Six on Saturday. 12.07.2025

How much hotter will it get? How much more can the plants take? My meadow is now over, almost hay making time, some tree leaves are turning orange and dropping in the woodland and the roses are having a rest. I’m having a rest too, trying to keep cool inside the house with the curtains closed, all doors open to catch any breeze and a fan working overtime. Anyway, enough of this, it is time for this week’s six.

All of a sudden the buddleja are flowering, their perfume is in the air in this heat and the butterflies are flocking, well almost, this is a Peacock butterfly.

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Six on Saturday. 05.07.2025

A new month, a new week of non stop sunshine, but this morning it is drizzling and it has rained overnight, which I know the plants will love. I have managed a few early morning sessions,  gardening before the sun got too high in the sky or making sure that I stayed in the shade where it seemed at least 10 degrees cooler. This then left plenty of time to watch Wimbledon in the afternoon with a clear conscience! Anyway, on to my six for this week.

My first photo is of Zantedecia aethiopica Kiwi Blush which is looking rather lovely at the far side of the conservatory.

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Six on Saturday. 28.06.2025

We have had some very welcome rain this week, but only short showers and not really enough, but musn’t grumble. The weeds are still growing and I’m still pulling them out when I can. My physiotherapist is very pleased with my progress and is happy that it is because of my increased gardening and not his exercises! The flowers keep coming and new families are keeping the garden interesting from my point of view, but now, on with the Six!

More hydrangeas are now flowering, this one can’t decide which colour it wants to be!

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Catch up on the Meadow.

I thought I would have a change this week and talk you through my mini meadow which lies at the centre of the garden to one side of the dead oak tree. It starts with the grass not being cut from Christmas until August, just round the edge and up the middle. It used to be that mowing would stop in that area from April to August and unknowingly we were cutting off the orchid and all the cuckoo flowers, Cardamine pratensis! Last year it was too wet to cut the grass in Jan, Feb and March and this was the result.

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Six on Saturday. 21.06.2025

I had intended to do a post this week about the meadow and all its flowers, but there were too many photos so it will have to be an extra post during the coming week. This meant a quick dash round the garden to photograph what else was flowering at the moment and looking good enough to be included.

Clematis Prince Charles is now flowering over one of my shrubs in the front garden, maybe it ought to now change its name!

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Six on Saturday. 14.06.2025

Roses, roses and yet more roses, new ones just don’t seem to want to stop flowering, so I think this weeks Six will be roses, different varieties from last weeks offering, everything else will have to wait for next week maybe. Weather had been mixed, a bit of everything but not as much rain as has been forecast. Yesterday other parts of Devon were flooded but we didn’t have any rain at all until the evening, we have had more overnight.

I’ll start with Rosa gallica officinalis, the Red Rose of Lancashire. This has spread quite a lot sideways, has to be held back with canes when it is time for the box balls to be cut, which is any day now!

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Six on Saturday. 07.06.2025

Another week has flown by and brought all sorts of weather with it. We have had some heavy downpours, some gentle rain, very strong winds and some sunny, warm days with a lovely breeze! All the birds have had their babies and are bringing them to the feeders, I’m having to replenish them every other day. I got rather wet yesterday wandering round to get my photos for this post, so let me show you the Six families that I found.

First of all I photographed the peonies that had opened since last week. This lovely one is Cora Louise, she, poor thing, got battered by the wind and rain and didn’t last very long, thank goodness I photographed her earlier in the week.So beautiful but I will have to now wait another year to see her again and enjoy her beautiful perfume!

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Six on Saturday. 31.05.2025

And the plants keep coming…….first of all it was the rhodos, then the roses and now the peonies, all in the space of a couple of weeks. We have had a little rain, but nowhere near as much as had been forecast and nowhere near as much as the garden needs. I think my six this week will be more roses that you haven’t already seen this year and the peonies.

This peony is called Festiva Maxima, this is the second bloom it has produced this year, the first one was so huge and heavy that when we had a shower of rain, it was bowed down to the paving and was speckled in black soil. I cut it and brought it into the kitchen and gave it a gentle shower to clean it and it is now looking beautiful and making the kitchen smell wonderful.

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Six on Saturday. 24.05.2025

Yes, we had rain, lovely gentle rain, on Wednesday. It rained all morning but then stopped at lunch time and then we had sunshine for the rest of the day.We had more rain last night and a lot more is forecast for this weekend so the garden will be very happy. Not so happy is me when the gardener rings Wednesday lunchtime to tell me he won’t be coming because of the rain, 5 minutes later it stopped! I managed to do gardening in the afternoon so I’m sure he could have managed too. Anyway, enough moaning, on with this weeks six………….

Clematis Romantica on the pergola at the top of the garden, this was new last year but I think it is going to be a good one.

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Six on Saturday. 17.05.2025

Another week has flown by with more sunshine and no more rain until, hopefully, next weekend. There were so many flowers all calling to have their photo taken yesterday, which to use and which to leave out, that is the question! Let’s make a start……….

It’s now Rhododendron time, I think this is R
Percy Wiseman, looking rather lovely.

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