Six on Saturday – 29/6/2024

Categories six on saturday49 Comments on Six on Saturday – 29/6/2024

Summertime, and the livin’ is easy. Which it is, if you’re talking about the garden and comparing it to a couple of months ago. The work has been done and now we reap the rewards. Pull a few weeds, water a few pots. Take half a dozen pictures and post them in a blog and bingo!, you have six on Saturday sorted. It’s all so simple I can’t think why anyone ever thought a participant’s guide was necessary, but they did, and it’s here.

One.
There’s no avoiding the fact that Sue’s cacti have had a stellar week. I set the phone up for a time lapse movie on both Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, then added a bit in the morning. Here’s the show from Wednesday/Thursday. I can remember when phones didn’t do time-lapse movies, that’s how old I am.

Two.
Meanwhile, back in the real garden, Watsonia is trying to make itself heard over the cacophony that is the front garden. We want our garden visitors to know they’ve come to the right place, shouting loudly seems the best way.

Three.
The passage at the side of the house is in shade for quite a lot of the day and the bench there, a wooden shelf atop six rainwater barrels, is where we put our Fuchsias in summer. Best of the bunch currently is Fuchsia arborescens, strutting its stuff in not typically Fuchsia fashion.

Four.
At the back of the house your eye is immediately taken to the flowery stuff directly ahead but if your olfactory sense is not overwhelmed by the visuals, you might register a rather pleasant aroma and clock that it’s coming from a bush just to your left. Daphne x transatlantica ‘Eternal Fragrance’ is having a moment.

I hope the picture doesn’t cause any ‘OMG I didn’t realise it got that big,’ moments for anyone. It was planted, as a 9cm liner, in 2013.

Five.
What! five already, I have enough pics left for two sixes! A few years back on a visit to Keith Wiley’s Wildside garden we saw a clump of a bright yellow lily that I figured he’d grown in a pot, then plunged it in the ground and covered the top with gravel. I found out what it was, Lilium leichtlinii, bought some bulbs and indulged in the sincerest form of flattery by imitating him. The 10L pot they started in has been succeeded by a 20L and they are back in the same place for their third year having spent the winter and spring in my tunnel. Suitably encouraged, I discovered Harts Nursery and their range of lilies, and filled me boots, as they say. The first to perform is ‘Red Velvet’. It’s pretty stunning but is very stiffly upright, meaning that the flowers from the five bulbs are in one big cluster and would look better with a bit more space. Grown in pots they perhaps each need a 3L deep pot and be planted a foot or so apart. L. leichtlinii arches outwards enough to space the flower heads. No scent, in case you’re wondering.

Six.
There was a time when I disliked hardy geraniums, followed by a period when I put up with a few because they are performers and survivors. There are now some that I really like. Perhaps all that has changed is that I’ve discovered some that appeal to me because in thugs like G. oxonianum there are undoubtedly some I still strongly dislike. Where this is leading is that I’m giving the number six slot to Geranium pratense ‘Album’, a white form of meadow cranesbill. I got the seed of this from some plants growing on a roadside verge near Jamaica Inn, at Bolventor in the middle of Bodmin Moor. I suspect they are accidental or deliberate garden escapes though it presumably originated as an albino form in a wild population. I have G. sanguineum ‘Album’ too and both have really clear pure white flowers that are very attractive. They also have the toughness of their native plant parentage.

I’ll shamelessly use one of the other pics for the header but not tell you it’s a poppy, that should get me off that hook.

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Published by Jim Stephens

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

49 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 29/6/2024”

  3. The watsonia is fabulous – what a great attention seeker! The white Geranium is also very pretty and I would love more geraniums that don’t try and take over the whole bed. The Fuchsia is beautiful. I wish our clinate was a little less extreme so I could grow them.

