Stasher: Plants I would like

Showing posts with label Plants I would like. Show all posts

Saturday, 11 July 2026

Six on Saturday - 11 July 2026

It's been a very hot week again. Morning or late evening after dinner are the only times it is bearable to get outside, and many plants are just about hanging in, and I am afraid I have had to resort to using the garden hose to rescue certain plants from certain death, and to clean out the bird baths, once saved water has been used up. There are many Six on Saturday posts to enjoy over on Jim's blog.

Six 'ruminations' from my garden: with many thanks to Jim for this in many ways, and all the other contributors and people who post comments, who keep up my enthusiasm even during this hot weather for things plants and gardening.

Tagetes Cinnabar

For seeds for Tagetes Cinnabar I have to thank Cathy. I had a good few strong plants from these , but due to the marauding slugs and snails I have just two plants left, but they are orange and vibrant, a sure pleasure to have. I was surprised that slugs and snails like them as they are so pungent. They are tall beautiful green plants topped with beautifully shaped and coloured petals around the central boss.

Tagetes Cinnabar

2. Some of the annuals I sowed this year are bearing up well. I think the Cosmos was free with a magazine and may have included cupcake. Some of the cosmos I grew on in 10cm pots, but some when they were just a few cms high, were planted in groups of three or so seedlings direct in the garden to take their chance, the surplus which would have otherwise been thrown away. These have done better in my opinion, and the slugs haven't touched them. There is a mixture of pale pink and white. I shall certainly try these again next year planting small seedlings in the garden, rather than potting them up individually.

Cosmos

I've mostly been the sort of gardener that likes to propagate through division and cuttings, but over the last couple of years thanks to some seed sharing with mainly IAVOM friends I am starting to appreciate the joy of growing annuals from seed. I too like to share my seed, so will be posting a later this year.

3. The gravel garden is probably the most resilient of areas. It could well be because there drought tolerant plants are being grown plus the mulch would help too. This little plant which I first saw in Beth Chatto's garden is the little Limonium bellidifolium. I was attracted to the little dome of leaves, and it has since proved easy to divide and now I have a number of little plants. Early in the morning the light was just right to catch the colour of the tiny flowers.

Limonium bellidifolium

The plant cluster at 10 o'clock is starting to get buried by soil brought up by ants. We have lots of ants in the garden and early during the week whilst we were sitting in the shade having coffee, we witnessed a nuptial flight as winged ants emerged first crawling up stems before flying up in a cloud. That was on Monday 6th July.

Whilst looking up Limonium and entering into the spirit of growing more flowers from seed next year I came across Limonium suworowii which seems quite showy and maybe right for adding colour and may tolerate the drier weather. Any thoughts?

4. We have to time our morning drink to catch the shade cast by the large oak trees on the other side of the wall, and as I had my phone with me, decided to try and catch the dewdrops on the Echeveria Elegans succulent bowl on the table.

Dewdrops on the Echeveria Elegans

5. Looking at it as we chatted, it really looked over congested. An easy not strenuous job to do when it was a little less stifling during the evening, was to turn it out of its pot, and replant some of the best rosettes, having first removed all the dried leaves and some of the leaves near the bottom of the stem which where it will throw out new roots.

This time one of the shallow bonsai trays was used to take a display which will remain in there for two or three years. I couldn't bear to throw away too many and found some antique terracotta pots in the pot store and for now for ease of moving around the garden and also watering, they are sitting in one of the garden tubtrugs, though they will have to be moved out of there when rain is expected.

6. I took the opportunity of repotting some other succulents which needed larger pots, and now I am quite out of potting compost. I still have plenty of grit, sand and the other things I mix in with bought potting compost. It is such a strange situation and gives a funny feeling. I shall be rectifying this soon. For now most pot plants have been moved to a shady spot, but the square table where we sit outside for all our meals, lunch is later to catch the shade as well as the shed shelf are only fit for succulents which have been acclimatised to the outdoors for a few months, and a few of the rocks and stones I collect on my walks.

Last week on Cathy's anchoring post for In a Vase on Monday, she paid homage to her mother and one of the memories that stayed with me, was that she advised of the value of introducing regular habits into our routines. Sometimes I vacillate about continuing with Six on Saturday, given that I feel that I must have said all I can say about a small garden, and that I may be boring due to repetition. However for myself it has encouraged me to appreciate maybe the small things and take the problems on the chin or even try and think of solutions and not being too despondent on the problems. It also helps me to look up and relearn names of plants and also often learn more about their habits.

Saturday, 4 July 2026

Six on Saturday - 4 July 2026

Each week as I write the post, I am already thinking about the following week and if there will be anything I can scrape together to write about. Recently I have felt there was so little, but my garden continues to occupy me, both with simple activities such as deadheading and maintenance. Viewing other gardens are a source of delight and inspiration, whether it is through visits or joining in and viewing other bloggers' gardens. For a limited Six things from the garden and more if you read between the lines the place to gather and cogitate is over at Jim's.

So here are my six for this week:

1. Betonica officinalis 'Alba' has a certain poise and is just right for the front of the border along the path.

Betonica officinalis 'Alba'

A piece of this was given to me a couple of years ago and last autumn I divided it and placed it along this border, where it quietly put down roots amongst the spring bulbs. Now those have died down, it is flowering time for the Betonica. I've cleared all the ladybird poppy plants that were just finishing and now they have a little space to themselves.

The individual flowers are a beautiful pure white, and each evening this week, we have had a small hummingbird hawkmoth visit and spend some time hovering and feeding from the tubular flowers. It seems to be on the small size compared to some I have seen visit. Earlier in the day they are certainly popular with some of the bees.

