Six on Saturday 27/04/19

What a change in the weather! I spent a couple of hours out in the garden yesterday evening tying in plants like Clematis and Lonicera and also staking up some of the herbaceous plants in preparation for Storm Hannah. It’s been lovely to have some rain, the plants definitely look better for it, but I didn’t order 50+ mile per hour winds. The strength of the wind is still increasing this morning. The down side of the rain is that the slugs and snails have sprung into action and are having a field day. While eating breakfast this morning I was watching a Startling pull whole flowers off of Primroses and fly up to his/her nest with them. Then he/she started on Clematis leaves. I’ve not noticed them doing this before. Anyway, it’s time for my Six on Saturday.

1. I bought Erysium ‘Apricot Delight’ last spring and I don’t think there’s been a week since when it hasn’t had flowers on it. It’s a bit of a sprawler but an amazing plant. I must take some cuttings.

2. Although not as showy as Lamprocapnos spectabile Lamprocapnos formosa has a quiet charm. This plant is many years old and is growing in a patch of really poor, dry soil. It would probably grow much better in a decent patch of ground.

3. Clematis ‘Guernsey Cream’ grows up a fence behind the Birch tree and usually lights up the fence at this time of year. It really struggled with the drought and heat last year (too much competition from the tree roots) and when I tidied it up in February I found that large parts of it were dead. It looked very sparse by the time I’d finished. It’s now thrown a couple of new shoots up from ground level and has a few flowers so I think it’s going to be alright.

4. I try to plant things where they will have the best chance but last years weather showed me that I was expecting too much of plants I’d put in the small border around the Birch tree. To make it lower maintenance I decided to add to a couple of ferns that were doing well there. A couple of small, hardy Fuchsias at the edge of the border will add some colour later in the season and self sown Honesty is looking good now. I bought a collection of ‘ferns for dry shade’ from Shady Plants in the autumn. They are mostly varieties of Dryopteris. I potted them up and kept them in the cold frame for the winter as an arch and some trellis needed replacing. I wasn’t sure the N-G would notice them in their dormant state. This one is D. Erythrosora, also called the Autumn Fern. The new fronds are a beautiful copper colour, especially when the sun is shining as opposed to pouring with rain.

5. Potting on is in full swing in the glasshouse. The over wintered Fuchsias, Salvias etc have been moved to a sheltered area outside (I hope it doesn’t get too cold) but I could still do with a temporary extension.

6. I’m sure there are lots of Tulips featured in this weeks Sixes. Mine have very nearly finished now but I’ve two late flowering Parrot varieties. I’ve not grown these before and have been eagerly watching their progress. The first potful opened the other day and if there is an award for the ugliest tulip then this one wins hands down.

After I’d taken the photo I pulled all of the heads off! I hope the purple ones look better than this.

I’m not sure that the weather is going to be very favourable for gardening today but my RHS seeds arrived yesterday so I’ll be sowing them later. I’ll also be reading the other Sixes courtesy of our host at https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/

Thanks for reading my Six.