Six on Saturday - 2nd September 2023

Survivors and thrivers

Best laid plans and all that - I had my six pics all ready for last week's #SixOnSaturday and then got distracted by garden jobs so it's been another fortnight since the last post. We've had rain off and on this week so the water butts have been kept topped up which is a relief as I have a lot of things in pots and continue to try very hard not to use mains water. I've got into the habit of filling up all the watering cans after I've done the watering round to make even more space available for collecting when it next rains. Here are this week's six. The purists amongst you will note that whilst there are six headings, there are more than six things as I'm taking liberties this week. 

One: rose

This started life in my company as one of those little pots of living flowers given to me by a friend for my birthday a couple or three years ago. I planted it out and it has survived. When it is in bud/early flower it is particularly pretty.

Two: Clematis Armandii - again!

I thought I was seeing things last week - a single wisteria flower and a single c. armandii flower. I wasn't. Armandii has put on a second flush of smallish flowers for reasons only known to itself. Here's a picture to prove it. 

Three: the plant formerly known as sedum

I know they are very common and very easy to grow but at this time of year they bring a bit of brash joy to the garden. This clump are only just starting to colour up but even so, have been attracting bees for a couple of weeks now. Perfect timing as the nearby lavender has just received a trimming so there's something for the bees to move on to. 

Four: survivors

Yes, it's the apple tree again but humour me: it lost its second bough in December 2014, it is now hollow half way down, and home to gazillions of anty & beetly creatures, and yet it is still producing apples. They are cookers and we've rescued the remains of the crop from the clutches of the squirrels and they are making a jolly nice addition to the breakfast museli at the moment. The apples that is, not the squirrels. I fully expect to wake up one morning and find the trunk on the ground as it is already very wobbly indeed. Also surviving and thriving is a begonia that I thought was lost to last December's exceptionally cold weather. Not a bit of it. 

Five: harvest surprise

I mentioned the courgettes in the last post. They are still going strong and I'm still picking them when they are small, generally getting a couple a day. These are this morning's. Also in the trug are blueberries, some tomatoes - semi-ripe as I'm finding that some critters are availing themselves of the crop as it ripens - and a long aubergine. Finally, a nice surprise. I'd failed with cucumber seeds this year and so bought a young plant from I can't remember where. It is now creeping around the greenhouse and producing fruit which are nothing like those pictured on the label. A brief consultation with #GardeningTwitter experts and I find that I'm growing what is most likely Cucumber Crystal Apple. They are exquisetly sweet and flavoursome. Thanks to the responsive folks over at the Royal Horticultural Society for warning about discarding them if they were bitter. Happily they are anything but. 

Six: Japanse anemone honorine jobert

These are standing about six feet tall this year and are flourishing. Over the years they've produced offspring which pop up tens of feet away. I can forgive them for that given the long show they give me and how very undemanding they are. 

That's all for this week. This is my latest in the #SixOnSaturday, a series inspired by The Propagator and currently being championed over at Garden Ruminations. Check out the participant guide here. I aspire to be as disciplined, creative and inspiring as them but for now, I'll remain pleased if I can just limp on with a post every now and again. 

Six on Saturday - 19th August 2023

Remembering mum

Nine years ago today, mum passed away. It is partly through her that I gained my love of gardening, and her legacy funded the hard landscaping and fencing in ours, so this post is dedicated to her memory and to the daily pleasure and theraputic uplift that the garden gives me. For a walk around, hop over to the video that we made during the 2020 lockdown. 

It has been eight weeks since my last post during which the garden has become a veritable jungle. Having had the swealtering heat of June, we've since had a warm and wet July, and a slightly less wet August. Out there in the jungle are three prolific courgette plants. My first sowing of seeds came to nought. Four seedlings emerged from the second sowing, three of which I planted. I'm now picking the fruits when they are young although there was the hillarious moment when I found a "hider" which weighed in at nearly 800g! I'm currently picking three or four each day and they are variously feeding us, neighbours, and garden club members. Then there are the bees. The garden is absolutely alive with them at the moment, particularly on the lavender and salvias. They come in so many different patterns, sizes and degrees of fluffiness!

