Six on Saturday – 4/9/2026

I think I may have intended doing a post about my allotment at the beginning of September but it came and went without me noticing. It’s been that sort of year.
Last Sunday and Monday were our last two garden openings for the year. In the 3½ hours we were open on Sunday the rain gauge recorded 20mm of precipitation; enough, you would have thought, to guarantee no one came. I think we had eight intrepid souls. Monday was as busy a day as we’d ever had, so at least we ended on a high. Roll on next year, with a full blown mega El Nino; should be interesting.

In 1976 I remember that when the drought eventually broke quite a few plants started into growth again and I’m already seeing signs of that in plants like Dahlias and Salvias. It could be a colourful autumn with some trees very late to lose their leaves. Hopefully it will mean that finding six things to put into a Saturday six will become less of a challenge for a few weeks at least. You know the score, tell us about six things happening in your garden right now, do a blog post about it and put a link in my comments below. If you’re new here, welcome, and if you’re tempted to join in, there’s a participants guide you may find useful. If you’re new to blogging you’ll find plenty of beginners guides on YouTube. I use WordPress as my platform but there are others.

One.
This is the time of year when plants are winding down their flowering and setting seed. It has been my experience that where it is possible to get good quality seed from my own plants that I get a much better germination from them than from bought seed. The downside is that it puts a measure of constraint on dead heading, which can mean the current season’s flowering fizzles out sooner. The other downside is that our utility room gets plant saucers full of drying seeds on every surface for many weeks. When one of our cats stood on the rim of a saucer of sweet pea seeds the other day they went everywhere.

Two.
Until last year the most remarked upon plant in the garden by a country mile was Indigofera pendula. Last year it was in steep decline and nothing really stood out. On Monday the most admired plants were Coleus in pots and I moved the three in the conservatory outside this morning to join the one that spent summer outdoors so I could get a nice family group. The one at the back was five small plants to begin with, the other three all just one and now in 7.5L pots. It’s worth looking out for named forms rather than seed strains, the colours are much richer. I will take cuttings and try to overwinter them but won’t be surprised if I fail.

Three.
For very many years I have been trying to build up the numbers of Cyclamen in the garden, primarily with C. hederifolium to flower late summer and autumn, C. repandum to flower in spring, providing colour and interest at times of year that are otherwise somewhat sparse. C. hederifolium has been getting earlier and earlier, such that it often gets lost among bigger brasher plants. This year is different; the drought has severely punished most other flowery things and suited the dormant cyclamen very well. They’re mostly still young plants that are only producing a limited flower display, but they’re spreading around very nicely, even if I’m doing most of the spreading.

Four.
Begonia ‘Connie Boswell’ would be usually be grown as a houseplant in the UK, remaining evergreen indoors, losing its leaves and perhaps dying down to ground level in a cold but frost free greenhouse. This one was planted out in spring 2025 and left out. It was covered with leaves for the winter and had some protection from the bamboo canopy above it and it got off to quite a good start at the beginning of the summer. Since then its proximity to a big bamboo has turned against it and I have been watering it to little effect. It may yet put on a late season spurt. Do I leave it in or lift it and overwinter it under cover? I haven’t decided yet.

Five.
Mina lobata, or whatever it is now called, is another plant that has left it very late to start performing. I had a plastic coated metal obelisk which I covered with 100mm square mesh net before planting several Mina plants in the ground. They grew, and grew, and grew, reached the top of the obelisk in tidy fashion, then abandoned tidy fashion in favour of a Medusa look. At least they are now flowering.

Six.
Hedychium ‘Tara’, a repeat item from last week, for which I offer no apology. As I mentioned earlier Coleus were the most remarked on plants in the garden last weekend; all I can say is what is wrong with people?

Waterworks are in the pipeline, I have to be better prepared for next year. I need to get my autumn head on and order bulbs, seeds , shade fabric. I can’t say I’m enjoying the rain we now have but it is a massive relief.