Close up showing the flowers

2. Over the years this path which slopes down and around the conservatory bed has gradually become slightly clogged with soil, aided by ants, worms, birds and visiting cats. It was not altogether a negative as little seedlings especially the violas loved seeding into it. However it had started to be colonised by tougher perennials such as the Viola odorata 'Kim' and some campanulas which I had removed before taking this picture. This week I have started to clean it off, and have been using the garden sieve to separate out the stones, and bring the path back to some semblance of order. I found it less messy sieving out the dry soil, as compared with washing the mixture I dug up through the sieve. It will take another week of the odd hour here and there, during dry weather. The work is strangely therapeutic, and it is a delight to listen to the birds: blackcap, chiffchaff, gold crest and wren being notable this week.

3. Alchemilla erythropoda was a little plant I used to grow in the garden. It was probably removed in order to grow something else. I had been missing it, however to my delight within the seed bank in the soil up popped this plant in the path. When I get down to that section this little plant will find a safe place to continue growing.

Alchemilla erythropoda growing in the path

4. It has also been a week that I have been cutting back or removing plants. I had two large Honesty plants which I grew from seed starting last year of course as they are biannuals, and had planted under the apple tree. They were cutting out far too much light from the Chrysanthemums so it was time to give them the chop. Much was binned, but I have salvaged a few stems and here they are in the conservatory. I rather like the green seed pods and being able to see the seeds.

Honesty in a vase

5. Other plants that were cut down were most of the Love in the Mist and a big clump of Pseudodictamnus acetabulosus. Following an offer of these on the WI WhatsApp, several friends wanting these for drying turned up to collect. The pseudodictamnus was much admired, and following my suggestions of taking cuttings from the bottom of the stems, I have learnt that indeed they are now several in the ground or in pots, plus stems have been hung up to dry. The plant will soon bounce back, send up new growth and I may well have another set of flowers later in the year. I usually cut it back again in early October to give a neat tight cover of growth to overwinter. In a larger garden of course, one could leave the growth but I am unsure of what it weathers like over the winter.

Pseudodictamnus acetabulosus awaiting collection

6. Earlier this week I went to visit a great gardening friend Hilary who is also a specialist and speaker for the Alpine Garden Society. It is always a treat for me to be invited over and after coffee we walk around discussing what has changed since my last visit. My garden easily fits several times just in part of her garden adjacent to her summer house! However the last part of the garden we were in was the walled garden which has her glass house and several raised gravel beds. My plant of the visit, or at the least the plant I would like to grow had to be this one:

Teucrium ackermannii

At the time we couldn't find the label, no the one in the foreground belongs to another plant, and AI gave it as Teucrium aroanium. However when I got home I realised I had been looking up T aroanium only a few days previously, and Hilary's didn't match. I did some further searches on line and found the correct name, and a couple of days later Hilary replied to my suggestion of the correct name, by email, saying she had found the label and indeed it was T. ackermannii. I had already set some cuttings and I shall now be rewriting the label. Hopefully I shall have one or two good plants for next year.

Teucrium ackermannii cuttings

I wonder what I shall write about next week....

Plants I have read about this week and would like to grow: Penstemon ‘Garnet’

Saturday, 13 June 2026

Six on Saturday - 13 June 2026

It is more or less the middle of the year, and I shall probably be shouted down, in saying that I have loved the cooler weather we have been enjoying, as well as all the rain. The garden is lush and green, and I am delighting in how many of the plants have responded without the harsher higher temperatures. I'm joining in with others over at Jim's.

Six things from the garden this Saturday.

1. One of the plants on the shelf is this delightful little Campanula pulla. I bought this last year from Graham and set it up in a bonsai pot in the Kusamono style. I have loved the bud stage with the arching stems over the last couple of weeks and now the inky blue buds are opening to reveal the deep blue blooms.

Campanula pulla

It overwintered in the pot and been very nicely behaved. The plant is really quite small, and one of my little treasures.

2. This Filipendula vulgaris multiplex is looking particularly nice this Saturday, it has just started to open with lots of buds waiting to open. It might well make another appearance in a couple of weeks time. I enjoy every stage of a plant, and often appreciate it before it reaches its peak, and afterwards the seed heads, though I cannot remember these ones, as I probably cut these down too soon.

Filipendula vulgaris multiplex

3. Last week I showed the 2026 plug plant from Henton and District gardening club. Last year there was a choice and I opted for the Pelargonium 'New Century White'. It had flowered all winter in the conservatory, and a few weeks back, I decided to cut it back and repot it. As usual my fingers itched to create a few cuttings. Now one of the cuttings is flowering! Here they are alongside with the repotted Pelargonium, which is a real 'cracker'.

4. A few weeks back I showed the Rhodohypoxis which had been left all winter in the gravel garden. It flowered first and now the ones which I had not divided, ie they are still in the same soil and the same pot as they were last week, and absolutely full of flower and I have one each for the tables.

5. When it comes to promises about pots in the garden, Mr S pointed out that I had not kept to my plan on reducing them. Well maybe not, but I am now planting up several plants together. The golden leaves of Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola' where already growing in a smaller pot, so I can safely say no extra pot was used. When I saw this Actaea Brunette at my friends little shop, I was beguiled by its deep purple leaves, so much so that I did not even read its label where it describes it as reaching 1.2 metres. It will of course have to be liberated into the garden. But where, and until I have decided it makes for a nice little grouping 'in a pot'! I added a few of the self seeded self hybridised violas.