Six on Saturday – On Tour – The Wrong Day

I believe we are allowed at least one “On Tour” Six on Saturday a year, perhaps many more. At the moment I am staying with my friend Dorcester Doris, in a town not far from where several of my SoS friends live. And whilst she slaves over a bacchanalian feast, I thought I would share our wonderful, but previous, day with you. I’ve omitted the extreme disco roller skating and ninja arm wrestling, dwelling purely on all things horticultural. To find out more about SoS, it’s perpetrators and it’s many complex rules and regulations, pop over to our leader Jim all will be revealed.  The story shall begin.

I was thrilled when DD suggested a trip to Wells as I had noticed that a Rare Plants Fair was due this weekend.  I knew that Torrington Tina was going and guessed that Noelle and perhaps even Graeme would be attending. Dan Cooper an old friend had a stall and others that I follow on social media. Surprise! I would cry when I bumped into them. Imagining their shocked/happy horrified face.  Unfortunately I got the day wrong, the fair is tomorrow when I will be wending my way home.   A cruel blow.

DD, Bertie the dog and myself visited the Bishop’s Palace gardens anyway, it was a gorgeous day and such an opportunity was not to be missed.  And it did not disappoint. I could quite easily have produced Sixty on Saturday. It took much willpower and photo culling but this lovely Tulipa sylvestris was always going to make the cut.  The steep banks up to the ramparts are carpeted with this understated beauty and native primroses. In the sunshine it was a treat.

This magnificent Quercus ilex was another star of the show. With newly planted beds below of ferns and hellebores and other shade lovers, it can only get better and better, year on year.

There was a jaw dropping start to our garden tour; several outrageous specimens of Edgeworthia ‘Red Dragon’ outshone their fragrant border companions of witch hazel and daphne.

Monumental tetrapanax are just beginning to shoot fresh leaves from their giraffe neck stems. Soon their exotic foliage will match the scale of their trunks.  At the moment they look rather comical.

I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet any friends at the fair, hopefully there will be another time, but I have left a message for you to discover.  The header shot is another clue.  There is a chance, I suppose, that it will have gone by tomorrow, but perhaps it will survive, it might even have been added to. 

Have fun, whatever you are up to.