Six on Saturday – 20/4/2024

Categories six on saturday35 Comments on Six on Saturday – 20/4/2024

I’m a gardener again! It’s drying out and warming up and for the last couple of days I’ve been in the garden or on my allotment pretty much all day. I have to say that after a particularly inactive winter, it’s taken its toll somewhat, I’m knackered. I’ve been planting on the allotment and in the garden, sowing lots of seeds, pruning Camellias, weeding, shredding, mulching. It’s still cold at night so there’s a certain amount of moving things in and out of glasshouses, mostly so we can get in to water. Chaos rules.

Six on Saturday then; as always I extend an invite to join in if you haven’t already. It’s easy, just do what the rest of us are doing, and if you want more of an intro, the participant’s guide is here.

One.
Camellias are conveniently malleable plants, which is an advantage in a small garden as it means they can be restricted in size by pruning, as well as being shaped to suit various purposes. C. ‘Charles Colbert’ is part of the boundary of my shady area and since I want to grow things under it, I have cleared its lower branches to make it more tree like, and I thin its canopy to let a little more light through. It’s still a bit crowded in the right hand third. There’s a Eucryphia to the right of it that needed more space too.


Two.
Under the Camellia and pretty much everywhere else in the garden are bluebells. I doubt I could get rid of them if I tried. They seem fairly harmless, provided I don’t forget the emerging young things underneath them, and they die away early. I have no hesitation in pulling them out if they threaten better plants. Most are blue but there are pinks and whites too. These look like hybrids to me; I have everything from what look like proper English bluebells to what look like proper Spanish bluebells, with a full range of intermediates. I’ve seen white bluebells among pure native stands, but quite rarely; I don’t think I’ve seen a wild pink.


Three.
Jostling for space amongst bluebells, Solomon’s seal and perennial sweet pea is Disporum bodinieri, which all too often is a prime target for slugs which eat through the stems at the base. OK, it’s interesting rather than showy, but a lot of woodland plants are like that.


Four.
I have ferns putting up new fronds all over the garden, mostly in the shady bits. I’ve taken the old fronds out on most of them, too late with some, making it difficult to do without damaging the new fronds. The alternative is to do it before the new leaves unfurl and endure seeing the emerging leaves being battered by rough weather, as well as leaving an empty space. Neither option is entirely satisfactory. I’ve gone for Athyrium nipponicum ‘Burgundy Lace’, with bluebell.


Five.
Ajuga reptans, or Bugle, is a plant which mostly gets treated as a weed but occasionally puts itself where nothing much else wants to grow and gets left. I’m then left wondering why I’m usually so hostile to it. Once it’s finished flowering though, it’s a dull plant. This one is purple leaved but only a seedling so I’m not going to flatter it with a cultivar name.


Six.
And so to number six; so soon. For the last couple of years we’ve half sunk a pot of Lilium lechtlinii in one of our borders, providing several weeks of strong yellow colour in mid summer. It’s worked really well and the bulbs have bulked up to the point that I was able to replant the main clump into a pot twice the size and still remove enough smaller bulbs to make up two more 10L potfuls. (potful’s, potsfull? WordPress says potful’s; I’m not sure)
They are months away from flowering but I brought the main pot out of the tunnel before it got too tall, wanting to get good strong stems. The foliage is beautiful, it would be worth growing even if it didn’t have flowers, but it does, and they’re stunning too.

Another show tomorrow, at RHS Rosemoor. It includes the RHS Main Rhododendron Competition and the SW Branch (of the Rhododendron, Camellia and Magnolia Group) Camellia Competition. Looks like the weather might be good enough to get a look around the gardens, which it often isn’t. Then on Sunday I’m heading off to Tregothnan garden, for a rare open day. I’ve not been there for many years. Tea will be imbibed, that much is certain.

