Our penultimate garden open was yesterday, the final one today. We had a fair turnout yesterday and would normally expect more on Saturday than Friday, so finishing on a high.
In spite of many weeks without significant rainfall it is all holding up remarkably well, and there are plenty of flowers with accompanying bees and butterflies, always a crowd pleaser.
Six on Saturday is in summer an exercise in whittling 12 items down to six and in winter of stretching 2 or 3 in the other direction. If you are at all accomplished at whittling or stretching you are most welcome to join the fun with six of your own. Just post a link to them in my comments below and Bob’s your uncle. You may even care to peruse the participants guide.
One.
We are at the end of a cul-de-sac or close, with 8 houses ranged around the turning area, leaving very little room for front gardens. Most are partly or entirely given over to car parking, indeed our own probably has a bigger area under concrete than under plants, but we do make a bit more of an effort than some. Our neighbour’s chaos tends to spill over a little but we haven’t fallen out yet.
Two.
Some of our visitors glance quickly at the front garden then head on round the back, others pore over it so long we end up going to see if they think that’s all there is. This combination of Amaryllis belladonna and Cosmos sulphureus drew the most comments today. The comments are always polite, leaving us wondering what they really think! The bulbs of the Amaryllis need plenty of sun on them to flower well; their own foliage died down months ago and the Cosmos, planted well spaced between the bulbs, allow enough sun through while filling an otherwise empty space.
Three.
At first glance, Crinum powellii in the back garden could be mistaken for another clump of Amaryllis. I moved this plant in spring last year, it nearly killed me. I’ve moved six foot Camellias with smaller root systems! It didn’t like being moved and didn’t flower last year but is back on track this year. If only the slugs weren’t so fond of it. I mainly moved it because the colour clashed with the dahlias it was growing amongst. I can be very inconsistent.
Four.
Eucomis ‘Sparkling Burgundy’ is not in the ground; I find it does better in a pot which gets put under cover in winter. Only four flower spikes this year so perhaps the bulbs need lifting and replanting in fresh compost. Earlier in the year the leaves are a fabulous rich purple but by flowering time they’ve lost it somewhat, turning brownish. Plectranthus argentatus, behind it, is now Coleus argentatus, which is going to take a bit of getting used to. By any name it is a great foil for flowers of a range of hues.
Five.
And because botanists just can’t bear to leave things alone, Coleus, which I was grudgingly beginning to accept I had to think of as Solenostemon, is back to being Coleus again. We have quite a few looking rather splendid in the greenhouse but are resigned to losing them in the winter, having so far failed to master the art of keeping them alive until spring. Solenostemon blumei becomes Coleus scutellarioides.
Six.
A Dahlia to finish, because surrounded as it was by other Dahlias, Cosmos and much else, it still stood out. ‘Red Velvet’ is its name. I’ve tried to twiddle the knobs and get the colour just right but it doesn’t even look the same on the two monitors I have in front of, so who knows what you will be seeing on whatever receiving device you have. It’s red.
And there you have it for another week. It occurs to me that while I did do a short YouTube video of the garden when we were last open a fortnight ago, I didn’t post the link to it anywhere so practically no one will have seen it. I didn’t do one this time, or haven’t yet, because not much had changed in two weeks. Here’s the link, I was wrong about practically no one seeing it, no one has viewed it. https://youtu.be/EvZIA_CnnEg
garden ruminations 
I was surprised and amused to find that the expression “le cul de sac” is said the same way in English.
I have some reading to do on vacation and some very pretty photos in your Six this week. Pleasantly surprised to see the flowers of the eucomis burgundy among the plectranthus. ( waiting for mine)
Dahlia and verbena match good together. And nice choice of coleus !
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Wow Jim – what a lot of colour you still have. I certainly wouldn’t be opening our garden at this time of year although have had groups later in July than I would have liked. Were you pleased with your numbers this year, and do you get repeat visitors? I will pop back and look at your video tomorrow – I am sure you will have had some views now! https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2025/08/09/six-on-saturday-border-patrol/
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We were somewhat disappointed with our numbers for the earlier openings but this weekends wasn’t bad. It’s a fairly small garden so some people don’t stay very long, which cam mean there are spells with no one in. Because it’s all narrow paths with no open spaces we don’t want too many at once. We had a number of return visitors, which is great as you know for certain they like it and aren’t just saying they do.
