Six on Saturday – 29/8/2026

Categories six on saturday, , 43 Comments on Six on Saturday – 29/8/2026

Our garden opening season comes to an end on Monday and to be honest, I’m glad it’s over for the year. It has been a slog keeping it from getting no worse than it already is and it’s disheartening to put in a lot of extra work and still have it looking as battered as it does. I look at it now and think that if I’d had the water and had irrigated all summer, it would be looking much better but at least half of the water applied would not have been needed since the plants look OK without it. Nor would I have known which had been watered unnecessarily. I’m going to get through with only a handful of outright losses but it very much remains to be seen which things succumb to winter wet having suffered root damage from drought and how many are alive next year but failing to thrive.

One.
I’ve had a very brightly variegated Yucca in a pot for many a year; I got in when I was still working so at least twelve years. I’ve always thought it was Yucca recurvifolia ‘Banana Split’ but now I’m not so sure. It is producing a flower spike, which obviously means it warrants a Six on Saturday mention but since it has never had a label I thought I should do a quick check online. I wish I hadn’t, now I really don’t know what it is. Most likely seems to be Yucca ‘Bright Star’, once categorized as a form of recurvifolia, now seemingly Y. gloriosa ‘Bright Star’, or Yucca gloriosa [Bright Star] (Walbristar’) if you want the full weight of taxonomic stupidity. It’s in the row of spiky things I put out front this year with the aim of reducing the amount of watering I needed to do out there. Could be the only thing I got right this year.

Two.
Fuchsia hatschbachii got a mention back in January when I was sorting out the mess I’d made for myself by cutting down Magnolia ‘Ann’ , removing the support it had been providing to the Fuchsia and a Clematis viticella. The Fuchsia gets cut back hard each year and produces slender shoots of six feet or more which are not self supporting. It’s a very elegant species with slender red flowers and narrow glossy leaves. So far (touch wood) it has never had gall mite and is putting up with drought very well.

Three.
Putting up with drought is sadly not the story elsewhere. Last week I reported that Eucryphia milliganii had a lot of dead appearing; change that to has a few live bits left, and that after a week that has been much cooler with some rain. In addition and only just noticed is my other Eucryphia, E. lucida ‘Gilt Edge’. It’s much the same, just a few shoots still alive. I’ve been wondering if its worth trying to root some cuttings but I doubt they’d succeed and Eucryphia is not seeming like a plant well suited to our probable future climate. It’s sandwiched in between other plants and seems to have lost out in the fight for water. I’m a bit concerned about the camellia bottom right too, it should look the same as the bit top right.

Four.
I have four Hedychium varieties in the garden and three have been absolutely useless in the drought. Hedychium ‘Tara’ on the other hand is the best it’s ever been, at least in growth. The flower spikes are starting to open up and should be looking good on Sunday and Monday when the garden is open, if possibly a couple of days short of their peak. I measured one stem at just shy of 2m.

Five.
I was given a cutting of Abelia chinensis in November 2024 and now have quite a good young plant that I will try to find a place for this winter. The thing I’m liking most about it is that every time I walk past it I get a waft of really good scent. I had a sniff at a different Abelia variety recently and detected nothing. For late flowering and scent I’m going to give it an eight.

Six.
Our most recent rescue hedgehog abandoned his custom hedgehog house and stopped appearing on trail camera footage many months ago. A couple of weeks ago I found a pile of leaves which looked like a nest and not wanting to disturb it, set the camera up and put down a bowl of water. The good news is that Beaver the hedgehog is still about. I refreshed the water, put some food out and moved the camera to get a better angle. In successive video clips I saw one of the neighbourhood cats stalking him, then exiting stage right, then the first 9 seconds of the next 10 second clip showing nothing followed by the cat passing right to left at high speed. I’m assuming the hedgehog won that round.

Another week down. Apart from the ground being desperately dry as deep as I’ve gone, not far admittedly, the weather seems to have returned to near normal autumnal fare and the plants look a bit less stressed. My two Eucryphias tell a different story and I want some serious rain. A cautionary voice in my head is saying “be careful what you wish for”. The sensible voice in my head is saying “water storage” and it’s saying it loudly and insistently.

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Published by Jim Stephens

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

43 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 29/8/2026”

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  8. I asked before but did not get back to find your reply and now I don’t remember when I asked: What is your garden open scheme? Are you part of a group or the national book of open gardens (I forgot what is called) or do you open and promote it on your own? I only have three a year, ending in July, although I have thought of having an autumn one..and did once before…,maybe twenty people came. I get as many as fifty in May, June, and July. I will remember to come back and look for a reply!

    Beverly Nichols raved in deep purple prose about eucryphia in one of his books. Every time mine blooms (which it has not so far this year) I want to find that passage, which begins “Eucryphia! Eucryphia!”

    I have some hydrangeas way back among the alders that are wilting badly. I need to sort out some rough compost and mulch them, or maybe move them forward to where they don’t compete with the alders. I worry they are so badly wilted this year that they won’t come back, but they probably will. I do water them but can’t seem to provide enough! I had thought about making a Six about six plants that look terrible right now, maybe I will do that next week.

    Here is my six. https://tanglycottage.wordpress.com/2026/08/29/29-august-six-on-saturday-in-the-garden/

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  17. There has been plenty of rain overnight and this morning here and very windy! The garden is appreciating it, though as I am having some outdoor work done to my house next month I am hoping that it won’t rain continuously.

    Lovely to see the hedgehog return, I guess in a rural location like mine they don’t need to come into gardens. And Tara is a star.

    Six on Saturday | Ornamental Grass

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  25. Hedgehog vs cat… my money was always on the hedgehog.

    Nothing from me this week as I couldn’t find anything worth showing. Instead I’m enjoying the sound of rain trickling into water butts, including a new one I installed yesterday.

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      1. Of the several gingers that are available in Southern California, kahili ginger is supposedly the easiest to grow. I do not know if that is because it is more resilient, or if it is because it is the most aggressive. In this region, it is the only ginger that is commonly available. (I brought all my other gingers from Southern California.)

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  28. Abelia chinensis looks lovely and fragrance is always a nice bonus. Great to learn Beaver has returned. Ours disappeared for a while and then returned looking rather thin, setting up home under the shed during one of the heatwaves. She’s looking better now but often changes her routine vihttps://onemanandhisgardentrowel.wordpress.com/2026/08/29/six-on-saturday-29-august-2026/

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    1. I have three terrible Hedychiums and one the best it’s ever been. Their respective locations don’t provide an obvious explanation for the differences. It’s so often the way.

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  30. Last but not least, your hedgehog/stalker photo is wonderful, glad that Beaver has made himself a cosy home and is keeping the locals in check. Fuchsia hatschbachii is a favourite of mine, myself and Torrington Tina rescued some when they were changing the bedding at Rosemoor one year. Unfortunately, for some stupid reason, I didn’t bring any with me to South Wales. Snapish with the hedychium and I also think they are very tall this year. I hope your last open days go well. I think you deserve a rest now. Here are my six https://offtheedgegardening.com/2026/08/29/six-on-saturday-perky/

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    1. Rest, what’s that? I have things to crack on with the minute the visitors are gone and before the weather goes down the pan completely. Beaver wasn’t on the camera last night so I hope the cat hasn’t spooked him; I shall be fretting till I see him again.

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