d just be writing the same thing as I did last year (and the year before!) so I think I might take a break for a bit and return when I’m feeling a bit more enthusiastic. Best wishes and happy gardening to you all. xx
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I am getting to appreciate begonias more and more. For the last couple of years I’ve grown Begonia luxurians, which I adore, but now I’d love to add Begonia grandis subsp. evansiana ‘Alba’ to the garden as well! What a beauty. How hardy is hardy though?
Here are my six:- https://wp.me/pM8Y1-8VO
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Hardiness is a hard thing to pin down. Almost all Begonias, including B. grandis, are happier growing in shade, which in turn provides a small measure of frost protection. They die to the ground, so if the ground doesn’t freeze, they will be fine. Mine are under an oak tree and I leave the fallen leaves to add a bit more protection. The other thing about B. grandis is that as the plants die down, all the axillary buds detach themselves as little bulbils, so it’s easy to collect up some of them and plant then in a pot for the winter under protection. It also means that if you want some, I could easily send you some.
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That would be grand 😉 ! Seriously, I would love that, thanks.
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Haha, yes, lots of opportunities for sixes then, with all those options! Our rain seemed to have been concentrated into just one day, as we had 40mm yesterday, so I could certainly have posted 6 different hours of the stuff. However, like your begonias, I do have other moderately interesting things going on: https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2023/10/14/six-on-saturday-keeping-busy/
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You have so much that’s flowering! This week I traded flowers for the sheer joy of finishing a project. https://stoneyknob.wordpress.com/2023/10/14/sos-before-and-after-2/
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Well done, a fine six. I grew Begonia grandis further north and it was a favorite and usually pink. We are having similar soggy weather in South Florida. The simplicity thing is difficult to grasp when there are so many plants to grow! https://theshrubqueen.com/2023/10/14/six-on-saturday-hoomid/
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That’s the problem I usually have with keeping it simple. I have pink grandis too, five sorts at the last count, rather underlining the earlier point.
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Haha, at least you thought of a telephoto. I just leaned on reruns as I could only come up with three this week. Love the red weeping begonia! The alstromeria are lovely too. In Seattle, I used to buy them as cut flowers, they would last weeks in a vase! My subject matter is rapidly dwindling in color and form until eventually it will be a sea of white. Still need to redo the matchy-match yellow tulip bulbs so they are not lost among the yellow daffodils. I am going to plant them in clumps with the bleu aimable and hopefully this year the red tulips will truly be red! Here are my six, three recent and three a reprise.
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I managed to resist full priced tulips, will likely succumb to reduced bulbs later on. Can get pretty hit and miss on colours though.
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I am reposting my link. Previous link seems to be faulty.
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You certainly succeed in entertaining me. Goal accomplished!
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Happy October, Jim, your wet weather has brought out beautiful intensity of color in your selections this week. I like your theme of ‘keep it simple’ in planting pots. Your Begonia is a particularly stunning example. The B. grandis is a stunner, too. The species we have bloom in early to mid-summer, and would keep going but for the deer and bunnies. I did have a pot of it on the patio this summer that survived to bloom for months. It was very dry for any B. grandis planted in the ground here this year, even with regular watering, so your luxurious stand makes me very happy to see it growing so well for you. It is raining here this morning as I type, and we look forward to a wonderfully wet day followed by cooler weather. My six this week highlights some of what I’ve been planting this week: https://woodlandgnome.wordpress.com/2023/10/14/six-on-saturday-functional-ferns/
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We are still in the dry season here in Alabama. It rained 2 days ago and it is forecast to rain again next Friday. It is much cooler and refreshing so it is the lot for which we must be thankful.
The task of 6 photos requires more creativity but it is certainly possible.
Thank you so much for the wonderful post with begonias, fuchsia, impatiens and the beautiful unnamed alstroemeria.
Here is my six. https://wordpress.com/post/mensgardenvestavia.wordpress.com/1643
Carry on gardening!
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I’ve tried so many times to view your site today, but the link keeps taking me to a WordPress page, not your site. Do you mind re-loading your link ?
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We must have been very lucky – we had a few glorious days in Cornwall this week! But then the rain came in as we departed. You are convincing so many of us that begonias must be planted next year. Like you, I wonder how many times I have to do a thing before I learn the lesson. Here’s my six https://n20gardener.com/2023/10/14/six-on-saturday-its-a-beautiful-day-2/ featuring the impossible garden and my garden!
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I had impatiens arguta but not the Alba variety. Mine is more of a purple-pink colour. But it’s true that it’s very hardy. I don’t even protect it in winter anymore. You will see that I added 3 other impatiens in bloom in my Six : the ones that you kindly sent me as cuttings. Here is the link https://fredgardenerblog2.wordpress.com/2023/10/14/six-on-saturday-14-10-23/
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Oops, “I have Impatiens arguta” and not “I had…” . Still in the garden !!
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Fantastic selection, your begonias are amazing! Must try a hardy begonia, maybe in a pot to start with. Like the Alstromeria too.
My six are here………………….https://www.leadupthegardenpath.com/
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The weather has been horrid, gloomy and depressing. The sun is out today though, hope it is with you too. Lovely little alstroemeria and the begonias are a joy. Here are mine http://offtheedgegardening.com/2023/10/14/six-on-saturday-8/
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Fuchsias and Begonias add so much to the garden at this time of year. Very wet here as well so taking the advice in your last paragraph (before you even published it!) I’ve six points in the life of one houseplant this week.
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Well, you certainly have some impressive subjects (except for #5! ICK!). Is color really all that important though? Most of the color within my Six for this Saturday are within the two pictures that are not mine, and all the color is of the same cultivar within four pictures.
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Another fabulous post, and a recent video showing how well your begonias work especially against the bamboo. Fuchsia ‘Olga Storey’ went down in my book for plants to look out for! Here are my six:https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2023/10/six-on-saturday-white-and-purple-on-14.html
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Stunning Fuchsia. I had planned a post about a visit to the Katherine Mansfield House and Garden today, featuring their annual plant sale and what I may or may not have bought. However the weather has been atrocious so gave it a miss. So…no post from me today.
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I’ve recently read a Katherine Mansfield short story collection so I will keep a look out for your post on the house and garden. I hope you get to go soon!
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Begonia ‘Illumination Scarlet’ is a show and I like that yellowy-green foliage of ‘Olga Storey’ https://onemanandhisgardentrowel.wordpress.com/2023/10/14/six-on-saturday-14-october-2023/
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