Published by Jim Stephens

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

35 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 20/4/2024”

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  7. Good afternoon, Jim, it is delightful to hear that you are back out in the garden getting things done once again. Your pruning on the Camellia is inspiring. I should follow suit with a few of our shrubs that are definitely getting huge for their space, and crowding what I originally planted beneath them. You are an inspiration, as always. Our Japanese painted ferns are back out again this week, too, and the Ajuga. It is so interesting to see the same things growing in our gardens so widely separated. I didn’t photograph the Ajuga or the Japanese ferns this time, but instead focused on the Iris and some of our blooming shrubs and trees. 

    Here are my six for the week: https://jccwmg.org/wordpress/hedges-and-hedgerows-for-a-healthier-and-more-peaceful-life-part-i/

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  17. Sounds like you have a busy weekend, a sure sign that the gardening season is getting under way. Like you I share bluebells, here also pulled up when they get in the way. And yes I will be adding old fern frond removal to my ‘to do’ list, some already dealt with but a few more to do. Here’s my link to the last of my tulips and a those bluebells! https://n20gardener.com/2024/04/20/six-on-saturday-cold-winds-but-progress-is-being-made/

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  18. Pingback: Six On Saturday: Cold winds but progress is being made | n20gardener
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  20. I too am aching with the unexpected gardening after so long just thinking about it. I think a little and often is the answer until the muscles get used to it once more!

    Good to read your thoughts about pruning camellias, I have one that needs attention, so thank you for the ideas. Like your lovely fern with its bluebell!

    My six are here………https://www.leadupthegardenpath.com/

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  22. Good to hear that your weather is improving. It’s much the same here and it make gardening less of a chore. You treat your bluebells much the same as I treat my Forget-me-nots. They have their place until they overwhelm other emerging plants, then they go. That pink is unusual. Great pattern created with the Burgundy Lace fern – quite arty! Here’s mine for this week:

    https://notesfrommygarden.co.uk/2024/04/20/fiery/

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    1. I nearly did six pattern type pictures like the one of the fern. I had taken nine pictures that would have qualified, ten with the fern I used. I told myself that just because such things fascinate me doesn’t mean anyone else will agree. Seems I was wrong.

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  25. I’ve also been doing the glasshouse shuffle, I should think the plants are getting giddy, 3C last night and more cold nights to come sadly. Right now the sun is shining, the wind seems to have moved on and I’m just leaving to spend the day indoors 😔

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  26. You sound like you have a spring in your step, it has been a long winter and I feel just the same. I’m loving the look of your lily, beautiful. For some reason I get ajuga and lamium mixed up, a blip in my brain I think. Both good do-ers where others refuse to go. Sounds like a very horti weekend ahead, have fun and love to Malcolm if you see him. Here are mine https://offtheedgegardening.com/2024/04/20/six-on-saturday-speed/

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  27. This camellia pruning is really very successful. I’ll have to start pruning mine because it’s starting to get very tall (at over 5 m…)
    I still have a few flowers: in your opinion should I do it now or should I still wait?
    The Bugles are also in my Six this morning. Yes, it’s an insignificant carpet that gives pretty flowers that are interesting for the bees and at the same time it especially prevents weeds from growing. So I leave them somewhere. Here is my link for this week. https://fredgardenerblog2.wordpress.com/2024/04/20/six-on-saturday-20-04-24/

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    1. It doesn’t seem to matter much when you prune camellias; the later you leave it the less chance of bloom the following year but other factors like how hot the summer, how much you prune off, have as much or more influence. Sounds like we view Bugle very similarly.

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  28. Pingback: Six on Saturday | The Tulip Edition – Cornwall in Colours

  29. Goodness, I have difficulty keeping Camellia japonica down where the flowers are visible. Only a few are pruned up as small trees. Some were so overgrown that we cut them to the ground. Most regenerate from their stumps, but those that did not were no major loss, since leaving their overgrown or disfigured grown was not a practical option.

    Only yesterday, I was talking to someone about the rare but natural white and very rarely pink aberrations of Texas bluebonnet. Campanula and windflowers exhibit the same floral color range. Most flowers that bloom blue rarely produce progeny that bloom white, such as lily of the Nile and jacaranda.

    Here are my Six for this Saturday.

    https://tonytomeo.com/2024/04/20/six-on-saturday-mix-it-up/

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