Six on Saturday - 7th August 2021

 Introduction

Well, it's a pretty soggy Saturday here in SE London. Even with that, there are still new things popping up in the garden. Without further ado, then, I'll welcome you to my tenth #SixOnSaturday series, inspired by The Propagator.

1) Nasturtium

Wonderfully easy to grow from seed, reliably undemanding, and always colourful, I'll often poke a few seeds into little blank spaces. This is a tumbling one with variegated leaves and I absolutely love it. 

2) Japanese anemone honorine jobert

I love these late summer flowers which pop up as other things are starting to fade, particularly now that I've got them under control. Their original planting place was at the back of a border and before I started paying serious attention to the garden, they'd spread not only to the front of the boarder but under the path and to a neighborouing border! Some digging and dividing later, and they are now back where they should be. Meanwhile, new plants have been established and placed elsewhere in the garden for that late summer interest. 

3) Erigeron

Another discovery via a member of our gardening club. Jolly little daisies which start off white and then fade to pink. It seems to have a really long flowering season. I have one scrambling through a pot along with some Bidens and the combination is very jolly

4) Pest control

Say hello to one of the night pest patrol brigade. Our garden is home to a veritable army of toads - I counted at least ten of different sizes recently. Given the size and number of slugs and snails that I still find, the toads are in no danger of going hungry. We re-established the pond a few years ago and it is very pleasing to see younger generations of toad out and about.  A few years ago we had one that took to over-wintering in the outside loo. It gave me the fright of my life when I first encountered. Thereafter, we co-existed quite happily. 

5) Canna

This has not flowered for two years, despite careful overwintering, and masses of lush deep brown leaves. I'd threatened it with the compost heap if it did nothing this year and lo, two huge stems are emerging as are these fantastic orange flowers.  I'm not sure they will get to reach their full splendour in this rather persistent rain but I'll keep my fingers crossed. 

6) Buddleja 

Another late flowerer is the Buddleja. This one one is the common "davidii". I've taken this close-up pic which shows how each of those large conical flowers is in fact made up with lots of tiny flowers each with an orange centre. No wonder the butterflies love them. 

That's all for this week. This weekend is looking like a perfect one to catch up on the ironing! Check out the participant guide if you want to join in.