Another week of doing precious little else but gardening. I don’t feel I’m getting ahead, but maybe I’m holding my own. At least the weather is playing ball, dry but not too hot. I still spend a lot of time watering, the price of growing too much in pots. I’m just looking at one of the pictures I took today for possible inclusion in this six and two things stand out, that I’d almost completely missed the group of Camassia that I’d photographed, taken as the light faded on Friday evening and that I had completely missed the adjacent clump of weeds, nearly as tall as the Camassia. I don’t think I’ll be using that one.
Not that Six on Saturday requires perfection in every shot, If you want to air your dirty washing for all to see, you are welcome to do so. Me, I’m inclined to use the selectivity of a photo to show what I want you to see and hide the rest. There aren’t really rules for six on Saturday but there is a participants guide, which makes suggestions. We’d love you to join in, the more the merrier.
One.
Every two years at about this time I give my Euphorbia mellifera a brutal haircut. Today was the day for 2026. The flowers were turning to seeds and I was sick of pushing past it where it was nearly blocking the path. Hopefully it will make enough regrowth by the time of our first opening to at least look like it’s going to live.
Two.
Last week I showed my two seedlings of an unidentified deciduous azalea and this week, as promised, I am showing you the parent. When I was given this I was led to believe it was a species, but whether it was wild collected or raised in cultivation with the attendant risk of hybridisation I don’t know. It has the best scent of any plant I grow. There will be someone out there who recognises it, I’m sure.
Three.
I grow two forms of Maianthemum racemosum (was Smilacina), what purports to be the straight species and a form called ‘Emily Moody’, which is the one on the right in the picture. They both smell strongly of lily of the valley and being on the opposite side of my tiny woodland area to the azalea, it’s a nicely fragrant place to be just now. ‘Emily Moody’ is taller, with broader, slightly glossy leaves.
Four.
I put a length of fence up in the top corner of the garden a few years back and planted two Clematis montana forms to cover it. That worked. The single pink is ‘Warwickshire Rose’, the double is ‘Marjorie’.
Five.
I’m kind of hoping that you spotted the two purple leaved shrubs amongst the clematis and wondered what it was. We bought it from Lower Keneggy Nursery and I cannot remember the name it had on it but it is very similar to a variety we were selling at the nursery I worked at which we called Fuchsia colensoi ‘Bronze Banks Peninsula’. I don’t recall seeing it flower but would expect a purplish black flower in winter.
Six.
Phyllostachys aureosulcata ‘Spectabilis’ and Hosta ‘Orange Marmalade’, the latter in a pot. Works for me.
Another week completed. I put a picture of one of Sue’s cacti flowering into last week’s six, this week’s header is by way of an update.
garden ruminations 
Stunning happenings in your garden just now, Jim. That no. 6 combination is spectacular.
LikeLike
GREAT SIX! WOW!
LikeLike
You always have wonderful things to share! I loved this quote “I’m inclined to use the selectivity of a photo to show what I want you to see and hide the rest.”
LikeLike
The Bamboo/Hosta combination is creative–I like it! I did notice the foliage of your Fuchsias–I purchased some interesting Coleus varieties the other day, and some of them are a similar wine shade. They look striking combined with other foliage. And, wow–that Azalea! It’s a stunner, and to have the best scent of any plant you grow…that’s really special.
LikeLike
Here’s my link: https://plantpostings.blogspot.com/2026/05/busy-busy.html. Thanks for hosting!
LikeLike
How lovely, I love cacti flowers.
LikeLike
I love the before and after picture of the euphorbia – oh, and I established that this technique wasn’t available with my WordPress plan…shame. The bamboo and hosta combination is brilliant – was it a happy accident, or clever planning?! My six (actually I think it’s 7 as I had forgotten to upload the last photo and had already written about it before I realised!) are here: https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2026/05/09/six-on-saturday-springing-along/ Thanks for hosting, as always
LikeLike
I was so surprised to hear that the purple was a fuchsia, very cool. I’m going to have to look for Maianthemum now because I absolutely love that lily of the valley scent but have been having problems getting my patch to multiply.
https://littleblueandwhitehouse.com/2026/05/09/six-on-saturday-9th-may-2026/
LikeLike
Wow, I had a struggle getting this link over here. Odd. Anyway, finally…https://tanglycottage.wordpress.com/2026/05/09/six-on-saturday-in-the-garden-2/
LikeLike
That last photo is a knockout. All are beautiful. The clematis is amazing.
Maianthemum, which is a native here, is the bane of my woodland garden. This gives me an idea for next week’s six! A friend of mine who was the head of the display garden at Plant Delights in North Carolina told me it was a desired plant there but hard to grow. Oops, I have to go fetch the link to my six.
LikeLike
The orange marmalade is lovely! Here’s my six for the week https://doingtheplan.com/2026/05/09/horse-chestnut-gertrude-wisteria-pansy-sweetpea-feathervane-and-turkish-sage/
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am excited about the Maianthemum – I love the scent of Lily of the Valley (and the adorable flowers), but it is terribly invasive here – I dare not plant it, but here you come along with a plant that is native to my area and smells of LOTV?! Amazing! My fave native plant vendor sells it, but as per usual, May is far to late to get anything but seeds. I can order bare root for fall though and I am thinking that maybe where I took out the Japanese Spirea and am letting Matteuccia struthiopteris take over would be a good spot. Excitement! ( oh yeah, the fiddleheads are starting to come and there is a bit of Spirea still there – I removed them when the ferns were full sized and I did not want to make the fronds get all bedraggled digging around in there. I need to add that to the list!
The Azalea if a great color! Impressive haircut. I am considering refreshing my elderberry next spring before it leafs out. The shape is becoming more vase shaped and the point of it is to hide the driveway of the four-plex next door. I like the more rounded shape that is leafed out down to the ground.
