Six on Saturday – Top Secret Kittens

Posted byofftheedgegardeningPosted inChez Nous, Six on SaturdayTags:, , , , , , , ,

It was touch and go as to whether I would make this week’s Six on Saturday.  Luckily, I got back in time from my top-secret kitten-rescuing mission to complete my task.  Rest assured that all kittens are safe and well.  I hope you are too.  Any more information needed then pop on over to P’s and you can find up what is going on around the planet.  There may be more kittens and they might even be real.  Shall we proceed ……

First, we have Tulipa ‘Burgundy’ a lily-flowered beauty.  When it first started to bloom, I wasn’t sure about the colour.  It seemed a bit dull and lifeless.  Then it bucked up its ideas and now I love it and its fellows.  This pot is in a more protected position so hopefully will avoid the fate of last week’s purple tulip.

Next, we have an attention seeking Hoya bella.  This wonderfully fragrant exotic was given to me as a cutting by my ex-client, the lovely Lavinia.  It lives in my office, perched high on top of my box files, where I can appreciate the waxy flowers and their accompanying aroma.  Over the last few weeks, I have been mainly working downstairs and as such I may have neglected it somewhat.  In defiance, it threw itself off the top leaving a trail of compost in its wake.  It was nothing to do with the fact that it was bone dry.  Nothing at all.  It is now outside getting rehydrated in the rain.

My Geum ‘Totally Tangerine’ has begun to flower.  It reminds of Mrs Bun.  Just why it reminds me of her is documented in Six on Saturday – After the Rain.  She was forgiven a long time ago, possibly 30 seconds after the rejection.  I miss her muchly.

This is Bellevalia pycnantha, syn. Muscari paradoxum, which is new to me this year.  Not only haven’t I grown it, I hadn’t heard of it before.  But I liked the picture and thought I would give it a go.  Then, as these things often happen, I was reading my friend Chloris’ Six on Saturday and there it was, in all its glory!  As she has a wonderful garden and great taste, I was quite chuffed.  I’m looking forward to seeing how it progresses.

It’s that time of the year again, the time I say “look at the aquilegia and look how they are taking over every corner of the garden”.  Then I say “I will dead head them before they seed themselves and dig most of them up, reserving a select few”.  Then I don’t.  Groundhog year.

Earlier in the week, when myself and OH went out for our daily stroll, I spotted an interesting box outside the house of our neighbour across the road.  Of course we crossed to examine it.  Any little excitement is welcome.  In the box were pots of aeonium and a sign saying “£1 each, all proceeds to the Citizens Advice Bureau”.  On the way home I said to OH “have you got a pound?”, as like all royalty I rarely carry cash.  Here, potted up into one of my old terracottas, is our new aeonium.

Stay safe and well, my friends.  ‘Til next time.

 

 

 

36 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – Top Secret Kittens”

  3. So that makes at least two of you with Totally Tangerines already in flower – mine aren’t yet and we are on the South Coast (more or less). They must be in a shadier spot than yours. I grew Burgundy in a pot too and they were lovely, but I didn’t get round to planting them out in the garden. This year I tried red ‘Ile de France’ instead – I like to namecheck regions of France with my tulips. Good tip about pots – I will try this when replacing tulips with summer annuals.

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  5. The rain has mostly passed us by, and we could have done with a bit more. Your Tulip is a gorgeous colour, ‘National Velvet’ is looking good here. The lovely Rusty Duck gave me a Geum ‘Apricot Delight’ which I love and will hopefully have some flowers soon.
    I have Aeonium haworthii, it is like a little succulent tree, has spent the winter in the greenhouse and is looking as if it will burst in to flower soon. It also has an offspring for when we next meet up.
    Stay safe and well too.

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  6. Your writing style is delightful! Nice to have people around that can make you laugh at the moment. I ‘knew’ what your Bellevalia was immediately, but only because I had seen Chloris’ picture. And a nice little aeonium for only a £1. But I really, really want to know about those kittens, since I was involved in a little illegal kitten rescuing myself a few years back. (Or is it an ‘in’ joke?!!!) Have a good week!

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    1. Tell me about your adventure! Mine is made up I’m afraid, although I wish otherwise. Yesterday I was making up excuses not to do SoS because it was raining and I didn’t want to go outside to take photos. They were: rescuing kittens and/or undertaking a top secret mission. Neither were true. Although they might be in the future. Thank you for your kind words x

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      1. I rescued a kitten from a friend’s in-laws down the road. They were torturing it and she (the friend and the kitten) were distressed. We waiting until they went out to the village restaurant and then cat-napped it. It lived in my spare room for three days before another friend re-homed it. Every time I see my friend’s father-in-law in the street, I still feel guilt. So never make light of rescuing kittens again!!! I shall look forward to your SoS next week if you aren’t otherwise engaged!

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  8. Kittens? . . . and they are top secret? . . . so I can not inquire? Well, I suppose I could inquire; but I would not expect an explanation.
    I had to look up Citizens’ Advice Bureau. I had never heard of it. My aeoniums go for free. I grew them from two scraps I brought back from Monterey a few years ago, and now they are all over town.
    This hoya thing seems to be popular. You know, I have never seen one directly before.

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    1. When my hoya flowers I will post a picture, it is very lovely. As for the secret, it is a secret, that is the point. It might also be made up. But I think you knew that, because in spite of yourself you are getting to know me. 🙂

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      1. Well, I sort of suspected that could be a remote possibility, but I know better than to suspect anything too. Besides, that sounds too suspicious and weird to be made up.

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  9. So many lovely Muscari, I am beginning to get quite attached to them. I find some tulips do take a bit of getting used to. Some I fall in love with immediately, others become more enchanting the older they get and so many are different colours to what I expect. As for the kittens I am very curious. How when why? I am thinking of getting a kitten or two to frighten away the rats, but then I suppose they’d frighten away the birds too. Anyway until we can move about freely I can’t make any decisions. Stay well xx

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  10. I have no idea what a Bellevalia is, or even Hoya bella – that’s another two I’ll have to google. This Six On Saturday is giving me an education!

    ‘The Geum is beautiful – I have G. Scarlet Tempest and it’s flowering too. But your aquilegia is way ahead of mine and looking good.

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  11. I’ve come to the realisation that it is OK to bin aquilegias. Lovely though they are, they do take over and despite looking delicate, a plant a few years old can through out enough foliage to shade out other plants I would like to keep. I do have an embarrassing number of them I’ve potted up just in case they turn out to be interesting colours though.
    I love the geum and the muscari.

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  14. Glad you made it back from the kittens to write. The geum giving a lovely bright burst. My aeonium is getting too straggly so I’ve cut off a few side stems to start again rooting in pots. They just aren’t getting through winter refuge each year looking good.

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  15. I’m envious of your shopping trip. A lovely acquisition. I picked up some TTs at the end of last year at a bargain price and they are near to flowering so now I’m just impatient. I’ve never been a fan of delayed gratification! But I reserve my greatest envy for your rain. So beautiful to see all those rain drops!!

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  16. Things in boxes are always a magnet for gardeners…sometimes there might just be something special. Our aeoniums smell of honey..I have a few surplus at the moment which I had been meaning to share with the gardening club.

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