Six on Saturday – 20/7/2024

Categories six on saturday39 Comments on Six on Saturday – 20/7/2024

We have just had a lovely sunny day with the garden open and it has now clouded over, is drizzling and the forecast for tomorrow, when we are also open, is for rain all day.
On a much more positive note, at the beginning of the week we were getting very worried about opening because the last remaining chick of our rooftop gulls had found its flightless way to the ground and the parents were dive bombing anyone who stepped outside anywhere near. On Wednesday morning I happened to look out of the window to see it spread its wings, do a six foot wing assisted jump, touch down to give itself another push and away it went. It hasn’t been back; for some reason it perhaps thought it wasn’t welcome here. It’s SOOO quiet!

Right then, down to the business of Six on Saturday. Six things from the garden on a Saturday, pictures to a blog or social media platform, link in my comments down below. Simple, so you’ll not be needing the Participant’s Guide, but I’ll mention it anyway. Onward.

One.
We bought and grew a plant of Lophospermum ‘Red Wine’ in 2022 but lost it in the winter. In 2023 neither the nursery we’d bought it from nor anybody else seemed to have it so I ordered seed of Maurandya ‘Magic Dragon’, which appeared to be the same thing. It may be but what came up was not ‘Magic Dragon’ but a white flowered version which is nice enough but needs a background to display well, not our open obelisk where you see it against the sky. It isn’t especially free flowering either. I bought seed of Maurandya barclayana as well, but that’s one for another day.

Two.
Talking of growing things from seed, this Fuchsia was grown from seed obtained by the time honoured method of pinching a couple of fruits from a plant in a National Trust Garden. I seem to recall that the plant was labelled Fuchsia paniculata but neither of the two seedlings I raised look much like that species, though it could well be one parent. The flowers are tiny but numerous and set against dark foliage and stems. I must track down the photos I took on the visit, see if I took pictures of the parent plant.

Three.
Lily of the week is Lilium ‘Robina’, which is really very similar to ‘Largo’, which I put in last week. So similar in fact that I’m puzzled about why I bought two that are so similar. It’s not like I lacked choice. It’s a monster, I put five bulbs into a 20L pot and it’s only just big enough. I have incidentally removed all the anthers having taken pictures of the flowers first.

Four.
Sue was not prepared to leave what was left of our Hosta display for visitors to see. I removed them to a shady corner and replaced them with a display of Begonias. Some of these will probably go back under cover tomorrow if the wind that is forecast materialises. Back row are ‘Sophie Louise’, ‘Gryphon’, palmata ‘Tie Dye’, emeiensis; front row U614, U614 seedling, ‘Curly Fire Flush’, U614 seedling. (The ‘U’ prefix denotes it as an unidentified species)

Five.
Allium senescens has proved to be a good doer, is looking very good and attracting plenty of bees.

Six.
This only scrapes into being something from the garden because it’s in the greenhouse and the greenhouse is in the garden. The Gesneriaceae are an intriguing and mostly beautiful family of plants, another rabbit hole I would do well to stay out of, except that it’s already too late. Why is it that I am attracted to all these shade loving plants, ferns, Begonias, Gesneriaceae; when Sue is drawn to the sun loving cacti and succulents? Oh, I suppose you want a name; Kohleria ‘Sunshine’.

I shall be surprised if we get any visitors today, but who knows? It’ll be four hours of sitting around waiting. Reading other posts will be a part of it.

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Published by Jim Stephens

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

39 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 20/7/2024”

  3. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Flowering Plants in Pots in July – Piglet in Portugal

  4. I am not a flowering begonia fan either, but those foliage varieties make a great display – perhaps I shoyuld add few to the Coop and bring them inside over the winter. I am going to check out Kohleria AND those pretty allium, which look like good doers. Oh, and another gorgeous lily – you do have some lovely plants Jim! Sorry you have had a ‘wasted’ day today, but it is their loss of course! Thanks for hosting. My six are here: https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2024/07/20/six-on-saturday-striking/

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    1. With a few years experience under my belt I would go for B. koelzii as a begonia to leave in the garden with just a covering of leaves for winter protection and for over wintering in a minimally heated greenhouse perhaps B. palmata ‘Tie Dye’, ‘Garden Angel Blush’, ‘Connie Boswell’, U614 or B. luxurians. The second list could be much longer.

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      1. OOh thanks, Jim – I may ask you for a longer second list, as that is what I would be thinking of. Outside ones would just be lost in the summer amongst everything else. heat the Coop to about 5 degrees – would that be OK for the ones you mention?

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  5. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Striking | Rambling in the Garden

  8. I think the cake is good recompense for sitting around wondering if anyone will show up on a rainy day! I do love your Begonias, more so this year perhaps since I have one of my own going strong (just a store bought gift from a friend last year – but it overwintered indoors and is really pretty right now, on my shady back porch). Makes up for the hosta a wandering deer snacked on the other night… I don’t know the name of my purple lilies…

    6 on Saturday – 20JUL2024

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    1. We shut up shop early, left a note on the front door and went over to the other garden, arriving moments after a couple of people had turned up, in the rain, to visit the place. We had cake, they had cake. They were still there when we left and they didn’t subsequently turn up here.
      The other garden owners were surprised when we said we left our glasshouse doors open and weren’t troubled by foxes. We’ve never seen one or any sign of them, they get them all the time, just a mile away but surrounded by fields rather than the houses and gardens all around us. They get deer, rabbits, squirrels, rats; we get none of them, I’m pleased to say. There are compensations to urban living.

