Six on Saturday – 26/4/2025

Categories six on saturday45 Comments on Six on Saturday – 26/4/2025

We have a mini heatwave forecast for the coming week, with two days expected to reach the dizzy heights of 22°C. then going back down to maximums of 15°C by next weekend. It’s no wonder the weather is a top subject for conversations amongst Brits, its just so exciting.

In the absence of any significant meteorology, the garden is just quietly getting on with going through the annual cycle, with even Dahlias overwintered in the ground starting to push through. There’s a certain scruffiness from the foliage of early bulbs but in general everything is on track and doing what it is expected to do.

I’m back up to Rosemoor for the National Rhododendron Show on Saturday, judging what is likely to be a fairly small Camellia entry, their season now coming to a close. Mine in the garden are nearly finished and will soon be no more than background for summer flowers. The focus has now shifted to get tender perennials, annuals and other flowery things planted so they are performing for our first garden opening on Friday 13th June. An inauspicious date? We shall see.

Anyhow, the name of the game is Six on Saturday, so nip out into your garden and get shots of half a dozen current performers or performances, post them in a blog or some social media platform and put a link in my comments below so we can all find them. The participants guide should you feel the need to look at it, is here.

One.
Did I mention that I’d chopped up a leaf of Begonia xanthina ‘Marmorea’ back between Christmas and New Year, put the pieces into a pot of perlite and placed it in my propagator? I don’t think I did. I cut it into around ten pieces and every one produced shoots. I just potted them up individually, in some cases splitting them into two pieces. I did post a picture of the parent plant last year when it started flowering but here’s another from November 22nd 2024. I’ll be planting a one year old version in the garden to see how it fares.

Two.
This one doesn’t have a name for the simple reason that it’s a seedling I raised and I’ve never given it one. Perhaps I’ll take a shoot to Rosemoor and see if any of the Rhodo buffs think it is worth naming and propagating. I can tell you that it has a most beautiful perfume.

Three.
As I mentioned at the top, there are signs of life from Dahlias, so the carpet of forget-me-nots under which several of them were languishing had to go, partly to let the sunshine in and warm the soil, mostly to remove it as a hiding place for slugs.

Four.
Rhododendron ‘Merganser’ last featured in a post in August 2018. It was in a terrible state and destined fordestruction. For some reason that didn’t happen and the plant has limped on, losing a branch or two but also making new growth. I’m not going to jinx it by saying it has recovered, but this is the best it’s looked since then.

Five.
My home created family apple tree is fairly pickled in flowers, so perhaps this year’s crop will make up for last years when it was very poor. Mostly ‘Holstein’, with ‘Red Windsor’, ‘Meridian’, ‘Tregonna King’, ‘Plympton Pippin’ and an unknown variety, all grafted onto an original tree of ‘Elstar’, on MM106 rootstock. One tree, eight genotypes.

Six.
As tends to happen at this time of year, I am at number six and have to choose between a number of contenders for the final spot. I’m going with a fern, the name of which I never had. I think it could be Polystichum setiferum ‘Herrenhausen’ but it wouldn’t look any better or make me like it more for being identified, having said which, if you know what it is, please let me know. It must be about 75cm tall.

I’ve used a view of the garden as my header picture again and will carry on doing so for the next few weeks at least, it being a time when things change from week to week. Have a good week.

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Published by Jim Stephens

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

45 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 26/4/2025”

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  5. Jim, your P. setiferum is such an unusually lovely fern. I agree that knowing its exact name doesn’t make it any lovelier, but it does make it easier fellow fern enthusiasts to shop for our own clone. The texture of that one is particularly interesting and I love the little lighter fiddleheads. ‘Herrenhausen’ is described as having dark green plumes in the Kew Plant Lover’s Guide to Ferns. It looks more like a member of the Plumosodensum group. See pg. 191 for one that looks very similar, if you have that text. The varieties of the species available here aren’t nearly as showy. Another lovely Begonia today, too. Friday the 13th can frequently turn out to be very auspicious. I hope it will be for you when you open in June.

