Six on Saturday – Strength in Numbers

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Anyone else feeling a little horticulturally overwhelmed? Well, (hoping someone said yes) so am I. The garden has switched to hyperdrive, spilling out and over in a what was charming and now is alarming way. There is a slim chance, miniscule in fact, that I may have planted too many plants in the garden. As I type, these squidged in specimens have their elbows out, vying for space, desperate for attention. I am not without guilt. Each night, lying in bed, I sit up and cry, much to the amusement of the neighbours and consternation of OH, “but what happened to the Fuchsia boliviana?!” and the like. But what hope is there for a gardener so deficient in self-control? Someone who is most positively in control is our mentor and champion SoS herder, Jim at Garden Ruminations, pop over to his site and many mysteries will be revealed. Shall we get on? I’ve got to get back into the garden and restrain the eccremocarpus.

Geranium ‘Ann Folkard’ an ideal candidate for this kind of chaotic planting. She finds her way, round and through, complimenting and enhancing without resorting to thuggery. Here she is embracing an astilbe, white cosmos and, a yet to flower, Penstemon ‘Laura Jane’

Erodium manescavii and Eschscholzia californica are getting on like a house on fire. Not strictly on the guest list, but nonetheless welcome, the self seeded Calendula ‘Westwell Hall’ has fitted in very nicely. This marigold came from North Devon, in the garden of the most wonderful Buttons. Happy days.

More ND memories, I must be feeling a little nostalgic today. This is what I call Rosa ‘Beautiful Bobby’, a cutting from The Buns garden. It has been poorly trained to the fence so is finding it’s own support from the crimson leaved acer.

The Polemonium ‘Purple Rain’ has done well this year, flowering once very early and having another try again. The persistent Diascia personata, after a cruel chop, is returning after giving our Gertie a chance to shine. The battle lines continue to ebb and flow, whether or not I have any influence is debateable.

This year I have not embraced the bedding ethos. No reason, I do like a few pelargoniums and marigolds about the place, it just didn’t happen. I’m not sure you could really call these bedding plants but the Isotoma axillaris and Nemesia ‘Lady Lisa’ bought to fill a pot seem to be mingling nicely.

Some plants, however, stand alone quite happily, aloof and self-sufficient. Hemerocallis ‘Nona’s Garnet’ is one such independent soul, it is more than enough on its own, although I am sure it will play nicely with those threatening to intrude. This beauty was purchased, with one or two of its friends, from the wonderful Pollie’s Daylilies . As I have said before, visit her website at your peril.

There you have it, Six on Saturday, the end of June and several more growing months ahead. The battle continues!

40 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – Strength in Numbers”

  1. So very wonderfully put, and I am completely with you in the overwhelmed phase of the garden. My Diascia personata decided it did not like it here, I enjoyed it for a couple of seasons then we parted company, rather she expired probably feeling peeved that she was overwhelmed by other plants.

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  2. Perhaps your less thuggish Geranium ‘Ann Folkard’ would be more suited to my garden rather than some of the varieties I’m being forced to remove from the borders in summer. Gorgeous photo of the rose and the crimson-leaved acer. They complement each other. Another fab photo with the Polemonium and Diascia.

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  3. Such an abundance of beautiful flowers, I also have Ann Folkard and it is lovely. Here the weeds seem to be winning, it’s been the perfect weather for them.

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  4. Crimson leaves for the acer? Has it been too hot in recent days ? Here I have a few branches that have actually burned out, but it’s still reasonable. Very beautiful combination of Isotoma axillaris and Nemesia ‘Lady Lisa’ : a lovely mix

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  7. Well, the garden should be full of plants in June or what’s the point.? I have packed too much into tiny spaces here too. It’s already depressing me that I’ve run out of room after only 18 months. I shall just have to dig the whole lot up every couple of years and start again. I keep looking at my neighbour’s garden. What do they need all that lawn and three sheds for? I could have fun there. Maybe I should start some dead of night guerrilla gardening. Have you considered that?

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    1. Funny you should say that, we are surrounded by non-gardeners and at the front of the house is an area of “common” land that I have considered planting. The only downside are the butcher grass cutters with their ride-ons and strimmers that arrive periodically and wreck havoc.

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  8. We share a common combination! California poppies and Calendula, both self seeded, enjoy a spot in my garden, looking as wild as your does. Jacob’s Ladder won;t grow well here, sadly – looks lovely though in yours!

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  13. California poppies seem to be happier away from California. Although they can continue to perform for quite a while with irrigation, those that bloom on the roadside here finish as the soil gets dry, which is not long. They are even faster in desert climates; but somehow they get the job done. There are actually a few species that are difficult to distinguish.

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      1. Some of the other species have been used to breed unnatural colors into the primary species Eschscholzia californica, but they revert to more typical orange after a few generations. Some Eschscholzia californica from desert regions are naturally yellow, but some of the other species are also yellow. When I was a kid, we searched for white or purple poppies like Irish kids search for four leaf clovers. It seems odd to me that such a vivid orange flower could exhibit such a divergent variant as lavender purple. The seed of white and purple poppies is not true to type of course. I found a white poppy at work, and really should have grown it as a perennial. That would involve digging it in autumn and plugging it deeper than it grew for as long as it would tolerate that abuse. It is not a bright white anyway, but is more of a creamy white.

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      3. They are interesting, but that is about all. They are not very colorful. Actually, both are quite pale. California poppy really excels at its distinctively bright orange.

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  14. Lovely colour combos this week Gill. Especially the rose and the acer. I noticed my white Astilbe looking a bit browned off (the flowers not the leaves) is it possible that it is too dry? I don’t usually water that particular bed as it is in the shadier side of the garden.

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  17. Not sure what’s worse, waking in the night wondering what happened to Fuchsia boliviana or not waking in the the night wondering what happened to Fuchsia boliviana because you’ve not even remembered you had it. Or in my case Erodium manescawii which I seem to have lost without even realising I had and you’ve just reminded me of. That explains at least one gap in the border.

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