Six on Saturday – 26/10/2024

Categories six on saturday30 Comments on Six on Saturday – 26/10/2024

Look out the window and it’s blue sky dotted with white fluffy clouds. Step out and it’s cold, blustery and periodically threatens rain. I’m doing my gardening in short bursts interspersed with long tea and coffee breaks. Tomorrow (I’m writing this on Friday) I shall be at Rosemoor for the AGM of the RCM. That’s the Rhododendron, Camellia and Magnolia Group, a partner group of the RHS that started life in 1916 as the Rhododendron Society. I’m a member of various horticultural societies and this is my favourite.

One of my short bursts this week was to get a few photos taken for a post on Begonias, another to get a set of six subjects for this six on Saturday post. (You are, as ever, invited to join us in the six on Saturday group, if you are not already one of us. We all just post each week about six current things in our gardens, with my comments section being the hub for links to all the others. There’s a participants guide here)

One.
Begonia xanthina ‘Marmorea’ isn’t in the garden, it’s indoors, but I will try growing it outside once I have a well established backup plant. It didn’t go into my Begonia article because I forgot it, but it did come from a fellow RCM group member who had a plant stall at a previous year’s meeting. It comes from the Himalayas so it may be hardy enough to survive outdoors with good winter protection but it’s evergreen so that would complicate things. Its grown slowly but steadily in the time I’ve had it and the leaves are getting steadily bigger; the biggest in the picture is 26.5 cm long. It also has yellow flowers, which marks it out as fairly unusual among Begonia species.


Two.
Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea ‘Karl Foerster’ was bought and planted specifically to replace Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea ‘Transparent’, even though they are closely related and very similar. The latter was becoming a nuisance in that as soon as it rained, the flower stems arched over and never righted themselves completely. A plant that was supposed to be tall and upright and airy turned into a monster circle of near horizontal stems 10-12 feet across. Nothing holds on to as much water as grass flowers; pushing through invariably left me with wet legs. I’m hoping that ‘Karl Foerster’ will have stiffer stems. So far the signs are promising.


Three.
There’s no getting away from the fact that things are going downhill in the garden, as you would expect in late October. Nevertheless, there are odd areas where something hangs on better than expected, or puts on a late flush of flowers, or even gets tricked into thinking spring has arrived. These two Geraniums are flowering better than they have all year; at least I think they are. It may just be that things have quietened down around them so they get a brief chance to shine. ‘Rozanne’ of course, and the appropriately named ‘Little Monster’.


Four.
My block of Nerines is actually a little better than it has been the last couple of years: last year there were almost none. I just don’t think they’re getting enough sun and I don’t think I can do much to change that so will very likely move them, except I have nowhere sunnier except out the front, which is already over full. Dilemma. I might plant them up at my allotment and just have a pot full or two to bring back to the garden in season.


Five.
Fuchsias used to be something of an obsession with both Sue and myself but both of us seemed to have shifted our allegiances elsewhere to a considerable degree. We had about 100 varieties but over perhaps the last five years that will have gone down quite a bit as things have died and not been replaced. This one is ‘Shuna Lindsay’, which is lovely but like many of the species and species crosses, flowers very late in the year.


Six.
At this time of year it is dull much of the time with days, even weeks going by without the sun showing itself. It makes such a difference when sunshine falls on a winter garden scene; far more of a transformation than at other seasons. The sun lit up this soon to be moved in collection at the front of the house this morning and I grabbed my camera. I cannot find a label for the Amarine but think it is ‘Emanuelle’. These are hybrids between Nerines and Amaryllis that look like Nerines but are bigger. Then there are the rest, a Yucca, three Agaves, a Mangave, a Cordyline and an Aeonium. My advice to any would be burglar is pick another window to break in.

That’s my offerings for this week. The blackbird in the header picture was tucking into one of the apples I haven’t got around to picking and wasn’t prepared to yield it to me even when I was about four feet away. He’s welcome to it.

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Published by Jim Stephens

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

30 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 26/10/2024”

  1. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Waiting, Not Waiting – Our Forest Garden
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  5. Any blooms at this time of year are welcome and a nice surprise! The fuchsia is a gorgeous one. Love the begonia foliage, wow. Have a great trip to Rosemoor.

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  7. Hi Jim

    I know it was in last week’s post, and I tried to comment but was doing it from the phone so not sure it got to you. You asked for comments on Salvia Phyllis Fancy – we have grown it for a few years now and it is ALWAYS late, ie at its peak at this time of year. That just seems to be its habit. We like it because of that, when most other salvias are finishing, when the white on PF becomes more marked. We have found it tender – we have it in pots and take cuttings each year and bring it into an unheated greenhouse during the winter. It’s a beautiful thing, not well enough known in my view.

    Best wishes

    Rebecca

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  11. Pingback: October 26, Six on Saturday – Gardening in the Prairie

  12. Lovely six this week, Jim, and once again you’ve introduced me to a ‘new’ Begonia that I’ve not encountered before. It is simply lovely in leaf and the yellow flowers a perfect contrast. Interesting Begonias like that are hard to come across in our area so I thoroughly enjoy seeing yours. I’ll check out your Begonia post. I have several marginally hardy Begonias kept in pots and brought into the garage before frost, but the fawns discovered them this year. They’ve had more ‘pruning’ than usual but are bravely sending out new growth. Your post has inspired me to go ahead and bring them indoors, to a better spot this year, to allow them to recover over the winter.

    While you are celebrating the sun breaking through, we have nothing but sunny days this October. The dry weather this year has been our challenge, but our Camellias are blooming now, and I have rejoined Six on Saturday with something beautiful to share again: https://woodlandgnome.wordpress.com/2024/10/26/six-on-saturday-new-beginnings/

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  13. Begonias are more fascinating for their leaves I think, not flowers. Though obviously a lot are grown for the flowers in hanging baskets etc. My mind boggles over 100 varieties  of fuchsias! Where on earth do you put them all? It is easy to see that the pair of you are plants persons! You ought to be appearing on GW!

    Six on Saturday | After Ashley

    Last proper six from me and my garden. It’s rather dull during the winter and is totally in shade so not very welcoming. But I shall continue to pop in each week and see how yours is getting on. With all those glasshouses I’m sure you won’t run out of things to show us.

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    1. I’ve been tried to comment on your post at least 95 times and it keeps refusing me. Not logged on etc, I think it is just WordPress having a wobble, definitely not your fault. Can’t remember what I was going to say now. Oh yes, I love the coronilla.

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      1. I had the same on yours today! Usually what I do is copy the comment from the ‘you are not logged in’ box, return to the post refresh the page and then paste the comment, it does work, though sometimes I have to do that twice. Not just your blog, or mine, but it is a royal pain!

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    1. Once again, I cannot connect with the comment box. So interesting, each week there is a different message! So I hope you get these replies. The hawkshead fuchsia is a favourite of mine. I hope my plant does as well as yours over time. I also love the mahonia – which I note OMAHGT also features, and of course all the soft apricots/oranges are such a joy at this time of year. Lovely.

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  22. Pingback: Six on Saturday | After Ashley – Cornwall in Colours

  24. Things are going downhill in the garden? That sounds rather unpleasant. As far as the vegetation is concerned, it is standard procedure. In a while, much of it will be sleeping soundly for winter, and maybe dreaming pleasantly until spring. (Okay, I doubt that any of it dreams, but I do not know that none of it does.) The Nerine and Amarine are splendid. I got none of those; only Amaryllis belladonna, which finished already, and is only now producing foliage.

    These are my six.

    https://tonytomeo.com/2024/10/26/six-on-saturday-firsts-lasts/

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