Six on Saturday – 30/5/2026

Categories six on saturday52 Comments on Six on Saturday – 30/5/2026

Enough already. I get fed up with overly hot weather just as quickly as wet. Take your eye off something for a moment and its scorched or shrivelled. And everything is over so quickly when it’s hot; last week I was waiting for a peony to open, a week on and both that flower and the one that followed it are just a pile of petals on the ground. Somewhat reluctantly I’ve been planting the likes of Salvias in the garden, beans and tomatoes on my allotment. They’ve needed checking twice a day to make sure they don’t dry out. Next week it’s back to a more mixed bag of weather, it’d be nice if it topped up my water tanks.

Right, enough whingeing, time to pull together another six on saturday, where gardeners far and wide tell us about half a dozen things happening in their gardens this week. Tiz simple enough, post your post and then, because I happen to be the host, put a link to your post in my comments below so we can all find it. Need to know more, check out the participants guide. Onwards and upwards.

One.
I said I would put my second inter-sectional peony in this week so I will, even though it is actually all over already. It’s a variety called ‘Cora Louise’ and it’s very nice but doesn’t last long. I’m generally reluctant to give advice, to anyone about anything, but if pressed on the subject of keeping a garden flowery I suggest a focus on things that flower for more than two days. I’ve been known to ignore my own advice.

Two.
I’m going to repeat something I put in last week, namely Leptospermum ‘Karo Spectrobay’. I bought it in 2020 and put it in a six back then. It’s a New Zealand raised hybrid of two Australian Leptospermum species. I don’t know if that tells you anything useful about its hardiness but it has grown outside here since 2020 without problems. I don’t know if manuka honey is made from Leptospermum in Australia but the bees are loving this plant so it seems to produce a good nectar flow.

Three.
I managed to grow a cell tray of Orlaya from seed I’d saved, sown in August 2025. I planted a group at both ends of one bed in the garden, very similar conditions, and this group have done very well and are looking good with Allium cristophii. The other group vanished under a molluscular onslaught never to be seen again.

Four.
Clematis don’t in the main do very well in this garden. The exceptions tend to be the montanas, which do too well. I think of myself as a happy medium sort of guy, so Clematis and I have an uneasy relationship. This one is putting on quite a good show, which I don’t recall it doing before, in fact I’m not sure I recall planting it there at all. I seem to have had Clematis ‘Ernest Markham’ elsewhere in the garden and I have a hunch that’s what this is, but I don’t recall moving it and the label at its base said ‘Sunny Sky’, which it surely isn’t. And what happened to that, did I move that elsewhere?

Five.
The action now moves to Sue’s glasshouse, which I have been in and out of a lot today. From yards away outside I spotted what looked like a leaf dangling from a cobweb inside the glasshouse but when I checked it out it turned out to be a Poplar hawk moth. It must have only just emerged from its cocoon since it was very dark and still expanding and getting paler. There are poplars a short distance away, populated by the local Jackdaw tribe; likely not a good place for a moth to hang about. I measured its width at 57mm, so quite a big beast. Just hope it doesn’t get caught in one of the many spider’s webs in there.

Six.
The reason I was in and out of the glasshouse so much was that it’s in the middle of a mass flowering. Starting mid evening thursday 44 of the big trumpet Echinopsis hybrid flowers opened up by the morning. Another 33 are starting to open now, on Friday evening. I was hoping for a cooler day so that the earlier lot would still be in good shape for the second batch but I don’t think there’ll be much left of the Thursday evening openers by Saturday morning. These pictures are from 8.45 and 21.25 on Friday.

I may get up early enough to get another picture done before this blog goes live at 7. Who knows.

This was 6.42 this morning. Tricky light.

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Published by Jim Stephens

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

52 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 30/5/2026”

  1. I am bowled over by the cactus collection — I have one cactus and when it blooms I’m so happy. I ignored it for years and it didn’t bloom during that period.