Anyhow, on to this week's six planty things going on in our little haven here in south east London: 

One: Rosa Gentle Hermione

Hermione has responded to pruning after the first flowering with a second flush. The scent is utterly heavenly and it is liked by the bees. 

Two: Geranium Rozanne

Another bee magnet, and a fantastically long flowering plant. It does wilt somewhat in the heat, but has been very well behaved during July and August. 

Three: Clematis "Princess Diana"

Diana does well in the shade although I've probably not been feeding her enough. I don't recall getting around to pruning her last year so it is a wonder that there are any flowers this year!   

Four: Canna tropicanna black

I thought this one was a complete gonner. I'd rescued the pot and put it inside a greenhouse when we had the plummeting temperatures last december. Happily, whilst the outer rhizomes did not survive the sub zero temperatures, the centrall one did and here it is putting on a really grand show.   

Five: Clematis viticella (probably)

I've mislaid the label to this clematis which I only acquired earlier in the summer. It is possibly Viticella and has been slow to get going. I've planted it so that it can clamber over an arch.  

Six: Augergine "moneymaker"

This is my first year growing aubergines. I've grown some long ones from seed and this one, moneymaker, came from a generous neighbour. All are doing exceptionally well and I anticipate searching "1001 things to do with a glut of aubergines" to replace the current courgette search.   

This is my latest in the #SixOnSaturday, a series inspired by The Propagator and currently being championed over at Garden Ruminations. Check out the participant guide here. I aspire to be as disciplined, creative and inspiring as them but for now, I'll remain pleased if I can just limp on with a post every now and again.   

Six on Saturday - 24th June 2023

All things blue and beautiful

A whole five months since my last post and I've not even managed to get it out on a Saturday! I did actually start writing it early yesterday morning and I started with  "It's a beautiful morning". Then, all the jobs that I set myself to get done before heading out for a day of singing took over, and that's as far as I got. So, now it is Sunday afternoon. Let's see how far we get this time. 

It's a swealtering 29 degrees outside, Sunday afternoon 24th June  2023. At times like this I'm really grateful for the shaded areas of the garden and earlier I took full advantage, sitting right down at the bottom writing up my diary, and completing this week's column in my gardening five year record book, something I also started earlier in the year. In fact the record book is possibly the reason for not getting back to the blog as by the time I've written that up I've thought of a thousand things to do in the garden and then, before I know it, it is not Saturday anymore. 

It's the time of year when all the learner fledglings try out the bird feeders. A new one this year has been a young greater spotted woodpecker. For a couple of weeks now it has followed its mother around the garden,  calling after her and landing slightly ginergly, sometimes ending up suspended underneath a feeder and apparently trying to work out "what next". Today it was alone and a lot more confident.  Also out and about are a large number of damselflies. Earlier in the week there were at least four pairs, hooked up in tandem, the rear female dipping her tail in the pond, presumably laying eggs. And after some refreshing rain, rain which filled two of the four water butts, I saw at least two toads. I'd been worried they'd all disappeared, especially as it looks as though this season's eggs did not survive a March frost. 

Anyhow, to planty things going on in the garden here in south east London: 

 

One: bright blue Hydrangea Macrophylla Zorro

Last year Zorro's flowering season was brought to a juddering halt with the insane 40 degree heat that we had. I pruned it earlier in the year and it is coming back very nicely indeed, and still nice and blue. It is in its own pot, planted in ericaceous soil, and watered with rainwater with added fortification. I don't think the flowers are quite as large as previously but there are a healthly number of them, all on gorgeous dark, nearly black, stems. 

Two: beginning to go blue

I've been giving Mum's hydrangea the "Zorro" treatment. I've had it since she passed in 2014 and it has been pink most years. It certainly has some blue tinges now. Come back in another year or two to see if I've been successful in turning the pompoms blue. 

Three: blue bee heaven

This is one of several profusions of campanula which are dotted around the garden. The bees adore it if the buzzing is anything to go by.  

Four: bicycle blues

Dad gave me this last year and would have loved to see it planted up like this. He and Annie had had it in their garden in Lincolnshire and it had become completely overgrown with brambles. We extracted it and realised that it could still be used as a rather quirky planter. Here it is tumbling with lobelia and geraniums. 

