Six on Saturday - 9 September 2023

 How hot and stifling, I want to feel cool again! Meanwhile yesterday I sat out of the sun and thought about the pictures I have taken and wrote the first draught of the weekly post for Six on Saturday.  I am joining Jim as usual on a morning here with mist but temperatures still very warm.

1. In the middle of the gravel garden this week's number one plant is the clump of  Allium senescens ssp. montanum var. glaucum, it was sold to me as Allium senescens montana glaucum, but having seen it growing in Derry Watkins' garden and in her Special Plants Nursery, I am going with the name she uses. This is a dwarf perennial late flowering allium forming an interesting clump of spiralling twisted grey leaves with round heads each with many lilac flowers each one a bee magnet. I like the way the heads are held high above the low growing foliage.

 Allium senescens ssp. montanum var. glaucum

It has been in this position for three years and after flowering I shall divide it to increase my stock. Division can done either in the spring or the autumn.

2.  I was about to take more cuttings and I could not find my pocket knife.  I don't even know how long I have had it: years and years.  To think of all those plants in the garden and which I have given away that started off as cuttings using this little red handled knife.

What is it that makes something special? Is it that one has had it for a long time?  If it is lost to what lengths does one go to find it?  When does one start to mourn its loss? How soon does one give up and look for a replacement?  I had started to look for my  knife, already mourning its possible loss, and really a foldable pocket knife is not that pricey, so why was I upset? 

Maybe I am a little different from the run of the mill, but I like my 'things'.   I spent a couple of hours looking for it, checking all the pockets, the car, the shed, and even emptied the full green waste bin to see if it had accidentally been thrown away when I had been showing someone how to take cuttings in back garden.  Mr S joined in the search too. During all of this  I had a faint recollection, that I had put it down somewhere unusual and wondering at the time why?  

Anyway I have found it:  at the bottom of the cupboard under my half used neatly folded clothes. 

It has had a clean and a sharpen, and will hopefully always be put back in its proper place after each use and hence not get lost. Wouldn't it be good if there was a notch to attach a lanyard to? 

Only when I found my knife was able to put in the name of the manufacturers and found a modern equivalent. I would pay for one of their lovely wooden handled knives if I had to buy another knife,  but I am more than happy with my perfect little red knife which fits my hand perfectly.

3. Another very pleasing form from this year's crop of Hardy Chrysanthemums from Halls of Heddon is Chrysanthemum Chatsworth (21C).  The flowers are held well above the growth and I look forward to checking them out soon as a cut flower.

4. I have been in love with the Ginkgo Tree for a very long time, it was love at first sight.  In print I love the art around this tree and its leaf shape.  I only wish I had bought one years ago.  I have found one which will be just the right size for this garden.  It is a short grafted plant of Ginkgo biloba 'Mariken'. A good description of this form can be found on Gardenia's site. I have also found a list for the National Collection of Gingko biloba and cultivars.

Ginkgo biloba 'Mariken'

Of course it deserved an attractive pot, and I found this slate one up at my local nursery.  There was a bit of a hiccup over the initial contact by email, but my patience has been fruitful, and I got all the information I asked for and a picture of the plant they would send to me. The service I had from Vicky at Lime Cross Nursery has been first rate.

5.  Sending out a delicious scent during the warm evenings is this Dianthus.  One evening I watched a humming bird hawkmoth visit the individual flowers: magic, sadly no camera was handy then. The warm dry weather seems to suit this flower, which otherwise in rain looks like wet hair.

Dianthus superbus

My friend Jean has gleaned a few Dianthus seed, and didn't tell me what the variety was, suffice it to say from three seed, two fell out from the seedpod, only one went into the pot. I think it must be sort of D, superbus as well. It was still in its seed pot when I took this picture, now the pinker bloom with markings has been removed and the plant is settling nicely in the garden soil.

6. Self sowers as beautiful as this late flowering nasturtium are always welcome if they are in the right place. I no longer sow any seed and just wait for plants to appear.

With windows flung open for all long as possible after dark, we had a visitor on Thursday evening which at first I thought quite pretty, but with some nice variegated boxes which I hoped to cloud prune eventually, I think those poor plants' days are numbered. Last night we had three Box Tree moths in the living room.

I shall be visiting the Rare Plant Event at Wells Bishop's Palace tomorrow, the garden is packed but will I come home with anything?  We shall see.........