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  7. Six stunners this week, I couldn’t possibly pick a favourite. I can remember when phones were just for calling people and didn’t have cameras, so how old does that make me?! 🙂

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  15. No idea why my comment did not stay with my link, but wordpress seems increasingly unstable for me of late. I wanted to express my delight watching the time lapse video of the cacti! Spectacular! I saw some nice native geraniums like yours along the river that I have pictured in my six. They are nice flowers. Some of the more aggressive ones get used in municipal planters where they fill in nicely but are bounded by concrete. It works. Have a great weekend everyone!

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  16. The time lapse video of the cacti is spectacular! Just wow! I took a picture of a similar whit native geranium near the river. I like them but could see where too much of a good thing can be a pain. I start to think about whether I should remove at least some seed heads, but then worry about birds who might be counting on that. I used to remove all poppy seeds from my P somniferum at my old allotment and sprinkle seeds where I wanted them so they would not be everywhere. They were a great blackfly trap – you would never see the stupid blackflies, they would be under the leaves. The flowers bloomed beautifully and the bugs left my nasturtiums alone. Here are my six:

    https://wisconsingarden.wordpress.com/2024/06/29/june-29-2024-six-on-saturday/

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  20. I completely agree with you on hardy geraniums, I have ‘Wargrave Pink’ a complete thug but it has its uses. The pratense and sanguineum are much more interesting. But of course the cacti have stolen the show. Kudos to you for your gardening expertise and phone/camera technology knowledge. Wonderful.

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  21. Pingback: Six On Saturday: Midsummer madness | n20gardener

  23. Catherine says it best. You have set a new standard for the rest of us with your clever video, Jim. My compliments to Sue for her stunning cactus collection. Your six (7) are inspired this week overall. We don’t have the F. arborescens here in our area, but I wish we did after seeing yours. And the lilies have such a stunning color. Of the many hardy geraniums Ive planted over the years, one survives right beside the pavement of the drive, looking so beautiful each time it blooms. Your Geranium photo inspires me to search out a few white ones because the little flowers shine so perfectly in white. Thank you for a very entertaining SoS this week, Jim. Here are mine for the week: https://woodlandgnome.wordpress.com/2024/06/29/six-on-saturday-a-green-haven/

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  24. That lily is wonderful. I think pots and a plunge is the best way to grow them as well and help them escape the worst of the lily beetle. What a varied selection you have this week and I marvel at how you manage to grow so many interesting plants.

    I’m hoping to pick your brains here. It has been suggested that I should perhaps open for the NGS (although my garden hasn’t been assessed yet). However, I dread the thought of doing ‘teas’. Is there anything else I should be aware of before taking the plunge and applying?

    https://www.hortusbaileyana.co.uk/2024/06/a-great-success.html

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    1. There is no compulsion to provide teas, or sell plants or do anything other than open your garden, which needs to provide at least 45 minutes of interest and be safe for visitors, ideally having some provision for parking nearby too. Please pick my brains too, and as all gardens are different

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      1. Thankyou for your reply Cathy. We would keep any visitor occupied for 45 mins, so that should be OK. It’s reassuring about the teas, as it just seems to be more than I could manage.

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      2. It’s worth considering though, as over 50% of our proceeds came from refreshments and plant sales. We have friends to help us, one on the gate, one monitoring parking, one on plants and two in the kitchen. I have visited some gardens where refreshments are provided by, for example, a WI or village hall committee, sometimes off site, as it is still a fundraising oppertunity even if not for the NGS. How many visitors you are realistically likely to get would obviously make an impact on any plans, but generally of course you have no idea of this although it is unlikely to be anything like the 800 you had for your village openings and will depend to a large degree on your catchment area as well as your garden.
        If you wanted to be in with a chance of opening for the NGS next year you would need to contact your County Organisers soon, as we need to submit details for next year’s openings by mid September or so

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      3. I’m not sure where this message will end up – but it’s intended as a reply to your second post!

        I was thinking maybe closer to 80 visitors rather than 800 (if it goes well). Thanks for taking the time to answer. I’ve found it really useful to hear from people who’ve been there and got the T-shirt 🙂

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      4. You are very welcome, and do contact me if you want to pick my brains further. 80 visitors would be a reasonably manageable number – our average is 40-50, but February last year we had 146!!

