It looks like we’re going to get another dousing overnight and into Saturday morning. Hey, it’s late November, what do you expect? I still have plants out in the garden that need to come in, but I’m not getting into the garden much at the moment and the jobs are backing up a bit.
I think I have six things to put into a Saturday six, if you have too please join in. Just post pictures and a short description of six things going on in your garden and put a link to your post in my comments down below. Check out the participants guide for more details.
One.
I took six pictures of things in the garden from an upstairs window yesterday, thinking I might not want to venture out with my camera. Today was better so I’m not sure I’ll use many of them. One was of Miscanthus ‘Morning Light’, a grass with narrow variegated leaves that gets around six feet tall and flowers very late in the year, like about now. I featured it in a six in February, still looking good with its dead stems, so another good one for a very long period of interest stretching deep into the winter months when much else is dead and gone.
Two.
In the top left of the previous picture is an Artemisia. I don’t know where it came from, or when, and I’m not entirely sure what variety it is. I took another picture of it from ground level this morning, in rather warmer morning light. I’m assuming it’s Artemisia ‘Powys Castle’. Its flowers would be pretty insignificant but are not what it’s grown for. I’m not expecting it to look this good all winter but for now I’m very happy with its contribution.
Three.
One of the few things I did manage to drag myself out to do this week was to cut down the dead Astilbes and Filipendula in our ex pond. When I say dead, I mean dormant; dead tops, live bottoms. I put them through the shredder along with a tub of leaves from elsewhere and mulched the bed with the shreddings. The large leaved, prostrate plant at the back is Chrysoplenium macrophyllum, which has been perfectly happy under the Astilbes all summer. It now gets its turn to shine before the Astilbes hide it again in spring, flowering as it does in February. The Zantedeschia ‘White Giant’ at the left has just about survived the two frosts we’ve had but several of the leaf stalks have snapped in the wind. Making so much new growth so late in the year is starting to look like a bad choice.
Four.
If ever you needed proof that plants don’t have to have flowers in order to be ornamental then here it is. Euphorbia mellifera has dull brown, honey scented flowers around May and I barely let them open before I cut the entire plant down to the ground. This is how it looks two growing seasons later, lovely but taking up more space than I’m prepared to let it have.
Five.
Up in the top corner Camellia ‘Showgirl’ is getting into its stride with its 14cm flowers, marred somewhat by the dead leaves hanging on the Magnolia ‘Vulcan’ in front of it. I am gradually reducing the Magnolia to a single trunk and raising its crown, the better to enjoy the Camellia, which I shall keep short enough to be below the tree canopy. That, at least, is the theory. For now I will pick the dead leaves off the Magnolia when the sun next shines.
Six.
Of the flowery things that are still hanging on, the best of them is Salvia ‘Amistad’. That will come as no surprise to anyone who grows it, it really is a top performer. I intended potting up a couple of the smaller plants to overwinter under cover but it seems wrong to dig up something still looking this good.
Not too shabby methinks, for the end of November. The next couple of weeks look fairly benign for the time of year so hopefully some of the current stuff has a bit longer to run but nothing much new is about to burst into blossom, so every week gets a little more challenging. I don’t mind that, it forces me to look harder.
garden ruminations 
I hope that you can persuade the Magnolia leaves down. I’ve not had much success when I’ve dug up S. ‘Amistad’ to overwinter it. How do you treat yours? No Six this week from me.
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We don’t usually dig up Salvia ‘Amistad’ to overwinter it, just take cuttings and start each year with new plants. This spring I planted out an older plant from a 3L pot which may have been lifted and potted in the autumn, I can’t remember, but it grew enormous, twice the height of the one year plants with far more stems.
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I like the Artemisia – it has a really unique look.
The Salvia ‘Amistad’ is also really pretty, I’ll need to look into getting one next year.
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I think Salvia would tick the wildlife friendly/useful box, I’m less sure about Artemisia, which is usually discouraged from flowering. The length and lateness of the Salvia’s flower display would likely up its value, even if it wasn’t as productive of nectar as some other things. I get humming bird hawk moths on it fairly regularly, which alone would sell it for me.
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My Amistad is still flowering too, but I suppose I ought to bring at least one inside. As for Euphorbia mellifera I do like the fragrance it spreads around a garden, but it is too big a shrub for me. I actually could have found six things this week including G. Rozanne!
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I cut Euphorbia mellifera every second year so that it stays a manageable size. It flowers in the second year but not the first. Ours doesn’t spread because it is cut before seed is set.
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Mmm… I am now wondering if I can make space. I do like the scent.
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The idea of shredding prunings and applying them directly as a mulch is appealing, but our shredder has remained unused for years as we found it over-noisy and problematical – perhaps we should reconsider… And I always envy your Amistad, which is something that has never done well here (for me, at least) and I have given up trying. Thanks for hoting, as always. My mixed bag is at https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2025/11/29/six-on-saturday-devils-spawn/
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I agree that shredding stuff is not without its problems, mine is noisy with harder material and clogs with soft stuff. Plus I have to remove and sharpen the blades regularly. We often have problems getting ‘Amistad’to grow away in spring because it is grazed off by slugs as fast as it grows. It works better for us to plant out vigorous young plants that are already 6-12 inches tall.
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And they grow into big plants in one season?
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I have well rooted cuttings in the greenhouse now in 9cm pots which I am keeping pinched back so they don’t shade each other and get spindly. I will pot them on into 1L pots in Feb-Mar and plant them out late April/early May when they should be about 30cm tall. By the end of the summer they should be around 1m tall. Two year old plants can be 1.5m tall, even when they’ve been cut right down in winter, given adequate moisture and slug protection when needed.
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They seem to make great progress for you, Jim – that’s a substantial plant even in year 1. Even when I have bought them as reasonable size plants in the past they have never performed well for me, and I shall try and assume it’s the conditions rather than a lack of skill on my part!
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Lovely selections, as always! I like the grass and the Artemsia. We are about to get blanketed with up to a foot of snow, so that will be nice. I really feel that if it is going to be below freezing, we should have a nice white blanket. In preparation, I scattered pilfered seeds of Coreopsis lanceolata and Veronicastrum virginicum so they can sleep beneath the snow and hopefully pop up in Spring. Have a great week!
https://wisconsingarden.wordpress.com/2025/11/29/november-29-2025-six-on-saturday/
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Yes, that looks very similar to my Artemisia ‘Powys Castle’ and in that position catching the winter sun, a nice addition to the brighten up the garden in winter. Here is my contribution: https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2025/11/six-on-saturday-29-november-2025.html
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Miscanthus grasses are nice. I do not remember what cultivar ours are, but they are more upright and narrow. Does Euphorbia mellifera self sow?
Here are my six.
https://tonytomeo.com/2025/11/29/six-on-saturday-cooling-weather/
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The Euphorbia used to self sow occasionally; these days I cut it back before any seeds develop.
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There’s something very pleasing about a newly tidied and mulched border https://onemanandhisgardentrowel.wordpress.com/2025/11/29/six-on-saturday-29-november-2025/
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Indeed, one of the most beautiful discoveries in recent years, and it’s thanks to you, is Euphorbia mellifera, because it offers lovely, graphic leaves in addition to its flowers. I’ve also highlighted a Salvia that’s producing one of the few blooms at the moment. Have a good day! Here’s my link: https://fredgardenerblog2.wordpress.com/2025/11/29/six-on-saturday-29-11-25/
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