Six on Saturday 18.09.21

Posted on September 18, 2021 by Pauline

We have had a week that has been drier than forecast and also with more sunshine than expected. The trees are beginning to change colour and some leaves are starting to fall. The sun is lower in the sky and for a lot of the time, doesn’t reach over the tops of my ancient trees. I’ll have to wait until all the leaves are off the trees before the garden is flooded with sunlight once more.

Time for Six on Saturday, here are mine for this week…….

No 1   Red Admiral butterflies.

This is my “go to” plant at the moment, if the sun is shining I make a bee line for my Eupatorium purpureum atropurpureum to see how many butterflies are enjoying all that is on offer. Yesterday afternoon I counted 12 Red Admirals and 1 Tortoiseshell at one time, fantastic!

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It was a misty, moisty morning

Posted on September 15, 2021 by Pauline

When I got up this morning it was a misty, moisty morning and yes, cloudy was the weather, but I didn’t meet an old man dressed all in leather! Instead I met hundreds of spider’s webs decorating the garden, glistening with the moistness from the fog, looking as though they were spangled with diamonds, glistening in the very weak sun that was peeping through the clouds, a real September morning.

With Stipa gigantea

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Six on Saturday 11.9.21

Posted on September 11, 2021 by Pauline

Another week flown by, our promised thunder and lightning didn’t materialise on Wednesday, after a shower first thing we had sunshine all day just to round the mini summer off. It is now quite a bit cooler with showers on and off, the garden has appreciated the showers and my water butts are filling up nicely, so happy plants and happy gardener! My six for this week are….

No 1. Cotoneaster

Definitely an autumnal feel to my 6 this week. This is Cotoneaster horizontalis is on the kitchen wall and loved by the bees in the spring and the birds in the autumn.

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Six on Saturday 04.09.21

Posted on September 4, 2021 by Pauline

After a dull, cold and windy week, temperatures are set to rise and we have been promised a mini summer next week, lasting for all of 3 days before rain will move in. I’m glad that it will get warmer, I was almost thinking I had to get my winter jumpers out already, but T shirts will last me a bit longer thank goodness. A lot of cutting back got done during the week and more weeding, will I ever get to the end of those!

My six for this week are….

No 1 Eupatorium purpureum atropurpureum.

Such a lovely huge plant, well over 6ft tall with huge purple flowerheads which the bees and butterflies adore. My photos were taken at 7.30 this morning and I think all the insects were still in bed!

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Six on Saturday. 28.08.2021

Posted on August 28, 2021 by Pauline

We now have a lovely dry spell for a while, not very hot though, but at least it is sunny and sunshine brings out the bees and butterflies which is wonderful, they look so colourful flitting around the garden. The other day my Book Club were meeting in my garden and we were buzzed by a Silver Washed Fritillary, causing great excitement. I also saw a Jersey Tiger Moth but by the time I had dashed inside to get the camera, it had flown away – shame. Now onto plants…..

My offerings for today are another mixed bag, starting with…

no 1  Kniphofia

Kniphophia Bees Lemon I think, has now joined the agapanthus in the driveway border, they make nice contrasting shapes together.

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Six on Saturday. 21.8.21

Posted on August 21, 2021 by Pauline

I thought I would have a change this week for Six on Saturday, so instead of flowers or the garden I will show you some butterflies which visited the other day when the sun was shining and there was hardly any wind, ideal butterfly weather. Now it is cool and wet, so no butterflies to be seen today unfortunately.

No 1  Peacock

Most of these butterflies are all on the same buddleia bush.

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Six on Saturday 14.8.21

Posted on August 14, 2021 by Pauline

The weather this week has seen a bit of rain, a bit of sunshine and a lot of grey cloud, I’m now back watering all my pots once more. Weeding has been tackled when the rain decided to stop and at least they are coming out easily. All my organisations and committees are starting up once more so my time working in the garden is decided by how many meetings I have to go to, I think gardening will be cut by half. Here are my six for this Saturday…

No 1 Crocosmia solfaterre

Crocosmia solfaterre in front of my blue lacecap Hydrangea at the top of the garden by the pergola. This has now spread to form a nice sized clump.

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Six on Saturday. 7.8.21

Posted on August 7, 2021 by Pauline

We have had quite a lot of rain this week, everything is growing fast in the few hours of sunshine that we have had. Not much work got done in the garden because of the rain, there will be so much for me to do when I finally get out there. I think this weeks 6 are a mixed bag, so I’ll start with my first,

No 1  Red Admiral butterfly.

Red Admiral butterflies are everywhere when the sun shines, there are so many of them. This one seems nice and fresh, but even so has a bite out of its wing.

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Six on Saturday 31.07.21

Posted on July 31, 2021 by Pauline

After a week of storms and torrential rain with bits of sunshine thrown in between, most of the plants are still upright and looking bright and perky. The two main ones that have been toppled were Crocosmia Lucifer and Miscanthus malepartus. I managed to get Lucifer back upright without it looking as though it is in a straightjacket, but had problems with the miscanthus as it is rather large by now. I was wearing a short sleeved T shirt and ended up with a nasty rash on both my upper arms and masses of long diagonal cuts on both arms, plus something bit me on the inside of my elbow! I’m presuming the rash came from the sap where I had cut a few stems and all the cuts must have come from the leaves which I hadn’t realised must be sharp, oh, the joys of gardening!  Here are my 6 for this week.

No 1 Hydrangea

Hydrangea Ayesha with lovely incurved petals like a lilac.

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Colourful July

Posted on July 28, 2021 by Pauline

July has been a very strange month weather wise, first of all cold with torrential rain each day which caused flooding in the lowest part of the garden, then a heat wave with temperatures up at 31C, far too hot for me, I felt I was melting!. We now have a cooler spell, yesterday with thunder and lightning, I came in when that started, it was followed by torrential rain and I decided that I had done enough gardening for one day. The plants have coped remarkably well through all this and the weeds have also coped too well, I’m still pulling them out. I’ve had a lot of cutting back and propping up to do after a storm last weekend, when a lot got flattened. Colour in the garden hasn’t stopped at all, the roses are having a rest for a while, but other plants have carried on flowering, it has been one wave after another, so I’ll just show you some long views of how the garden is looking now.

The view from down by the greenhouse and the field, up behind the dead oak looking towards the pergola. This is the part of the garden which now gets flooded each time there is torrential rain. The silver birch and lots of other plants are  now dead, but I think I will keep the silver birch and plant a clematis up it, planting it further back towards the hedge where it stays drier. This is where the daylilies have done ever so well, maybe I could move some more to here.

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