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Same with us and the narrow paths – and your parking is even more restricted than ours. As you say, return visitors are special as they clearly have a reason for coming back (which could of course be the cake in our case!!). I have learned not to aspire to more visitors than we actually get, just in case.
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Beautiful!!
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Gosh, your garden in looking so good, and despite the drought. Mine is good in parts only:
https://tishfarrell.com/2025/08/09/bees-bugs-blooms-and-borlotti/
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I have enough stored rainwater to have got us this far without having to use the mains, but it’s running low now.
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That’s where we’re lacking, but hopefully we’ll rectify the situation.
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Hello Jim, your photos are absolutely stunning. Warm greetings from Montreal, Canada ❤️ 🇨🇦
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Your garden looks so colorful and fresh this week, Jim. You both must be very pleased that it was in such fine shape for your open day. Your visitors are likely standing there trying to figure out your tricks to having so much color and floral perfection packed into such a small space. It is impressive. I particularly enjoyed your Coleus photo because it is a plant I love and I’m not growing any this year. My dad always planted it and he was often able to get a pot or two to overwinter in his sunroom. I sometimes try to keep cuttings going through the winter, but I find that fresh plants in the spring give the best performance. Happy to see your lilies all in such beautiful shape this year!
July was wicked hot around here and I didn’t take many photos at home. Most of my photos were while we were out and about along the River. But I’m making the effort again in a new month, so I have Six to share this week: https://woodlandgnome.wordpress.com/2025/08/09/six-on-saturday-un-planted-and-unplanned/
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Such lovely and colorful plant combinations this week! I especially like the ones in the second and last photos. And I’m not a big lily person, but that crinium is gorgeous.
Here are my six: https://minhus.blogspot.com/2025/08/six-on-saturday-late-summer.html
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All is looking lovely and I for one would be lingering over your very neat and tidy front garden, the Cosmos sulphureus is gorgeous even if it does clash with the pink! I shall tootle over to the video anon. One question re your visitors, do they have any trouble parking?
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Parking is a bit problematic but there’s always somewhere within 100 yds and we haven’t had complaints. We did have one car looked like it might be coming here but turned around and drove off, never to be seen again. Absolutely everyone is very surprised when they see the back garden, not at all what they expect on a modernist housing estate.
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I see the dahlia as a very nice red. My monitor often leaves things looking washed out, but some colors do come through (Or things have improved because I dropped my computer the other day…). Maybe it would have been easier to move the Dahlias than the Crinum – but I know how it is, you have a vision that needs to be satisfied! Coleus are very popular here. Be glad the US president is not in charge of plant naming – you would never again know what anything is meant to be called! Also all plants without gold flowers would be banned.
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Silly me! Forgot my link!
https://wisconsingarden.wordpress.com/2025/08/09/august-9-2025-six-on-saturday/
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The dahlia looks read on my Macbook screen but I have come to realize the vast realm of color variations on different monitors. My iPhone is often the best.
I do appreciate the return of the name Coleus.
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Lovely entries for this “Six.” Your description of narrowing down the entries in summer and trying to stretch them in winter is so true; although all of mine in winter must be evergreen or indoor plants. Interesting that the Crinum powellii has such a deep root structure. The blooms are stunning! Thanks so much for hosting!
https://plantpostings.blogspot.com/2025/08/vignettes-for-six-on-saturday.html
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Delightful, as always! My favorite quote today is “Six on Saturday is in summer an exercise in whittling 12 items down to six and in winter of stretching 2 or 3 in the other direction.”
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The Dahlia is red on my very old monitor as well, which is a relief because if gives me a bit of confidence in my own colour meddling. The Crinum stalks are so sturdy! Our drought continues, but I did came across six reds this week…
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Hello, it’s early here in the U.S., only 6:10 A.M. I am starting the day looking at your lovely garden through your post. Light is breaking outside in mine, and I am about to go out and do some watering before the heat of the day sets in. I briefly clicked on your YouTube video, and I will go back later on when the chores of the day are finished and enjoy walking through your garden. I was able to take part this week with a strange six. I will try to compose a garden six next week. Have a lovely weekend.