    We are both covering ferns and Azaleas today, along with a few native flowering trees in bloom here this week. Here are my six for this last week of April: https://woodlandgnome.wordpress.com/2025/04/26/six-on-saturday-gifts-2/

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    1. I looked back through my nursery records and the variety of P. setiferum that we mostly had was ‘Dahlem’. When I searched images online all sorts of things came up, suggesting that either it is very variable or that all sorts get sold under the same name. Then again, the taxonomic category of Group seems to imply that there is variation, either a number of clones or genetic variation from sporelings maybe. I would be highly unlikely to buy a fern without seeing it, so I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.

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      1. It is always so interesting, Jim. Have you also noticed that ferns sometimes change in appearance in various ways as they mature? The baby fern we buy may look much different after a few years of growth- even the frond proportions and colors. With few choices of good local nurseries I end ordering ferns online and generally I’m pleased. I just received a shipment yesterday with several lovely A. venustum, which I have been searching out since your post earlier this month!

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    1. I’ve never been the sort of gardener who planned out an area before planting it; like many, perhaps most gardeners, most of my plant purchases are on impulse and then have to be fitted in somewhere. When the space ran out I became interested in temporal spacing, with several things occupying the same piece of ground but at different times of the year. As near as I’ve ever come to a concept of design is to see the garden as a series of stage sets, of various sizes, orientations and conditions. That’s not to say I’ve managed to achieve what I’ve envisioned very often.

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      1. Well the end result of your ad hoc planting is v. impressive, Jim. It cheers me up no end to hear how you’ve arrived at it. No need for a plan then! Just do what I’ve always done. See how the space looks when I’ve succumbed to a new purchase. At present, my other option is to dig up more lawn.

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  15. Wonderful selections. I like the fragrant rhododendron. When I lived in Seattle, I do not recall coming across a rhododendron with a scent. I also found the roses were without scent and even lilacs! When I lived in Minnesota I would smell the lilac before I would see them, from several blocks away even, but in Seattle, I could jam my face into he flowers and…nothing. Why? No idea. I am terrible about pulling things up when they are pretty like your forget me nots, but I have come to learn that if you crowd out the other things you want, pretty soon, forget me nots are all you will have! I want to take another garden overview picture as soon as the light conditions improve. It looks cloudy but may clear later.

    Here are my six!

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  17. Another damp day here in the far south-west and my tulips are bowing their heads, so I am hoping for some sunshine tomorrow so that they may perk up. Seems such a short-lived period for tulips. I too am fascinated by the family apple tree! It may just be me, but I do not see your header photo on my computer, though I do see it when viewing the Reader.

    Six on Saturday | Little Things

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    1. I’ve said it in earlier comments; there are articles about my apple tree in the “Fruit” category of the blog. I would encourage anyone to give it a go, especially where you only have room for one tree and pollination can be an issue.

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  28. I’d heard of family apple trees but I didn’t realise you could get so many types of apples on just one tree. Your blog is always educational, Jim!
    So many other things to appreciate today, for what it’s worth I think you should take the rhododendron to be assessed, I think it’s a stunner.

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  29. Think we’re all looking forward to this little ‘heatwave’, Jim. It won’t be as hot here as you’ll have it, but we’ll enjoy it regardless. It’s great to have a success story to relate – the begonia leaves are looking great – you make it all appear so easy! (Same goes for that amazing apple tree!) You must be pleased to see your overwintered dahlias growing back again this year. Mine are in pots and I’m still waiting and hoping to see that first shoot appear soon.

    Mine for this week: https://notesfrommygarden.co.uk/2025/04/26/just-another-gardening-week/

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    1. It’s always a mixed reaction when the Dahlias start to come up; good to see them growing but knowing that without massive vigilance they will get browsed into oblivion. The forget-me-nots gave the slugs cover but also an alternative food source, now all that’s left is Dahlias.

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  30. Pingback: Six on Saturday: 26 April 2025 – My Tiny Welsh Garden

    1. I was at the RHS Rhododendron Show at Rosemoor today and I reckon I might have picked up something for the Azalea if I’d entered it. If it’s as good next year I plan to put it in.

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