Six on Saturday – 6/9/2025

Categories six on saturday, , , 28 Comments on Six on Saturday – 6/9/2025

And then it was September. Where did August go, surely it had only just arrived. Not a lot of gardening has been done because not a lot has been possible. Summer is gone, there has been plentiful rain, my water storage is full and parts of the garden are slowly mouldering back into the ground. The gardener knows a losing battle when he sees one and is not trying to fight it. I took some pictures earlier and I’m hoping I can salvage half a dozen snippets from among them for this week’s six on Saturday. If you’re sitting on the sidelines and like a challenge, now is a great time of year to join in the Six on Saturday meme, it gets pretty tricky to come up with six garden happenings in the depths of winter and brings contributors imagination and creativity to the fore. The participants guide tells you all about how to do it when the living is easy, not so much for the rest of the year.

One.
On Wednesday the Cornwall Hardy Plant Society resumed its lecture program, having had a summer of garden visits instead. A regular feature is the three stems competition, where members bring along three stems of things from their garden and have them judged by the evening’s speaker. There are two members who very often get first and second but not this month. They had to settle for second and third. My vase of Indigofera pendula, Eucomis ‘Pink Gin’ and Fuchsia regia serrae clinched the big prize. The speaker: Anne Swithinbank.

Two.
While I had my black background set up and the camera on its tripod I thought I’d take a picture of Begonia carolineifolia as it is probably due to be replaced with a more easily accommodated younger version, now that I’ve cracked propagating it. It didn’t work so well as the three stems. The background is 34 inches high.

Three.
In my allotment tunnel I have a few odds and ends besides tomatoes and salad leaves, among them eight or nine Camellias of various sorts, theoretically destined for the Mt Edgcumbe National collection when they’re big enough. A few of these are seedlings from obscure varieties that have likely not been used as parents elsewhere and have the potential to produce something new and interesting. Two have flower buds for the first time; one from ‘Peter Betteley’, sown 27/9/2018, a month short of seven years ago; the other from ‘Laura Schafer’, sown 17/10/2019, nearly six years ago. If, as is likely, they turn out to be nothing special, I shall shred them, which seems harsh but there are far too many mediocre varieties out there already. The reason I was looking at the plants closely was that I’d taken my eye off the ball and allowed scale insect to run rampant. The worst of them looked like this, but it’s all superficial and cleans off with a damp rag and a bit of time.

Four.
The sun is getting lower in the sky, which usually makes for better photo opportunities and with many plants well past their generally recognised best it can create chances to get a less obvious image. Hydrangea macrophylla ‘You and Me Together’ is a double flowered modern hybrid that holds its flowers very well and is perfectly placed to be well lit between 9 and 10 in the morning at this time of year.

Five.
I dug out Molinia caerulea ‘Transparent’ a couple of seasons back because it was wide spreading and blocked the adjacent paths. I repalced it in a different place in the same bed with Molinia caerulea ‘Karl Foerster’, which is wide spreading and blocks the adjacent path. It’s lovely though, but then so was ‘Transparent’. I hadn’t noticed the red hanging leaves on the Miscanthus behind until I uploaded the photo.

Six.
There are so many lovely plants in our garden that have been given to us by other gardeners, not least among them several from the Six on Saturday fraternity. The latest addition, much admired in a nearby friend’s garden for several years, is Clematis ‘My Angel’. I couldn’t be happier, I just need to find somewhere to plant it.

That’s yer lot again. Until next Saturday, happy gardening.

Unknown's avatar

Published by Jim Stephens

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

28 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 6/9/2025”

  1. Congratulations on the win! No SoS from me this week as we were supposed to be away, but in fact had to cut the holiday short, but I was so tired from the drive ( 8 hours) I only went into the garden to dead head the cosmos! I bought a couple of new grasses home with me and I have you to thank for my ordering that clematis! I am hoping it will do well in the place where I removed the oriental bittersweet vine. Fingers crossed!

    Like

    Reply
  5. Pingback: Six on Saturday – The fruits of our labours | Frogend dweller's Blog

  6. Wow, that Hydrangea is a stunner with all of its color range! I don’t think I’ve seen that one before, or at least not with the bright pinks all the way into the medium blues. Lovely. Clematis ‘My Angel’ is really nifty, too. Sounds like a fun competition with the hardy plant society. Your choices are nicely balanced. How do they pick winners: based on creativity, or unique plants, or simply overall effect? It would be fun to see everyone’s selections. 🙂

    Like

    Reply

    1. It is left to the speaker on the night to pick their top three, on any basis that they choose. The entries are usually so diverse that they are really not comparing like with like, so there’s a large element of subjectivity. I think everyone accepts that and doesn’t take it too seriously. As much as it being a competition, it’s an opportunity for everyone to show off what is looking really good in their garden at the time. It’s also used as an opportunity to get unknown plants identified; there’s usually someone who will know what something is.

      Like

      Reply
  9. Pingback: Late Bloomers: Six On Saturday – Tish Farrell
  13. Pingback: Six on Saturday. 6.9.2025 | Lead up the Garden Path

    1. There’s always a good turnout for the HPS meetings and a good entry for the competition, so a win does make you feel good. It was the Indigofera wot won it, she fell for it at first sight.

      Like

      Reply

  16. Congratulations on your three stems win! The begonia is beautiful, just a pity the background wasn’t large enough to take in the full plant as it has a lovely shape. I like the way your background is supported on the wooden stand – does it have a strut support at the back? I usually gather up books to place at the back of mine, but it’s fiddly and not reliable. The hydrangea has an impressive range of flower colours.
    Here’s mine for this week:

    https://notesfrommygarden.co.uk/2025/09/06/september-the-ninth-month/

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. My black background is an 86 x 90 cm sheet of plywood with the middle cut out and a black cotton sheet stretched over it. I had it leaning against a table and shoved a bit of 2 x 3 under it to lift it a bit. I need to make a new and bigger one, this one’s faded to dark grey.

      Like

      Reply

  17. stopping by early today as it’s another busy family day. I’ll be back scrounging round for six for next week though. The three stems look fabulous against the black background. Congratulations on changing the norm!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I think the Indigofera is only marginally hardy here, which would explain why so few people grow it but it’s such a good plant, flowers for months and easily restricted in size. It’s a good thing Virginia creeper doesn’t have stems as thick as the begonia, it would collapse whole buildings.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Virginia creeper is rare in home gardens here, although it and Boston ivy are somewhat common on freeway sound-walls. They discourage graffiti and muffle traffic noise, . . . and the freeway sound-walls can support their weight.

        Like

Leave a comment