Six on Saturday – 12/7/2025

Categories six on saturday44 Comments on Six on Saturday – 12/7/2025

Friday evening again, on a very warm day that it seems wrong to complain about, given how few of them we get, so I’ll say nought more about it.

We are having to do a lot of watering and are getting through our stored water quite quickly. So far there has been no mention of water restrictions here. Inevitably some things have not been watered enough and have suffered. Flowering has been encouraged but the blooms fade more quickly than if it was cooler. With a three week gap between garden openings there are inevitably going to be plants that were not open last weekend but will be over in a fortnight’s time. It can’t be helped.

One.
Lilies. Last year I dotted pot grown lilies around the garden, mostly plunged so that the pots were hidden. That was not practical this year with some in 35L pots, so I stood a group of 5 pots outside our front window. Here is the view from both inside and out. The big pink is ‘Robina’, the white and pink is ‘Anastasia’ and the yellow and brown is ‘Robert Swanson’. We’re having to keep all the nearby windows closed because the scent is making us gag.

Two.
Lysimachia stenophylla is a plant that went on my wanted list after a visit to Buck’s Head garden way down west. Tregrehan Plant Fair came up trumps and it seems to be settling in reasonably well. It has a collection number of DJHC704, so Daniel J Hinckley was one collector, generally a fair indication of a good plant. Lysimachia is one of those genera with really weedy species and some choice ones as well. Looking at the picture I see that it has a vine weevil notch on one leaf; I’ve been doing late evening forays with a torch and catching 50 to 80 each time I do.

Three.
Another wanted list plant came my way most unexpectedly last weekend as a gift from another gardener. Senecio cristobalensis I know only from an online talk given by Jimmy Blake, of Hunting Brook Gardens in Ireland. The pictures I have seen of it all show purple foliage, whereas this one is so far plain green but it has softly felty leaves that are obviously going to get much bigger so I am a very long way from looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Four.
Agapanthus gall midge has arrived on my Agapanthus and this plant, an unnamed seedling of no particular merit, is slated for removal, along with two or three more in the front garden. Just three weeks ago I featured Agapanthus ‘Silver Moon’ in a six and along with ‘Northern Star’, I will be very upset if it becomes infected. The flower buds are distorted and often abort completely as the midge larvae burrow into them. Yet another pest to contend with. We keep getting new pests and diseases but never lose any of the old ones, unless they wipe out their host completely.

Five.
Crocosmia ‘Paul’s Best Yellow’ is a cracking variety provided that you like yellow and don’t mind that it is threateningly vigorous and only in flower for quite a short time (between garden openings, like most of the lilies!) The red variety also in the picture is ‘Hellfire’, a fantastic red colour but at risk of being overwhelmed by its yellow neighbour.

Six.
I have the usual dilemma of what to give slot six to and I’ve decided to go with a dahlia, their season being well and truly under way. I often go out early evening looking for appealing images and Dahlia ‘Revive’ was ticking every box. One of my co-allotmenteers is a flower grower and she has a row of a couple of dozen Dahlias, several of which are just gorgeous. There is nothing like a bed of Dahlias for putting a smile on your face, they are just so cheery.

I’ve spent much more time on my allotment this week than in the garden. Mostly picking fruit and watering but also pushing on with sorting out the new half plot I’ve just taken on. I sowed seeds and they’re already up, so I should get some return even from a growing season starting on the first of July.

Six more items from my garden then, and another week put to bed. Please consider joining in, I’ve picked up numerous ideas for plants and planting from fellow sixers, I have excellent plants growing in my garden from seed sent me by fellow sixers and in limited fashion I have been able to return the favour. It’s very simple, just post about six things in your garden, they don’t have to be plants, and put a link in my comments below so others can find it. There’s a Participants Guide, but it doesn’t tell you much more.

Unknown's avatar

Published by Jim Stephens

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

44 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 12/7/2025”

  3. Oh no, not another plant pest to worry about. I haven’t heard about this one. I will inspect my agapanthus tomorrow, I haven’t actually noticed it so far. Your dahlia is my favourite this week, a new one to me. It’s gorgeous. And those lilies! Wow! I am going to copy you and grow them in pots next year.

    Six on Saturday. Some Like it Hot.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  4. Pingback: Six on Saturday. Some Like it Hot. | The Blooming Garden

  5. It always seems everyone can grow Agapanthus except me! and I love it. I am going to contemplate the Senecio as I have several and they do not look like that, it’s fantastic. Stay cool, it “feels like” 103 F here.

