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 - 23rd July 2022

Some like it hot

Phew, what a scorcher that was! I imagine I'm not alone as I wander around my garden to see what has survived and what has been fried to a crisp after those record temperatures earlier in the week. It was as though someone had taken a huge hairdryer to some of the plants. But not all is lost and, indeed, some seem to like the heat so here are my #SixOnSaturday in the series inspired by The Propagator.   

1) Canna "Wyoming"

Well look who likes the heat! This is this plant's fourth year and third location. Only last year did it flower for the first time and it is promising a good show again this year. It sits well with the blue geranium, hemerocallis and salvias in the same bed but I'm thinking I'll place it further back in the bed next year. .  

2) Rudbeckia

These were grown from a packet of seeds acquired from one of our garden club members. They've been very floppy and I feared that the slugs and snails would devour them as soon as I planted them out. But no, they've survived and like the Canna, seem to like the heat and have now started flowering. I love that the yellow petals look like they have been dipped in chocolate, or is it that the chocolate petals have been dipped in yellow?

3) Zantendeschia

Another heat lover, apparently. These are in their first year and have produced lovely soft yellow blooms. They are not hardy so will have to be brought in at the first sign of frost. Just right now that is pretty hard to imagine!  

4) Another sunflower

Yes, for the third week in a row I give you a sunflower, another from he seeds acquired from one of our gardening club members. This one has a double row of more rounded petals and the flower head is more palm sized than dinner plate.  

5) Salvia guaranitica "black and blue"

Another first for me and one acquired in a moment of spontaneity. We have a lovely local independent garden centre just opposite the station entrance. Occasionally I'll pop in on my way home from work, if nothing else for the gorgeous scents and the calming background jazz that is often playing. It is a teeny bit of paradise in south east London. On this occasion I had a mission - to acquire a late flowering clematis. They had none. Instead, this salvia grabbed my attention with its distinctive deep blue flowers and black stems. The leaves are larger than the other salvias in my garden. It has survived the heat and is throwing off a succession of blooms. It is in the same bed as the hemerocallis and I like the contrast of the orange and the blue.      

6) Spider plant flowers

Having had spider plants for most of my adult life, I honestly don't ever remember one flowering. This is one of several plantlets that I harvested from a  mature one growing in my office and I've started them off outside. I popped this one into a larger pot a couple of weeks ago and it promptly threw off its own new clutch of youngsters along with these two pretty white flowers. I quick look on t'internet confirms that they don't actually flower at all regularly and that when they do, the flowers are short lived so I'm right not to remember them and glad that I captured these ones in their prime.

That's all for this week. This weekend I'll be deadheading and possibly planting out some of the more vigorous inhabitants of the greenhouse. Check out the participant guide if you want to join in.