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    2. We sidestepped the teas problem by opening jointly with another garden nearby that is much larger and has a tea shed and seating area and an owner with a history in the hospitality/catering field. I think for me the other thing that I would say is that we started opening thinking that we would carry on much as before and let people in to see it periodically, but inevitably we have felt the pressure to put on the best show we can for when the garden is open, probably to some extent to the detriment of how it looks at other times. It no longer feels like we do it just for own pleasure and satisfaction, we’re to a degree doing it for other people. You could see that as a good thing or a bad thing, perhaps both, but it’s very much there.

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      1. That’s food for thought Jim, particularly about whether you change how you garden when it has an audience. Our village open gardens is only every other year, and it does make me cut back overhanging branches and generally make the paths more passible which is a good thing, but I could see that I might try to make the garden perform more for times when we are open, which might change it’s character.

        Plenty to think about.

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  27. You’ve taken huge strides ahead of most of us this morning with your time lapse of the cacti. I’ve watched it a couple of times and I’ll probably be back for another showing or two before the day is out. I’ve never been tempted by Fuchsia arborescens but your photo is one of the best I’ve come across. It’s probably not hardy enough for here and I wouldn’t be able to overwinter it. Pity. Mine for this week:

    https://notesfrommygarden.co.uk/2024/06/29/what-a-difference-a-week-makes/

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    1. Fuchsia arborescens seems to survive outside here now, though it gets killed to the ground by the first frosts. It takes it a very long time to get back up tall enough to flower though, much like F. boliviana, which often doesn’t make it to flowering before getting clobbered by the next winter.

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    1. Our visitors didn’t get the best of the cacti but there were some flowers still left and much admired. I showed the video to a few people but it did feel a bit like I was pointing out what they’d missed by two days, which seemed mean.

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  29. A great selection and I enjoyed the time-lapse cacti. My white Daphne x transatlantica ‘Eternal Fragrance’ got big fast – I have to prune it every year these days to keep it smaller which is always a bit worrying as the books say they don’t like a heavy pruning and the thing is usually in flower. It seems to do okay though https://onemanandhisgardentrowel.wordpress.com/2024/06/29/six-on-saturday-29-june-2024/

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    1. Fuchsia arborescens has now joined a short but select list of Fuchsias that never used to survive winters outside but now seem to. It gets killed to the ground but comes back to three or four feet, flowering very late. They make so much growth in one season that overwintering them under cover is tricky.

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  31. The time lapse is mesmerising, fabulous. I just knew you would be in control, I am not! Love the fuchsia and the white geranium is lovely, I’ve just got a piece of white himalayense which I’m hoping will take (a client clearing a border). No sign of my watsonia flowering, yours look magnificent. Also love the poppy that isn’t there. Here are mine https://offtheedgegardening.com/2024/06/29/six-on-saturday-strength-in-numbers/

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      1. Oh yes! It is abundant at the old City Hall in Santa Cruz! I WANT IT! Everyone I knew who worked for Parks Maintenance (which includes such landscapes) is retired, though. I could ask any random gardener I see out there. There is so much that no one would mind sharing. We may have a white Watsonia here, but we will not know until it blooms, and it may be shorter. Most of the Watsonias here came from Tangly Cottage Gardening, so were not planned. I enjoy all of them.

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  33. Lots of interesting things again this morning! Already this amazing Time Lapse of the cacti: the result is truly magnificent.
    I’m also interested in the Watsonias: do they grow outside all year round and resist our winters? I sowed some and they are slowly growing so maybe I’ll have to plant them in the garden? Finally, congratulations for the fuchsia arboresens: it’s very flowery. https://fredgardenerblog2.wordpress.com/2024/06/29/six-on-saturday-29-06-24/

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    1. I would say that Watsonia is fairly safe outside here now, though it wouldn’t have been in the past. I have a young one near to the big one in the photo and I thought I’d lost it last winter but it’s now back and flowering. The foliage gets damaged and looks pretty terrible and the dead leaves don’t pull away easily. They will protect the crown of the plant though.

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