Yikes an Exoskeleton!
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Your garden is looking good in these dry conditions. Very impressive. I am sure I will be even more impressed after looking at the video! Here’s my link https://n20gardener.com/2025/08/09/six-on-saturday-thoughts-from-a-dry-garden/
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Your garden is certainly very colourful, and no wonder visitors linger in the front. I do like it that I can call a plant Coleus without the long name. Yours make a fab show. I am going to try to keep a couple as house plants over the winter, but it will probably be too dry with the central heating on. I see a lovely ‘red’ dahlia, hope you like my ‘red’ nasturtiums: https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2025/08/six-on-saturday-9-august-2025.html
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All fabulous. Weird that plectranthus is now coleus, how confusing. The silver leaves of this one look fabulous with the eucomis.
Six on Saturday. Fancy Foliage.
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It’s a terrible thing to say but renaming Plectranthus to Coleus feels like a bit of a downgrade. Much as I like Coleus, they are in the cheap and cheerful bracket in my mind, whereas Plectranthus argentatus has a certain je ne sais quoi about it. It’s much easier to grow than Coleus.
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I agree with you. I have a few coleus and they are very cheery but at the same time I’m a bit shamefaced about liking them. They are not in the same league as plectranthus. Oh dear, are we plant snobs?
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The Plectranthus/Coleus sets off the Eucomis so well. Hurray for Coleus becoming Coleus again. Maybe there’s hope for Lamprocapnos and Hylotelephium yet. Really enjoyed the garden tour and the labelling is such a help. Hope today went well.
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Today was excellent, quite a good turnout, lovely people every one; before we adjourned to our partner garden that does the catering to help them finish up some of the leftover cake.
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Sounds like a perfect arrangement.
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I would be one of the people looking at your front garden for ages, there’s so much to take in! And I love the amaryllis and cosmos together. Good luck for your final open day.
My six this week is here: https://mysanctuarygarden.wordpress.com/2025/08/09/six-on-saturday-09-08-2025/
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I was having a conversation with one garden visitor about Echium and said ‘Oh, you’ll have seen the one in the front garden on your way in’, ‘No’ she said. She was quite embarrassed when she saw it, all 10 feet or so.
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I don’t think I’d have been able to keep my face straight when she answered. I’m not sure how you’d miss them! The ones at Cragside were covered in bees, their noise alone was quite remarkable.
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For such a compact front garden, that is a substantial Yucca gloriosa. Is that Acanthus spinosus in front of it? I can see why Cosmos sulphureus is popular. I still think that it should be more popular here than it is. I am glad that Coleus is back. I only recently heard of the name change, and now it is too late. Here are my six:
https://tonytomeo.com/2025/08/09/six-on-saturday-pestilence/
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Yep, that’s Acanthus spinosus, still there after many years of trying to get rid of it.
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I just acquired my first, and I have no idea of what to do with it. I am quite fond of it, but may keep it potted.
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I’m loving the plectranthus/eucomis combo, also amaryllis/cosmos. The crinum is a showstopper, what is the fuchsia in the background, is it Lady Bacon? Have a good last opening, you can then relax a little until next year. Here are my six https://offtheedgegardening.com/2025/08/09/six-on-saturday-monster/
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Yes, ‘Lady Bacon’, bit drought stressed.
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‘Red Velvet’ looks red on my laptop – and a beauty too. Only one of my Dahlias has flowered so far this year. Your front garden looks great and I’m just off to watch the tour of your garden now… https://onemanandhisgardentrowel.wordpress.com/2025/08/09/six-on-saturday-9-august-2025/
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A wonderful tour – the names of the plants appearing on screen is really helpful. Impressed you got a wood pigeon to do it’s “take two cows Davey, take two cows Davey , take two cows Davey, two” call on cue at the end.
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The trick of course is to record the pigeon seperately from the video, then add it to the soundtrack in the right place later. Not that I’d ever resort to such chicanery!
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