    The ‘Karo Spectrobay’ is almost psychedelic — it hardly looks real. What a joy! Nature’s fanciest dress for sure.

    Thank you for the June extravaganza 🙂

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  2. My favorite line this week was, “I’ve been known to ignore my own advice.”

    I was talking about you to neighbor Joyce today. When I said you lived in England, she was curious if you know of Monty Don. She watches his programs whenever she can.

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  5. Your flowers are lovely, but I’m going to have to rave about the flowering cacti. Amazing. I took part this week. I have been a hit or miss ‘sixer’ but today I had the right combination and had fun putting a collage together. Have the happiest of weeks. My post came through as a pingback so I won’t include a link in the comment. Thanks so much for hosting.

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  8. Trying again. Pretty sure the first one didn’t work.

    That MASS flowering deserved CAPS LOCK!! Wow. Insane and beautiful. Wowsers. But then back to the clematis…did you or didn’t you move it?? This is a conversation I have each spring…did I move this here or what is it?? Too funny to know that others do it as well. Here is my 6 this week. And we are also dealing with HOT (32/34l)and a huge drying wind. Harsh conditions especially for the fact we had snow on the ground May 19th. Spring seeding & assorted garden plants – three6fivesnap3

    Bernie

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    1. My only complaint about Sue and her cactus husbandry is that she propagated lots of them, probably he good ones, and was very sparing with labelling them so mostly I have no idea what they are. But yes, I am proud of what she built up, it was often a struggle for her and she never asked for help.

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  18. You are keeping me on my toes with your post titles Jim. Previously a year in the past and this week a month in the future! I always schedule my link so I assume the date is correct. No matter I have altered it now.

    Sue’s glasshouse is a true delight – you should have an open day purely for that! And yes another visit to GW. And the Leptospermum is wow!

    Six on Saturday | Heatwave

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    1. I barely know what day it is, far less what month or year, and now that I’ve lost my diary secretary I’m going to miss nearly every appointment I ever make. NGS do allow for pop-up garden openings but the cacti are so fleeting it would be very tricky to get spot on.

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      1. I understand. Luckily I was the diary secretary and financial adviser. I must pop over and visit you and your lovely garden soon.

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  21. Like… wow…the cacti….almost no words…do the flowers only last the one day (or night)?

    I love the moth and the peony – my tree peony has no flowers this year, all the terminal buds were killed off by the cold winter, so lots of foliage and several suckers coming up from the herbaceous peony root stock with flower buds…

    6 on Saturday – 30MAY2026

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    1. This latest flush of cactus flowers started as night fell on Thursday and is almost completely done. The Thursday flowers were wilting quite badly on Saturday morning when I took pictures of them and the Friday flowers together, so 36 hours tops. It depends a lot on how hot it is, they can go a couple of days if it’s cool.

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  22. Wonderful selection as usual, really like your moth and Sue’s cacti. Peonies are so gorgeous, they really are worth it even though they are so fleeting! Can you tell me what your hosta is in the photo with the clematis, it is on the right with large blue leaves with a splash of yellow in the centre?

    My six are here……….https://www.leadupthegardenpath.com/

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    1. Practically the last conversation that the BBC producer had before they left after filming me and camellias last year was with Sue about doing a piece around cacti and succulents. They never came back to us and I wouldn’t do it in her stead, it wouldn’t seem right. They are so fleeting too, the spectacular display that started Thursday at nightfall is all over, almost all have withered away.

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    1. The cactus flowers are of course even shorter lived than most peonies. There’s something a bit Zen about waiting a year for something then it lasts a single day. So much input for so little return perhaps, or symbolic of the fleeting nature of life and to be treasured.

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  35. Hello Jim, the Orlaya does look lovely with the Allium and I also love the Clematis. It is a gorgeous colour. We have Leptospermum growing all over our property. It is native to the region but I don’t actually know if Manuka honey is made in Australia or imported from NZ. The variety you have growing is such a lovely colour. Hope you get some rain soon.

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