I’ve spent another week almost entirely in the garden or on my allotment. What do I have to show for it? Not as much as I’d like but I do have the sense that it’s moving in the right direction. It needs to, our first garden opening is in three weeks time and I reckon everything needs to be in place a couple of weeks before so that it doesn’t look like we just shoved it in the day before.
One thing I find hard about opening the garden is that instead of being able to really enjoy some of the things that are flowering now I’m wishing that they’d held on for another few weeks and I’m thinking about the gaps they’ll leave when they finish. We’ve always relied quite heavily on self sown biennials to provide colour in June and that comes with a sizeable random element in terms of what comes up where, when it flowers and how much there is of it. None of that matters until you introduce paying customers on a specific date. They could get lucky and see it at or near its peak; or not. Then we open again just two weeks later, so no real opportunity to get rid of the finished biennials and replace them with anything else, let alone leave them to set seed for next year. Maybe we didn’t plan the dates as cleverly as we thought.
That’s the nature of a garden though, there should be things that make you wish you’d come a week or two earlier or later. A garden that is uniformly fabulous on the day it opens would probably have been dull a couple of weeks earlier and will be all over in a couple of weeks time. That’s not the garden I want and it’s not the garden I want to see.
Besides, Six on Saturday is not seasonal, it goes on all year and very much incentivises the notion of having something going on year round. This is the easiest time to do it, so if you’re tempted to come aboard, now is a very good time to do so, at least in the northern hemisphere. Check out the participants guide and lets have a look at what you are up to on your patch of Mother Earth.
One.
Another quick peek in Sue’s glasshouse for openers I think. Most of these do have labels but finding them is a prickly business so I’ve not bothered.
Two.
The finest specimen of self sown biennial that is currently gracing the garden, and which will be all but finished in three weeks time, but left to set seed, is this white foxglove. I have grown foxgloves from seed sown in pots, grown on in pots then planted out. They’re never as good as the ones that do it all by themselves.
Three.
Clematis montana ‘Marjorie’ has followed on from ‘Warwickshire Rose’ which I featured three weeks ago and which is next to it on the same stretch of fence. This has double flowers and from a distance something of a washed out colour. Close to I think it’s rather pretty.
Four.
I bought a single pot of Camassia ‘Maybelle’ from a lady who came to speak to the Cornwall Hardy Plant Society. I wanted to see how it compared to the unnamed form I already have. It is in a different league; much deeper colour, stands upright, several weeks later flowering. I will order more, as dormant bulbs, later in the year. That’s a red leaved Berberis thunbergii behind it.
Five.
Fern of the week is a repeat of one I included just a couple of weeks ago. It was looking good then, but with the benefit of hindsight I see that I should have waited a little longer. Dryopteris eryhthrosora ‘Brilliant’.
Six.
Shamelessly, I am going to finish with not one, but six more pictures, all views of how it’s all progressing. There are at least a few more directions in which I can point a camera without including too much chaos.
See you next week.
garden ruminations 
I am definitely with you on the open garden dilemma Jim – and we have a group visit before our first proper opening too, which means being ‘ready’ even earlier than usual – generally visitors seem to appreciate that there are things outside our control in the garden though. You have reminded me how pretty C Marjorie is – one I used to have but lost… And what a glorious foxglove that is – so fulsome! Thanks for hosting. my six are here; https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2024/05/25/six-shining-stars-on-saturday/
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Plants that self-seed seem to be far stronger. 🙂
Your garden looks amazing Jim. And Sue’s flowering cacti are amazing.
I didn’t think I’d manage to post my Six this week …phew. Just made it
https://pigletinportugal.com/2024/05/25/sos-growing-fruit-and-vegetables-in-containers-in-may/
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When you see how the first root from almost any seed shoots off downwards, getting into reliably moist soil and anchoring the plant firmly, then compare that with what happens in a seed tray, I suppose it’s hardly surprising the self sowers do better. Just the small matter of surviving the slug onslaught in the open garden.
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Sue’s cacti flowers are stunning. As is that foxglove. I have sown some from seed and they are just about to come into flower including a few white ones, but not as magnificent as yours! I hope they self-seed if that is the result. I also have a Clematis Marjorie, but during one of last year’s storms it was blown right over my fence into the farmyard where it is probably flowering. I am thinking of cutting it down to the ground to see if it will resprout. Nothing to lose.
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That foxglove is just stunning. Happy to report no bears this week:
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No bears would work for me too.
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Very nice pictures and flowers!
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Looking great for the opening. Wow on the foxglove. That’s all I can say. https://theshrubqueen.com/2024/05/25/six-on-saturday-treats-in-the-trees/
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The foxglove is stupendous, as well as the clematis! I’m betting you’ll have plenty to show at your open garden. But I’m sure I would be feeling the same.
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The clematis and foxglove are striking. Your garden is definitely making wonderful progress. I really like the stepped back views. I do also have a liking of the autumn fern Dryopteris erythrosora.
