Six on Saturday. 9.9.23.

Posted on September 9, 2023 by Pauline

I woke up to thick mist or fog this morning, but the sun has broken through and it is going to be another hot day.We have had a week of boiling hot sunshine, too hot for me I’m afraid, sorry to complain, but I can’t work beyond 11 am as it’s just far too hot! Plants seem to be coping though, I’m sure they would like to move into the shade along side me, but they are stuck in the sunshine.

My six for this week are very autumnal, stocking up the larder for the wildlife. I’m hoping that my little dormouse has a good feed before hibernating for the next six months.

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Cotoneaster horizontalis is scrambling up the kitchen wall. It has grown quite large and is beginning to lean away from the wall in spite of wires trying to hold it in place. I will have to prune it back, but will let the birds enjoy the berries first.

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Six on Saturday. 2.9.2023

Posted on September 2, 2023 by Pauline

Having had a week of cold wind and rain with just a little sunshine, it seems as though next week will be much better with  a lot more sunshine and higher temperatures, just hope the plants can cope with all the changes. It probably means I’ll have to cope with watering again! Lots of plants are carrying on flowering, some are flowering again and just two of my six are new.

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Roses are flowering once more after a break and are very welcome as they provide lots of colour in the garden. This is a small variety, planted long ago so no name I’m afraid, it is in the bed round the dead oak.

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Six on Saturday 26.8.2023

Posted on August 26, 2023 by Pauline

There are signs of change in the garden, the light is different when the sun is shining, it is lower in the sky, so for some of the time now it is behind the tops of my ancient old trees. Berries, rosehips and hazelnuts are developing and being eaten, I hope it is by my dormice fattening up for the winter! The brambles that I am always complaining about are now covered in lucious, ripe, fat berries so I must get some in the freezer before the birds get them all. Time once again for SOS, so lets get on……..

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These are the brambles or blackberries that I was talking about. They are ready to be picked to go with my Bramley apples to make crumbles for the winter. I feel like a squirrel, hoarding my food ready for when the bad weather comes!

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Six on Saturday. 19.8.2023

Posted on August 19, 2023 by Pauline

Another week has flown by and ended up very wet but I don’t think the garden will be complaining. Sunny spells earlier in the week has brought lots more butterflies, including the Holly Blue which I didn’t manage to photograph for last weeks six. There is still lots going on in the garden, new flowers opening, so I’ll get on with showing you my six for this week.

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Mahonia nitans Cabaret is a small shrub on the rockery where the flower buds are red but open yellow/orange. It makes a change from the taller yellow flowered one.

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Six on Saturday. 12.08.2023

Posted on August 12, 2023 by Pauline

Once again it is time for Six on Saturday, it seems to come round so quickly and this week got hotter as the week went by, Thursday and Friday were very warm with a lot of sunshine and the rain petered out eventually. The garden is carrying on as usual, roses are starting to flower again, clematis are carrying on flowering and the rest of the plants are doing what plants are supposed to do at this time of year. Butterflies are adding extra colour and movement, lovely to see them all fluttering round the garden along with all the bees buzzing.

My six for this week are……..butterflies!

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A Comma butterfly in the front border where there is a large buddleia keeping all the butterflies happy.

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Six on Saturday 5.8.2023

Posted on August 5, 2023 by Pauline

Another week of sunshine and rain, sometimes a lot more rain than sunshine! However I feel I must stop moaning about the rain as I have noticed that all my surviving rhododendrons are literally covered with luscious, fat, juicy flower buds, all ready for next spring! Next spring should be a bumper year for flowers on the rhododendron bushes as long as we don’t get a drought and then they would abort them all. Usually I am having to fling buckets of water onto my rhododendrons to try and save the buds, but no need to this year, thanks to all our rain over the past six weeks or so.

My six are as follows……..

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So, I will start off with showing the lovely buds on the rhododendron in the back corner of the garden. The bush is covered with lovely fat buds which hold so much promise for next spring.

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Six on Saturday. 29.07.2023

Posted on July 29, 2023 by Pauline

Another week of sun and rain, the plants are certainly happy and the gardener is when she can get out and do some work! Inside the house is looking much cleaner and tidier now too, just in time for more visitors! Roses are starting their second flush, which is nice and the day lilies are almost finished so not much more deadheading to do there any more.At the moment I’m trying to get rid of an Acanthus mollis which had ideas of world dominaton, which Monty Don says is impossible! I’ll keep on trying, but as soon as I think I have dug all the roots out, more shoots pop up!

My six for this week are here……….

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My Aeonium schwarzkopf sitting in the rain outside the conservatory.

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Hardly any Holes in the Hostas.

Posted on July 25, 2023 by Pauline

While wandering round the garden looking for flowers for Six on Saturday posts, I noticed how well the hostas were doing, so thought they could have a different post all to themselves. Despite the drought last summer when they retreated underground earlier than usual and in spite of some of them being flooded for most of the winter, they seem to have done remarkably well!

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Six on Saturday. 21.7.2023

Posted on July 22, 2023 by Pauline

Another week of tidying, weeding, watering and cutting back, the plants are growing so quickly having had rain and sunshine recently. We have only had a little bit of rain this week. but are expecting quite a lot today, whereas the last couple of days have been wall to wall sunshine. At least the soil is now nice and moist with the rain so weeding is so much easier.

I have a mixed bag for this weeks offering, they are as follows……

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Star of the garden at the moment is the Yucca filamentosa in the bed just outside the back door. It can be seen from the kitchen and the dining room, so I am seeing it a lot during the day.

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Six on Saturday 15.7.2023

Posted on July 15, 2023 by Pauline

Well, we can’t complain any more that we need more rain, we had a deluge all day yesterday with more promised today. We have had rain and sunshine in equal quantities all week, but now the rain has eventually won. This has meant of course that not as much gardening has been done, but I’ve caught up with a lot of housework which had also been neglected because of Wimbledon!

My six for this week are here………..

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Clematis Prince Charles has really taken off, not only has it climbed the trellis hiding the huge 200 gallon water butt at the side of the house, but it has spread over the next shrub, swung across the path to the water butt and gas tank and is now sprawling over one of my camellias! It is a lovely pale blue, a very attractive flower, I just have to remember to duck when I go to fill my watering can!

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