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      1. You’re very fortunate! These days, foxes abound in downtown Toronto (our largest city) – as do raccoons, rats, squirrels…and even coyotes and deer make their way thru our wooded ravine system to heavily populated urban areas.

        I’ve seen more raccoons and foxes there than here in the country! Then again, there’s obviously a lot more natural habitat for them to live in here…

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    1. Some of Sue’s friends came round to see the garden, so off the books as it were, but at least someone saw it. Your Fuchsia sounds intriguing but I’m guessing you don’t have ‘before’ pictures.

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      1. Better to see friends sometimes? I do have pictures. This is/was a Gartenmeister, I thought a rooted cutting. Fuchsias don’t take the summer heat here and I waited a little too long to bring it inside, cut it back almost to the ground and am puzzling over it.

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  10. Well the rain has stopped here so hopefully it will pass you by too and you will have visitors this afternoon. The number of begonias you have fascinates me, I have never been a begonia fan, but your display is lovely. Do the S&S not bother with them then? Without looking it up I imagine that Streptocarpus and Achimes are part of the Gesneriaceae family. What you have certainly reminds me of plants I grew in South Africa, along with African Violets! Very ’70s!

    I’m glad (and I am sure you are) the gulls have gone. I had a week where they were on my roof which is unusual, and the noise nearly drove me mad! Bad enough in the distance, but right next to where you sleep is a nightmare.

    https://cornwallincolours.blog/2024/07/20/six-on-saturday-here-comes-the-sun-2/

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    1. It hasn’t stopped raining here yet and it’s after 4pm. No one has braved it yet. Our partner garden, that does the catering, has cake left over which we have been invited to help them out with. Slugs are much less interested in Begonias than Hostas, not immune but pretty good. You’re right about Streptocarpus and Achimenes, neither of which I have, but I do have Titanotrichum, Seemania, Sinningia and Briggsia, so there’s a small red flag flying for obsession alert.

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  13. Great pictures! The Kohleria ‘Sunshine is unusual. I like the begonias better than any hosta I have ever seen. Hostas are very popular here in the midwest and I just don’t get it. I can think of so many plants I would rather have. My house came with one that lives next to the garage. I never see it where it is or i’d probably have replaced it by now. Ahh well. Like so many plants, they also remind me of my grandma who wanted white hostas al around the base of her trees. Here are my six. The skeeters are hungry, so hard to be out there.

    https://wisconsingarden.wordpress.com/2024/07/20/july-20-2024-six-on-saturday/

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  14. Pingback: July 20, 2024 Six on Saturday – Gardening in the Prairie

  16. The garden is looking fabulous, so lush. Maybe mention the grasses, begonia collection, and all your rare plants in your description. Or name your nearest town for holiday makers who don’t know the location. Who knows what draws people in! I hope the hardy souls turn up. I’m adding the alliums to my wish list they look like the sort of good doer I like to have. Here’s my link for the week, back in the garden after a week’s hols https://n20gardener.com/2024/07/20/six-on-saturday-26/

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  17. Pingback: Six On Saturday: | n20gardener

    1. I can think of several plant groups that are not held in high regard because of the overuse/overbreeding of a few of their number. Because of B. semperflorens and the non-stop begonias, a family of 2000 species and tens of thousands of cultivars gets somewhat sidelined, by me as much as anyone until just a few years ago. I remember people coming into the greenhouse at the nursery and sniffily declaring that they didn’t like Fuchsias, then emerging from the other end with F. hatschbachii, F. regia, F. procumbens and others in their basket.

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    1. You stayed out of the spam but I’m glad you reminded me as there was one in there that shouldn’t have been. I’m not sure that our turnout yesterday could be described as plenty, though they nearly all came in a ten minute slot so we were busy for that short while. No one is going to look out their window right now and think “let’s go visit a garden”; they’re going to think “what’s on the telly”.

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    1. The white Lophospermum is nice, and the seed company from whom it came sell it as Maurandya ‘Bridal Bouquet’. It just needs a darker backdrop to show off the flowers. I will try moving the plants I have but they are borderline hardy so may not survive. They’re also firmly entwined round the obelisk and may not like being cut back hard to remove them. With luck they’ll set seed. They’re in Plantaginaceae, along with Foxgloves and Antirrhinums.
      Allium senescens is mainly grown as an ornamental to my knowledge. The Wikipedia entry for it doesn’t mention it being edible, though it probably is.

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      1. Antirrhinum (snapdragon) can grow from cuttings, so maybe this Lophospermum could do the same, or grow from layering. I have never been desperate enough to grow Antirrhinum from cuttings, but might try something like Lophospermum if I did not trust its potential for being true to type..

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  21. Pingback: Six on Saturday | Here comes the Sun – Cornwall in Colours

    1. I need to revisit our garden description in the yellow book. Or maybe we need a house name rather than a number in the street. It’s all very well exceeding peoples expectations when they turn up but if low expectations means they don’t come in the first place, it’s a flawed strategy. House names anyone? ‘Gull’s Rest’? ‘Mollusc Manor’?

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