    Like

    Reply

  6. That Dahlia and your photo of it at the end is a stunner! We’re having a hot, but rainy, summer here in the Midwest U.S., which is a little easier for plants and the gardeners. I hope you’ll get more precipitation soon. Sorry to hear about the gall midge–like some of the others, I wasn’t familiar with it either. The Agapanthus blooms in your photo look lovely; sorry they are fighting a garden pest. Thanks for hosting; I hope to join in again soon after another trip this week.

    Like

    Reply
  9. Pingback: Garden Diary: July Surprises – Piglet in Portugal

  10. Interestingly, we don’t seem to have had as much lily beetle here this year as some years, but perhaps I am just dealing with them before they get a chance to run completely amok. How many lily bulbs do you usually have in a pot? When I first grew a ‘tree lily’ I grew it in a pot to keep its height under control, but it just kept going upwards and I now plant them in the ground. Thanks for hosting https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2025/07/12/a-speedy-six-on-a-sizzling-saturday/

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  11. Pingback: A Speedy Six on a Sizzling Saturday | Rambling in the Garden

  12. So many pests! Saying that my large fuchsia is looking the best it has for years, but only one of my potted agapanthus is in flower this year. I dithering whether to make room for them in my new flower bed. When I complete it. Any work has been set aside this week, but we are bound to have rain when the schools break up.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  17. Pingback: July 12, 2025 Six on Saturday – Gardening in the Prairie
  20. Pingback: Six on Saturday – 12 July 2025 – The Garrett Garden

  21. Must go and check my Agapanthus to search for the gall midge, what next! Your lilies are stunning, with all my doors open for a breeze the perfume would waft through the house, wonder if it would be too much for me? I have had C.Paul’s Best Yellow for years now and he really isn’t increasing very well, maybe I need to move him?

    My six are here……..https://www.leadupthegardenpath.com

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  22. Pingback: Six on Saturday. 12.07.2025 | Lead up the Garden Path
  25. Pingback: Six On Saturday ~ Still Waiting For Rain – Tish Farrell
  26. Pingback: Six on Saturday: 12 July 2025 – My Tiny Welsh Garden

  27. Your blog is always an education. Today it’s agapanthus gall midge! I had no idea. I don’t have any agapanthus, but every year I’m tempted. I hope your special plants don’t become a casualty. Marvellous display of lilies – I certainly wouldn’t was to be overpowered by them, but I’d probably open my windows and all the doors in the house and let it waft through. Mine for today:

    https://notesfrommygarden.co.uk/2025/07/12/sweltering/

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  28. Pingback: Six on Sat: Peacock, cherries, rose magic, mallow, blackberry, feathervane2 – Doing The Plan

  29. Always something new from your garden Jim. Always something to learn of. This week the agapanthus gall midge is unwelcome news! I’m stopping by early to say there’s no six from me this week. I have an early start to the weekend’s activities. The garden here is very dry and I’m expecting a hose pipe ban any day now.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  30. Crocosmia worries me, but the yellow sorts are tempting. No, I will not try any more than what is already naturalized here. Agapanthus gall midge also sounds like something that I should be worried about. I have never heard of it before. Agapanthus are very common though, partly because nothing bothers them (except the kids who knock the blooms off).

    These are my six.

    https://tonytomeo.com/2025/07/12/six-on-saturday-white-again/

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. It seems the Agapanthus gall midge was first identified (as being new to science) in the UK in 2016 having first been noticed in 2014. I’ve just read a bit more about it; there’s nothing about its origins and no treatment has yet been found. One of my favourite varieties, that I have a big clump of and which looks OK at the moment, is apparently very susceptible. It has spread over most of England already but unless someone in America imports infected plants, it shouldn’t make it over there.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. This is a ‘global economy’. (I loathe that common phrase, but it is true.) Besides, when someone invents a chemical insecticide for it, dispersion will be profitable.

        Liked by 1 person

    1. The Agapanthus gall midge was first identified in 2014 and is well established in southern England. I think I may have had it for a few years but not known what it was. There is good information about it on the RHS website.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. It can get disheartening when the pests keep coming. I took pictures but refrained from putting Fuchsia gall mite in this week’s six as well, but it looks like it might be bad this year.

      Like

      Reply
  36. Pingback: Six on Saturday | On the Brink of Bedlam – Cornwall in Colours

Leave a comment