Five: Salvia "amethyst lips

I've discovered Salvias through our local gardening club. Seven are in flower at the moment with only Amistad and Black and Blue waiting to take off.  

Six: fortification

The air was blue the other weekend when I realised that the squirrels had taken all my figs and most of the nearly ripe strawberries. I have now acquired this cage into which I've put the strawberries, the lemon tree - the blighters took all those last summer - and a blueberry bush. A determined squirrel will probably get through but I'm hoping this will be a sufficient deterrant for now and that I've secured it sufficiently so that the birds and the toads don't get tangled up in it. 

This is my latest in the #SixOnSaturdon ay series inspired by The Propagator and currently being championed over at Garden Ruminations. Check out the participant guide here. I aspire to be as disciplined, creative and inspiring as them but for now, I'll remain pleased if I can just limp on with a post every now and again.   

Six on Saturday - 28th January 2023

New year, new signs of growth

I'm sitting writing this on Saturday afternoon having just taken a stroll round the garden, snapping a few photos as I went. The bird feeder is alive with activity with blue and great tits, gold finches, our regular pair of woodpeckers, a feisty Robin, pigeons pacing the ground for dropped seeds and, I'm sure, I'll see some parakeets later on. Squirrels are dashing hither and yon and I can't tell whether they are burrying stuff or digging stuff up. In any event, digging is involved! It has been a busy couple of "singing" rather than "gardening" weeks, culminating last Sunday in one of the most extraordinary concerts I've ever taken part in - Tan Dun's Buddha Passion, performed at the Royal Festival Hall to a capacity audience and in celebration of the lunar new year. That's where I'll start this week's six. 

One: Chinese money plant in a special oriental pot

I'm starting indoors this week with this Chinese money plant, acquired from one of our local garden club members, and an oriental pot acquired in rememberance of a departed colleague. I hope you agree that they work well together. Chris, my departed colleague would have liked the combo. 

Two: Snowdrop in waiting

Clumps of snowdrops are poised to open. It feels as though they have been poised for weeks but they now have some good height on so my possibly be out next week. 

Three: Zorro in waiting

I'd feared the worst following both the crazy 40 degree heat and then the succession of freezes that we've had here in SE London. However, Zorro is looking healthy and is eager to shoot out fresh leaves on its gorgeous black stems. Fingers crossed that my regime to keep it blue keeps it blue! 

Four: Sorbaria Sorbifolia poised to put on a display

Another survivor of the extreme weather. Again, I thought this was a gonner but not at all. Here it is poised to display delicate feathery pink-tinged leaves. There's a great description of the plant and its background over at the British Gardener's blog.

Five: Euphorbia characias

Two of my three Euphorbia characias plants look to have succombed to the extremes of weather. This, the third, seems fine and may have survived because its base is sheltered by some ground ivy. I'm not digging the stalks of the other two up just yet and will just hope that they perhaps come through. The plant is in leaf all year round and in the summer I have a nearby Geranium Rozanne which rambles through the Euphorbia, the sliver and white leaves of the Euphorbia mingling attractively with the blue of Rozanne. 

Six: summer fruits awaiting

Strawberry plants are looking very healthy indeed and if I manage to keep them and the squirrels apart, I should have some lovely fruit later in the year with the added bonus that they, along with blueberries and raspberries can be picked fresh for breakfast. Nom nom. 

This is my latest in the #SixOnSaturday series inspired by The Propagator and currently being championed over at Garden Ruminations. Check out the participant guide here. I aspire to be as disciplined, creative and inspiring as them but for now, I'll remain pleased if I can just limp on with a post every now and again.  Next week is another singing week so I'll hope to be back the week after. 

Six on Saturday - 7th January 2023

New year, new beginnings

Happy New Year readers. Here are some planty things going on in my garden along with a little planning going on in my head. Six things for the latest #Six on Saturday. 

1) Bird food

I have a couple of Pyracantha bushes in the garden. One has already been completely stripped of berries by the birds, and they are now slowly going through the second bush. 

2) Bee food

Mahonia and pyracantha are two great plants to have in the garden. Pyracantha flowers in the summer, producing nectar for the bees, Mahonia flowers in the winter, producing gorgeously scented nectar for the bees who yes, are indeed still out and buzzing around at this time of year. Once the flowers are done on this mahonia, and the bees have moved on to the next flowering thing, the plant will produce long strings of black berries for the birds who, by then, will have exhausted the pyracantha berries.  Year round harvest for birds and bees. 

