August. I was talking with my neighbour on the allotment earlier about how much of the growing season was left and whether seeds I’d sown a month ago would yield a crop. A day earlier I was talking to the neighbour on the other side about autumn sowing annual flowers in cells under cover to get early flower crops. In both cases the big unknown is the weather. What works one year might be a complete failure the next, but if you don’t try it certainly won’t work.
Is that uncertainty part of the pleasure of gardening? Only in the sense that when something succeeds there is always the knowledge that it was far from guaranteed and that a large part of the success was never under your control in the first place.
Six on Saturday is a great vehicle for celebrating the successes and for drumming up a bit of sympathy for the problems and failures. I’m looking down my list of nine things I have pictures of, shortly to be whittled down to six, and it’s a feel good list. I’d better stop whittering and crack on. You are, as ever, invited to join us with your own six, there’s nuts and bolts guidance here.
One.
Tuberous Begonias. I didn’t go as far as buying Blackmore and Langdon’s named tuberous begonias but I did get some of their “greenhouse quality” tubers in the spring. Some of them have been really lovely but I was a little surprised by the variation in quality. There are some I shall definitely be keeping, a couple have already been dumped and there will be others that will join them. There’s just the small matter of keeping the good ones free of vine weevils, which love them, and keeping them over until next year. Here are a couple of them.
Two.
It’s taken a long time for this Hydrangeea paniculata to get to this stage and it’s having its best ever year. I don’t know the variety; it will predate the introduction of ‘Vanille Fraise’ et al, so may be ‘Grandiflora’, I’m not sure. It was a pathetic chuck out plant with one 3 foot stem, but that stem is now supporting this splendid head as a short standard. It gets cut back hard every winter and has never made such strong new growths before.
Three.
Another plant that has been in the garden for a long time but is far better this year than ever before is this Astilbe chinensis var. pumila. It’s just in ordinary garden soil, not in the bog garden with the other Astilbes, out of direct sun most of the day. It’s about 45cm tall this year; usually it doesn’t make 30cm. and it’s overrun a couple of other plants that I shall have to try and rescue, like the red Roscoea in the middle of it.
Four.
Indigofera pendula has consistently been the most asked about plant in the garden since we started opening five years ago. Sadly the original plant is a shadow of its former self and this plant, sown from Special Plants seed in March 2023, is intended to replace it if it dies and to join it as a pair either side of the path if it recovers. It’s about 1m tall already, mostly this year’s growth, which hasn’t yet stopped.
Five.
Maurandya erubescens ‘Magic Dragon’ was the name I bought this under, from Plant World seeds. It took a second attempt to get the right thing, the previous year they supplied me a white flowered version. I have bought an almost identical plant under the name Lophospermum ‘Red Wine’ at a nursery. I grow Maurandya barclayana as well and that is very different so I’m inclined to think that Lophospermum makes more sense. Rhodochiton looks very different from either but the seed pods and seeds are very very similar to the white variety I had last year. The Wikipedia entry makes it clear that the botanists are still working on this little lot. In the meantime, this is proving to be a fine plant, treated as a biennial, these were sown in July 2024 and overwintered in the glasshouse. I’m hoping it will produce seed that I can get sown late this summer for next year.
Six.
Someone sometime gave us Tiger lily. They probably gave us bulbils but I don’t recall when, where or who. Suffice it to say that I planted out a large pot grown clump earlier in the year and they are now doing their Tiger Lily thing. I’m squirming slightly in my chair just talking about a Tiger Lily thing because there exists also in this world a band known as the Tiger Lillies, who, if you have the narrowest streak of sensitivity in you, you should probably avoid like the plague. I recommend them heartily but will accept no responsibility for the consequences should you check them out.
Meanwhile, my Tiger lilies, Lilium lancifolium, are flowering after most of my other lilies have finished and have bulbils in every leaf axil, of which there are a lot. In a year or two I shall either have a garden full of tiger lilies or even fatter slugs.