Here are my six, making slow progress despite the frost last weekend and continuing low temps. Normally overnight is around 7 C this time of year but it has been flirting with 0 C. Slowly warming up.
https://wisconsingarden.wordpress.com/2026/05/09/may-9-2026-six-on-saturday/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dan Hinkley says there is an eastern and a western form of Maianthemum racemosum, the western one being a much more robust polyploid form. I wonder what your locally native form is?
LikeLike
Mine would be Eastern, native from the Dakotas in the north to Texas in the south and all the way to the Atlantic. According to my vendor, this one is not fragrant, but Maianthemum stellatum is also available, and the range seems to span the west coast to montana in the north and New Mexico in the south, and east to the Atlantic, above a line from Oklahoma to North Carolina. The fragrant one has showier flowers and may be a little more aggressive, but still is considered good for home landscaping (some of the things they carry are more for a restoration of natural areas, not so much for around the house). I will try the fragrant one.
LikeLike
I feel the same, gardening a lot and just keeping ahead. I also use the crop feature a lot to ‘edit’ the odd things out of photos. I love the last combination, something I could never have! Wishing us both a nice rain shower! thank you for hosting. https://theshrubqueen.com/2026/05/09/six-on-saturday-spring-shift/
LikeLiked by 1 person
When I took the Hosta/bamboo picture I was thinking happy accident but actually it wasn’t. I grow most hostas in pots because they have more chance avoiding slug damage and I put that one on the north side of the bamboo clump so it would be in shade. It could never compete with the bamboo roots if planted where it is. A bunch of reasons for it being where it is, none of them having anything to do with appearance. That bit was a happy accident.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The colors and textures are beautiful together.
LikeLike
I appreciate your comment about the “selectivity of a photo.” That’s why I have four versions of each photo used. I just need to get better at deleting those extra three! Let’s see how well I selected this week: https://aftereden.blog/2026/05/09/six-on-saturday-9-may-2026/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me too! Honestly, I should dump everything on my phone that is not from 2026 – the good ones I save for use in SOS, and honestly, apart from photos I take at work (work related, not Centennial Garden) would not be useful if not recent and likely were already used in some report, most are pictures of plants, insects, birds and local mammals.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Makes you realise that blogging would be impossible without digital cameras. I know only too well the problem with not deleting pictures, it’s easier to just buy another hard drive.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is a beautiful azalea. I cannot help you with the naming. The bamboo and hosts picture is spectacular.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I really love the pairing of bamboo and Hosta – both in colour and form, it’s a great photo. And the Clematis! Bees must be very happy in your garden! We’re still in peak daffodil season here!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Two things impress me Jim. There’s so much in garden yiu can bring us a new 6 every week and for the most you can name every single one by variety. Here’s my six from the lost label brigade http://lifeonalondonplot.com/2026/05/09/six-on-saturday-08-05-2026/
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was a nurseryman for 25 years and an unnamed plant is an unsaleable plant if you have scruples about such things. I am a fairly meticulous labeller, I have to be with my failing memory.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Such a pretty Azalea and that Fuchsia is very desirable. The Bamboo and Hosta work very well for me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Whoops, I think I made a mess of the link, it’s always hit or miss with me.
LikeLike
Fabulous six. I love the clematis hedge with the dark fucshia foliage. I have never noticed that smilacina is fragrant. And that hosta is now on my wish list, it’s new to me.
Six on Saturday. May delights↗
LikeLiked by 1 person
That really is a brutal haircut! But clearly very necessary. I love the azalea, the flowers are gorgeous.
My six this week is here: https://mysanctuarygarden.wordpress.com/2026/05/09/six-on-saturday-09-05-26/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Once again I forgot to leave my link…………https://www.leadupthegardenpath.com
LikeLike
So many to like this week, Love the Azalea, so pretty, and love the bamboo Hosta combinations, quite stunning. I usually just cut away the flowering stems of my Euphorbia mellifera, that seems to keep it to a manageable size, you were brave!
LikeLiked by 1 person
My hard chop of the Euphorbia has served me well over many years, I might have expected it to decline gradually but it hasn’t at all.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have a length of fence that is just crying out for that clematis montana to cover it.
My six in which I’m still moaning about the lack of rain https://wp.me/p88ZiK-def
LikeLiked by 1 person
That azalea is less familiar than its baby. I have no idea what it is. That fuchsia is also unfamiliar. It certainly is striking as a fuchsia. The bamboo and hosta combination really works nicely.
These are my six.
https://tonytomeo.com/2026/05/09/six-on-saturday-nursery-projects/
LikeLiked by 2 people
The azalea/rhododendron might be periclymenoides, atlanticum or prinophyllum, ie an American species; or it might not.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Those are Eastern species that I never met.
LikeLike
Lovely clematis. I have one I planted last year that is starting to get going. It’s to cover the side of my garage which is a bit of an eyesore. https://potsandplots.blog/2026/05/09/sixonsaturday-09-05-2026/
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oh my, I do love strolling through your garden Jim. This week I am very taken with the Orange Marmalade Hosta….love the name of that too! The header pic is also beautiful.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I didn’t know purple leaved fuchsias existed. They’re very striking, as are the Montanas – which reminds me, I need to chop mine back once it finishes flowering https://onemanandhisgardentrowel.wordpress.com/2026/05/09/six-on-saturday-9-may-2026/
LikeLiked by 3 people
A very pretty display of cactus flowers in the greenhouse! Indeed, the Euphorbia mellifera’s “haircut” is truly spectacular. You’re lucky the frost doesn’t hit them as much as it does mine. https://fredgardenerblog2.wordpress.com/2026/05/09/six-on-saturday-09-05-26/
LikeLiked by 2 people