Here are my six for this week
.https://mensgardenvestavia.wordpress.com/2024/05/24/memorial-day-weekend/
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The Fern and Foxglove – if someone’s not already thought of it, it would be a perfect name for a pub. Your specimens certainly look perfect! Will foxglove seeds be ready for your second garden opening, do you think? Might raise a few quid (pence? bob? What would you call it these days in England?) there.
It’s been a great spring week over here as well…
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Ahh, the foxglove! In Seattle I would see it growing sometimes the flower spikes were 3 meters tall! took me a minute to realize what they were, as I had never seen them so tall! Love them, also the fern is gorgeous. The blue camassia looks great in front of the red Berberis. Color! I begin to see some in my garden as well!
https://wisconsingarden.wordpress.com/2024/05/25/may-24-2024-six-on-saturday/
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Once again I am in tune with your sentiments. The cacti look wonderful and will surely be a star attraction. The rest of the garden is looking fab too – your visitors will be impressed with what can be done in a domestic back garden (thinking of those Chelsea show gardens here!) It’s a glorious fern but I am in love with the white foxglove! A gold medal winner! Here’s my link – still moaning about slugs, hope that doesn’t put readers off! https://n20gardener.com/2024/05/25/six-on-saturday-trials-and-tribulations/
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Right! So distracted by the foxglove that I forgot to mention the cacti wearing their silly hats! Love them too!
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The garden’s looking good for your opening weekends, fingers crossed for lots of visitors.
My six this week is here: https://mysanctuarygarden.wordpress.com/2024/05/25/six-on-saturday-25-05-24/
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We keep our fingers crossed for reasonable numbers of visitors but fear too many as much as too few. There are just no open spaces to absorb significant numbers.
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all that work is paying off, Jim… your garden is looking splendid!
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Thank you!
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Your fern is definitely the star for this week with me! Your garden is looking very good and I’m sure your flowers will perform as hoped when you open.
My six are here…………………..https://www.leadupthegardenpath.com/
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I forgot I’d been doing a fern every week for a while but had taken the Dryopteris picture just because it was looking so good. Hence the repetition after just a couple of weeks.
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You garden is stunning!
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Thank you! Hopefully it will get better still in the next few weeks.
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My fingers are crossed for excellent days when your garden is open to visitors.
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Such a stunning foxglove! I am loving the SoS posts today as we sit with the heat pump on and very little to show in the garden.
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All your hard work in the garden is paying off. your ‘Brilliant’ fern is living up to its name. Clematis montana ‘Marjorie’ might look washed out from a distance, but the flowers are unusual and I think they’re rather lovely. I appreciate seeing your final six, your planting is superb.
My Six for this week:
https://notesfrommygarden.co.uk/2024/05/25/chelsea-week/
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These cacti are really great! What colours!
The double flowers of this clematis are surprising because we almost only see single ones and they are original. A later flowering? https://fredgardenerblog2.wordpress.com/2024/05/25/six-on-saturday-25-05-24/ .
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Cacti have a colour quality that’s all their own. Really vivid colours combined with diaphanous petals perhaps? The double clematis montana is at least three weeks later than the other two forms I have.
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Wow, that foxglove is WHITE! Did you get one as white to bloom last year? When I deadheaded ours last year, I tossed the debris down a nearby embankment that was cleared about two years ago. I am impressed by what grew without irrigation. Some bloomed readily, which is good, since I doubt that they would bloom after their first summer. I suppose that I will find out. The straight species of that Camassia is native north and east of here, but I have never seen it in the wild. It is popular in home gardens in the Pacific Northwest though. Here are my six:
https://tonytomeo.com/2024/05/25/six-on-saturday-mostly-flowers/
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I don’t think I had many, perhaps any, white foxgloves last year but quite a few the year before, which probably makes sense for biennials.
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Its all looking splendid. Those flowering cacti of Sue’s are a riot of colour and the fern is certainly is certainly living up to its name. You’re right about self-sown Foxgloves – those that have just done their thing usually look far better than those I’ve started off in pots https://onemanandhisgardentrowel.wordpress.com/2024/05/25/six-on-saturday-25-may-2024/
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The lady next to me on my allotment is growing foxgloves for cut flower and they are superb in size, quality and colour range, though not what they were supposed to be, she tells me. I must ask her about her methods, I should have been paying attention. I wonder if she’s going to collect seed.
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https://www.hortusbaileyana.co.uk/2024/05/the-return.html
It’s been a while, but my gardening enthusiasm has returned and so to my first SOS since late last Summer.
We too have an open garden coming up and I was nodding along with your post. What will be out for them to see? I’m not sure.
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Why do we do this opening thing? It’s stress I really don’t need. And welcome back.
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Dryopteris eryhthrosora ‘Brilliant’ what a beauty, who needs flowers when there is a fern like that. I agree with you about self seeded biannuals. I ought to make sure to gather seed from some foxgloves somewhere and spread them around to take their chances. Here is my link:https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2024/05/may-in-garden-six-things-for-six-on.html
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I’m planning on spreading the seed of that white one all over the garden, I think I can sort whites from purples as young plants and as much as I like purples, the whites are somehow classier.
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It would be lovely if you are able to spare a few seeds of those superb white foxgloves when they are ready.
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