And that’s another week done and dusted. Storm Floris, set to hit the northern half of the UK on Monday, seems unlikely to be felt down here at all but I hope that any of you in its path don’t suffer any serious damage. See you next week.
garden ruminations 
Watch out for the tiger lily bulbils. If the slugs don’t munch them all, they’ll try to take over the garden. I restrict them to my “thug bed” which contains all the plants that want to smother the world.
Here are my six (it’s still Saturday here). All plants this week are from a visit to the North Carolina Botanical Garden, just down the road in Chapel Hill.
https://sweetgumandpines.wordpress.com/2025/08/02/six-on-saturday-95-august-2-2025/
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It’s lovely to see what you are growing each week. There aren’t that many plants in common with what I have in my garden, which makes your posts so interesting. I am growing Indigofera pendula (mine flowered a while ago though). I love your bright tiger lilies. I took a long break from lilies after getting despondent over lily beetles. I must try again!
Here are my six: https://wp.me/pM8Y1-9u7
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Your intro paragraphs to this blog post are so eloquently written, and I found myself nodding. In particular I agreed with the sentiment that uncertainty is part of the pleasure of gardening, and that “… when something succeeds there is always the knowledge that it was far from guaranteed and that a large part of the success was never under your control in the first place.” Thank you for your beautiful photos, writing, and observations, and for hosting this meme.
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What a glorious mass of petals and color your begonia displays. Lovely. I think I attempted to grow a Maurandya to lure hummingbirds into the yard a few years ago. Mine was in a hanging basket. I didn’t know it might return and didn’t try to keep it. I will look for it again in the future and plant it beside a trellis as you have done.
https://timelessladyarts.blogspot.com/2025/08/mantis-saturday-critters-six-on-saturday.html
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I had one plant of Maurandya barklayana, with purple flowers, survive the winter here and have several self sown seedlings of it coming up. Just on the cusp of hardiness seemingly, and presumably perennial, but maybe not long lived? Such a shame we don’t have hummingbirds.
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Oh, I wish you had the hummers. They are such a joy. Thanks for the reply.
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That’s a pretty colour of astilbe – I do (or maybe did) have some (not purple) here, but they were not in a sensible place which is of course rarely a good thing. The tiger lilies are gorgeous and I was curious about the bulbils so have looked them up…fascinating! Seeing your begonia, which I have been a bit iffy about in the past (not yours, but generally), I am wondering if I should give them a go in the Coop for summer colour as my eucomis haven’t flowered for several years and I continue to have very mixed success with streptocarpus. My six things are at https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2025/08/02/six-on-saturday-keeping-up-appearances-3/
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That hydrangea is amazing, and your astilbe is spectacular. Here’s my selection for the week https://doingtheplan.com/2025/08/02/six-on-saturday-sumac-anemone-geranium-apples-pondlife-and-speckled-wood/
Thanks for hosting!
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Very lovely Tiger Lilies, I grow mine in pots and they sre the last lillies to flower here too. The Astilbe is lovely too. 🌸
Here are my six –
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Very lovely Tiger Lilies, I grow mine in pots and they sre the last lillies to flower here too. The Astilbe is lovely too. 🌸
Here are my six –
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Such pretty begonias! The orange is like a drop of sunshine. Tiger lillies are nice also. Do you ever eat he flowers?
Here are my six, things are moving along, I feel like things just finally got going and now you have to bring up the end of the growing season. As you say, it depends on the year, growing conditions will vary.
https://wisconsingarden.wordpress.com/2025/08/02/august-2-2025-six-on-saturday/
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No, I’ve never eaten lily flowers and wouldn’t be easily persuaded to do so. I’m surprised they’re even edible.
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Your Astilbe looks very nice. I have a couple in my shady border, but they don’t do very much and in fact the red one has already turned brown. Maybe the soil isn’t as moist as I thought it was. In fact I might overhaul this entire border in the autumn, if I have the energy, and give it a boost of compost and manure, before replanting in the spring.
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Most of our Astilbes went over very quickly this year because of the heat. The ones flowering now are lasting better.