3) Year round interest - leaves 

This Euonymus has been in a difficult shady spot underneath a huge boundary sycamore tree for years. It provides height and interest year round and has survived the recent exceptionally cold spell. The creamy white bits of leaf pop even on the gloomiest of days. 

4) Year round interest - flowers

This  Erysimum is now getting into its own. I don't know whether it is "winter sorbet", "winter orchid", "red jep" or something completely different. I got it at one of our local gardening club gatherings. I admired it, and its owner invited me to take a cutting. It rooted nicely and is now flowering away. I love the way that the flowers are variously pink and orange. I've taken further cuttings so that there are always successors in the wings as these plants can become leggy over time. My "bowles mauve", which had flowered what felt like continuously for three or four years finally succombed during the recent cold spell, so I'm glad I had this one elsewhere in the garden. It is another one that the bees love. 

5) Promise of things to come 

It is lovely to see signs of renewal in the garden. Here we have a clutch of snowdrops poised to enter on the scene, and some nice healthy looking buds on my Hydrangea "Zorro". It flowered blue last year as I reported back in July and I'm pleased that it seems to have survived the cold.

6) Planning for things to come

It is that time of year when garden planning takes place. At various points last year I'd found myself vowing not to try veg again as I'd had so many failures. Well, there must be something in the water because I've started the year with a renewed keenness to grow some this year. I keep seeds together in a tin along with an incredibly handy sowing guide available through the RHS website. The guide is linked from this page and for each veg type, shows when to sow under cover, outdoors, when to transplant, and when you can expect your harvest. It makes "at a glance" planning nice and easy. Separately, and inspired by a piece in the latest issue of The Garden, I've acquired this five year record book. I could have paid about £15 for the latest version but managed to pick up this edition for 62p. I will now start using it to record what is in flower, what the weather is doing, and anything else garden related that is of interest, for each month of the hear for the next five years. That's the plan . . . 

This is my latest in the #SixOnSaturday series inspired by The Propagator and currently being championed over at Garden Ruminations. Check out the participant guide here. I aspire to be as disciplined, creative and inspiring as them but for now, I'll remain pleased if I can just limp on with a post every now and again.  

Six on Saturday - 31st December 2022

Last post

No, not last post ever, just for 2022. What a month it has been! In fact, what a year it has been. Apart from the frantic attempts to protect tender things just before the cold spell kicked in, the main gardening jobs this month have involved collecting leaves for leaf mold. Being surrounded by trees means that we get an awful lot of leaves! On the drier days I use the "Monty's Mow" method of collection - effectively using the lawn mower to collect and chop leaves prior to either piling into one of the compost bins, or into black bags for over-wintering. That still leaves lots which can be tucked in under the larger shrubs so that they can work their magic directly into the soil. You can read more about Monty Don's method over here. 

1) Pretty Freezing (2)

I'm being a bit liberal with my final six of the year. This was not taken on 31st December, but on the morning of 12th and it is the wintry scene that greeted me when I opened the curtains that morning. The temperatures remained sub-zero for a good few days and when I checked the greenhouses, as feared, there were some tender losses. On the plus side, Salvia "hot lips" appears to have survived outside.  I thought she was a gonner when the "Beast from the East" hit a few springs back.

2) Yucca gloriosa "variegata"

According to my "go to" source of information, the RHS website, Yucca gloriosa "variegata"  flowers should appear in "late summer or autumn". My plant has other ideas. Not only that, but the flower spike started appearing before the recent freeze and has showed no sign of giving up. 

3) Third time lucky? Overwintering my lemon tree. 

This is the third winter for my lemon tree. The first winter I purchased a tray, filled it with gravel, brought tray and tree inside wherupon all leaves fell off. It survived. Last winter tray and tree went into the greenhouse near the house, the plant was fed with a winter citrus food, and when it was warm enough, I took it back outside whereupon all the leaves fell off. Again. It survived. For its third winter I've popped it on a sheltered step above which, a couple of floors up, is a boiler flue. It has already survived the cold and the snow that December threw at it and is currently throwing off new shoots and flowers. The added bonus is that the squirrels have not yet located it. The critters stripped it of its 13 fruits a few months back and that was after they'd decimated the figs and the olives. I am plotting revenge.

