Six on Saturday – 4/7/2026

Categories six on saturday, 45 Comments on Six on Saturday – 4/7/2026

That’s another garden open day over. Not many people, but appreciative. I’d expect more tomorrow, being a weekend. It’d be a sad state of affairs if on a day I was charging people entry to the garden I was unable to find six things to feature here though there always seem to be an uncomfortable number of things just missed or things not quite out yet.

You know the drill, post a picture and a bit of info about six things in your garden, put a link to it in my comments below. The participants guide is still in the same place.

One.
The (ex) pond. When visitors come round the side of the house the first feature they come to is what used to be our pond. I filled it in many years back because the frogs filled it with so much spawn it just went stagnant every year and I got sick of cleaning up the mess. I left the liner in, filled it with soil and planted it with Astilbes and other marginals. They are all very happy until the moisture runs out, then they are very unhappy, since their root run is restricted. I don’t know what people are expecting when they come round the corner but it is never this, unless they’ve seen it before they are always surprised. Largely the Tardis effect. (Bigger on the inside, for non Doctor Who folks). The Astilbes are not lasting long in the heat.

Two.
Visitors often then ask which way they should go and I say which ever way you like, it’s not huge, you wont get lost. The path to the right, past the Hakonechloa in a pot, takes you up a few steps where you will find a garish gladiolus in a pot. It may be the same one Tony put in last week, looks very like it. I couldn’t remember the name so was looking through old catalogues and receipts trying to find it, without success. When I looked at the pot it has a label. I was so convinced it didn’t have one I’d not bothered to look there first. I put them in a pot when I first got them, intending to plant them out later. Later is running at around five years and they’re still in the pot. I overwinter them in my tunnel, bring them out to flower, put them back when they’re done. The label says Butterfly Bernadette.

Three.
Every year Sue would succumb to the allure of yellow Antirrhinums on sale in our local supermarket. I never asked how much they cost but I bought a packet of seed for £2.25. Their website says the packet contains approx 4140 seeds, then apologises for that being only an estimate. I wasn’t tempted to count them. I grew some and planted them out and they’re flowering and the ones from Morrisons were a lot better plants I’m sorry to say. However, last years bought plants scattered their seed which germinated, grew up and are flowering without any help from me at all. I have to admit that I passed on the several varieties on Chilterns website costing £3.95 for approximately 32 seeds but it seems that Antirrhinums are largely ignored by slugs, so I may push the boat out next year. I assume the supermarket plants were ‘Canary Bird’, the same variety I bought seed of. The supporting act is Tritelia ‘Corrina’.

Four.
My various lilies are kicking off, indeed the earliest are over. Lilium ‘Red Velvet’ did well last year in a pot plunged into the ground. This year I moved them into a bigger pot and sunk that in a different place, further from the path so less accessible. The good news is that they have not been much troubled by lily beetle; the bad news is that the slugs and snails ate most of the leaves before the lily beetles got a chance to. It’s a fine variety all the same and I resolve to do better next year.

Five.
I just wrote a piece about a hydrangea and have changed my mind to go for this Veronica spicata instead. I doubt this is a named selection, almost certainly an unselected seedling. It was given to me with no name. My only complaint is that it wilts at the first sign of drying out.

Six.
Right at the top end of the garden is a bench. It doesn’t see much use, the cats sit on it more than I do. But when the last of our visitors had gone I poured a beer and took my camera over there. I took one picture stood on the bench, the other sat down. Sat down you feel pleasantly immersed in it all; I should do it more often.

One of our visitors went away with a 1m, 7.5L Podochaenium eminens from my plant sales, she certainly wont have been expecting to find that and I think it’s that sense of exceeding people’s expectations, which admittedly are not high when they head for what seems likely to be a pocket handkerchief garden in the middle of a very ordinary modern housing estate, that makes opening the garden such a pleasure.

I’m putting a picture of Lilium leichtlinii in as the header, it’s only just started to open and if the next couple of weeks are hot will be past its best next time we open in a fortnight. It’ll get a proper slot next week.

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Published by Jim Stephens

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

45 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 4/7/2026”

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  3. A really interesting read, Jim – thanks. We do give our visitors a map, not because we think they will get lost, but to make sure they visit all the nooks and crannies – it’s certainly not what they might expect from outside, which from the front is a small end of terrace house. Lilies over quickly here too, and what is it about veronicas and veronicastrums? Mine are wilting too, not something I have noticed before in other hot spells. Your ‘bog garden’ entrance feature looks really effective. Thanks for hosting; my late six are here https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2026/07/05/six-on-erm-sunday-loose-ends/

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  7. I was surprised last year when I was given a free pack of snapdragon seeds how easy they were to grow. Some even came through our mild winter.

    I like the idea of sinking lilies in a pot into the ground. Last year I had to remove some lily clumps that had got some kind of disease that was making the buds not form. I was so depressed. I’d had to remove some fuchsias for gall mite at the same time! Planting them in pots would protect them from badness in the soil in one of those areas. I have to change the name of my late July garden open from Lily Time to just…Summer open garden.

    Also I hear you on astilbes. My garden has a high water table but if we have a dry summer, which often happens, and I forget to water them after the water has dropped from below their roots,they will frizzle and not recover.

    Love that Veronica!

    Here is my six. https://tanglycottage.wordpress.com/2026/07/04/six-on-saturday-4-july-more-plants-this-week/

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  10. Your former pond area is impressive; I imagine it must be quite dramatic when coming around the corner and suddenly it’s there! I enjoyed the light blue and yellow mix of the Antirrhinums and the Tritelia. Your Gladiolus is striking! Very nice. I’ll be out of town next week, but back with a “six” post in mid-July. Thanks for hosting!

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  13. Beautiful, as always! I especially like the snapdragons andTritelia. I was hoping for a blue and yellow where my new Nigella are, but I have white not blue. I can remedy that next year. The yellow will be provided with Coreopsis lanceolata, that may be blooming for next Saturday. The view from the bench makes me feel at peace. Great pictures!

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  20. I wish my garden looked as good as yours, though I know it takes a lot of work to keep it looking like that and I am slowly running out of steam. Every year I say I will buy Antirrhinums as they look so good on other blogs and your yellow/blue combination is lovely. Alas I have no annuals this year except for a packet of direct sown mixed seeds that have yet to flower.

    Six on Saturday | Back to Normal

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  24. You’ve inspired to have a go at Gladioli next year. You say you have grown them in a pot for five years. Tell me the secret: have you been repotting them in next soil each year? and what size pot are they in? Being a small garden some of the compact or miniature gladioli would help boost my summer garden. Thanks Jim as ever for hosting and sharing your knowledge. I am sure everyone will enjoy their visit today, and I hope you have time to have another sit down this evening.

    My six: https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2026/07/six-on-saturday-4-july-2026.html

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    1. There’s a tab on my blog where I was doing a shot of the garden at the end of each month, up until 9 years ago. I just looked at the pictures and was staggered by how much has changed. Most of what was there then seems to have gone. I should do an update, perhaps resume the monthly picture idea.

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      1. The photos under that tab are great. You should definitely reboot the idea. I’ve been taking my SoS header shot from the same spot by the back door each week, with a view to taking a look back once the year is out. But now I feel like a monthly shot from a different vantage point could also be added into the mix.

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  33. Yes, we never make enough time to sit and enjoy our gardens, love the sitting view from your bench. I think you have the best idea having your lilies in pots and then planting them pot and all, must try that in future. I think I might have to turn my pond into an extension of my bog garden as I think the liner now has leak and redoing it will be far to much work at my age! Love the astilbes!

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

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