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I am glad you have a feel-good list today and hope the slugs are not fatter among the tiger lilies.
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Such a shame about your Indigofera – I remember it from when we visited your garden a few years ago. The replacement/companion plant is certainly thriving. Just checked out the Tiger Lilies – they must make a brilliant evening out. Is the area the Astilbe is in naturally dampish?
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The Astilbe is beside the paved path so there may be a reserve of moisture under the slabs. I wish I new why the older Indigofera has partially died off, it could be our usual nemesis of honey fungus but the blackened stems suggest something else. We’ve certainly had our money’s worth from it though.
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That hydrangea does look happy. I have two here on their way to that stage but I always think I have to give new plants at least three years to establish here. It’s still drought here, the occasional shower is just about keeping things alive. Here’s my link to what’s going on this week https://n20gardener.com/2025/08/02/six-on-saturday-changing-times/
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I’ve seen some splendid Hydrangea around this year, so perhaps it has enjoyed the conditions this season?
Here’s my six
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Your Hydrangea paniculata is stunning, I’ve never thought of growing mine as a standard, will have to go and look at it to see if I can. Also the tiger lilies certainly stand out, they are wonderful, if only mine looked like that.
My offerings are here………………….https://www.leadupthegardenpath.com
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Love those tiger lilies.
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I learn something new on your blog just about every week. This time it’s the hydrangea grown as a standard. I love that idea – and yours is a fine example to show. The Tiger Lily is fabulous in every way. It’s a beauty. My efforts this week are here:
https://notesfrommygarden.co.uk/2025/08/02/rushing-into-august/
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I’ve always told myself that the big advantage of the hydrangea as a standard is that I can grow things beneath it, but I’ve actually just cut down the Veronica that was in front of it and have a view of the stem that I rarely see and am now thinking I want more of. Most nursery bought plants have been pruned to make them bushy and turning them into standards is tricky. Not sure if H. paniculata is as easy from cuttings as the macrophyllas but that might be the way to go.
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I agree about Indigofera pendula, it is the most admired plant in my garden. But for some reason it never looks very impressive on photos. Not on my photos anyway. I’ll definitely be giving that gorgeous Maurandya eurebescens a go. And I don’t know why I haven’t any fabulous tiger lilies, they are wonderful. I have never heard of the pop group , for me they will always be associated with Rupert the Bear’s chum who was always doing magic tricks that went wrong.
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Here are my six:
https://tonytomeo.com/2025/08/02/six-on-saturday-400/
They may not be as interesting as yours, but many or most of my favorites are like that. I can do common sorts of begonia, hydrangea, astilbe and maybe even indigofera, but Lophospermum and tiger lilies are a bit too fancy for me. Okay, maybe I can do tiger lilies.
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I thought maybe since Maurandya barklaya and Lophospermum erubescens are native to Mexico that they might have been grown where you are. Which is me looking at the proximity of Mexico and California from the other side of the Atlantic.
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It is impossible to say why some species become popular while others do not; but this one has not. Besides, Mexico is a big place. Southern Mexico is about as far away from here as parts of Canada, Alaska or the Rocky Mountains. Horticulturists there are a bit more adventurous with such exotics.
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I have grown plants from seed labelled Asarina scandens and Maurandya purpusii and then become totally confused as Asarina became Maurandya and then Maurandya became Lophospermum. Since DNA sequencing became available, I’m sure botanists do this just because they can.
My six this week:
https://ricksplantworld.blog/2025/08/02/six-on-saturday-02-8-2025/
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You would hope that having sorted the taxonomy based on DNA there would be no need to change it again, but then that would put a lot of botanists out of a job; they’ll find reasons.
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Wow – your Hydrangea paniculata is a show. The rather pricey half standard ‘Vanille Fraise’ I bought several years ago (which I chop back each spring) has never looked as lush as that https://onemanandhisgardentrowel.wordpress.com/2025/08/02/six-on-saturday-2-august-2025/
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