4) Moss

The original bonsai that graced this dish died a few years back. One of the "advantages" of being surrounded by trees is that we are never short of saplings, particularly sycamore and ash. The local ash in partciular are succombing to ash dieback so each year I pot up a couple in the hope that they may be resistent. I decided to bonsai one and it has survived several  summers now. Obviously at this time of year it is leafless and dormant. Meanwhile, the birds seem to revel in pecking bits of moss from the roof and flinging them on the ground below. I've beel collecting them up and resting them on the slate chippings which are in the bonsai planter where they are surviving well in all the current damp and are providing a little ground level interest while the tree hibernates. 

5) Christmas gift

This rather speldid bug hotel was a Christmas present and has been placed in a sunny location and about 1.6m above ground. My husband tells me that I've interrupted the squirrel's route up that particular tree. Well, if that's the case then I'll have achieved two things - a home for beneficial beasties and a discombobulated squirrel or two. 

6) Hanging by a thread

My trusty garden apron is made of denim. I've had it for more years than I can remember and you'll see me sporting it towards the beginning of this little lockdown video. I'd already had to knot one of the ties once where it had frayed. Now, again hanging by a thread,  more drastic action was needed. I was delighted to find denim tape online and even more delighted that in amongst my mum's extensive collection of coloured sewing threads was one which matched the orange edging used on the tape. It should now last a few more years. 

This is my latest in the #SixOnSaturday series inspired by The Propagator and currently being championed over at Garden Ruminations. Check out the participant guide here. I aspire to be as disciplined, creative and inspiring as them but for now, I'll remain pleased if I can just limp on with a post every now and again. Meanwhile, wishing you and yours a very happy new year. 2023 needs to be a year when we all dig deep - physically and mentally - to identify further actions we can take to protect and nurture our planet. 

Six on Saturday - 10th December 2022

Frozen

It is nearly Sunday, and it is also December, about 12 weeks since my last post. Last weekend I marvelled at needing to mow the lawn in December. Now, a spell of cold has landed, even here in our normally sheltered corner of SE London. Happily, it was a "work from home" day when, mid-week, I realised that some serious cold, the like of which we've not seen here for a few years, was headed in our direction. Picture the frantic dawn dash to rescue, trim, and shelter canna, cala lilies, begonias, geraniums, outside-planted spider plants, the lemon tree, and anything tender in pots that I could lay my hands on. I'd already taken salvia cuttings so will cross my fingers that one way or another I'll have plants next year. 

Roll on and we have had lots of frost which, today, didn't lift at all. All the pics in this week's post were taken this afternoon. 

1) Pretty Freezing

Frost-enrobed leaves. Clockwise: Campanula, ivy and box. Pretty, and possibly Christmas-card-worthy for next year.

2) Salvia Hotlips

In the spring, Hotlips invariably starts off almost completely white and sans lips. Now we are all lips! No sign of frost damage at the moment. 

3) Food: winter flowering jasmine

Even when it is this cold, there are polinators out there which appreciate a bit of colour. This lovely yellow winter flowering jasmine is putting on a nice show this year.

4) Food: viburnum

This prolific evergreen, sometimes unruly shrub, seems to be able to produce both fantastically scented flowers and berries at the same time. I've managed to tame this plant to a standard with a mop head of leaves which at this time of year is bearing lots of fragrant flowers which polinators love. There are also some dark dark berries which help feed the birds. It also works well in table decorations.

5) Bidens - a surprising summer survivor

I have Bidens dotted around in pots, some near the house. This one is still giving a jolly yellow show. 

6) Euphorbia

Bad photo of a sliver-leaved euphorbia which I planted this year. It not only survived the insane heat of the summer but looks like it may survive this cold spell too. It and the now growing number of euphorbias that I have around the garden provide nice solid year round interest. 

This is my latest in the #SixOnSaturday series inspired by The Propagator and currently being championed over at Garden Ruminations. Check out the participant guide here. I aspire to be as disciplined, creative and inspiring as them but for now, I'll be pleased if I can just limp on with a post every now and again.