Saturday 27 April 2019

Six on Saturday - 27 April 2019

What a week it has been:  Sunny and hot at the start and temperatures falling by 10 C within six days!  Overnight into this afternoon, we have been experiencing strong winds that have resulted in apple petal confetti and young green leaves off trees, and unstaked plants flattened.  If there is a bright side to the weather this week it that there has been sufficient rain to help replenish the water butt, and water the garden.

Many gardeners including The Propagator who runs this weekly review will see their plants rush along now..do you and see what he is showcasing, and then through the comments and links, those of other people who love their gardens and plants.

From the conservatory which is my favourite place other than the garden, immediately and close by is this lovely Clematis Moonbeam.  As I write this I have searched the web and found that it is said to be tender, but I have had it now over two winters.  I liked it so much, that I bought a second plant in 2018.  Here one plant sprawls over old stems of a honeysuckle.  I love to collect old twisted pieces of plants and keep them to use as supports.  The clematis is evergreen, but is not self-supporting...it needs to be trained and tied in.  It has lovely cream anthers but being male produces no seed heads.



My second item is another clematis: Clematis Montana Warwickshire Rose.  Just like the Propagator who hosts this weekly meme, mine was a bargain from Morrisons.  It grew away very well, but earlier this month is had to be dug up so that the rotten fence post could be replaced.  Out of the ground for less than a few hours, a few of its longer stems trimmed back, with good watering, it went back in.  A couple of weeks later it appears to be thriving.  This is the alley of 'shame'  where bags of compost, old plant pots and plants in pots are kept....just a narrow sunny cul-de sac of a patch.  Hopefully the clematis will cover the fence in time.


Whether Hakonechloa Macra Aureola will ever get into the soil is anyone's guess.  I turn the pots every few days to give an even round shape, and they usually group around larger pots.


So long as Jack Frost keeps away I shall be pleased, but we are sheltered here.  In the shady border the hopefully hardy Brunnera Jack Frost is looking fresh with it silver leaves edged and ribbed in green.  It was given to me by one of my new neighbours.  In my last garden I had tried it, but the Midland slugs unlike the ones here found it a delicacy of choice, so much so, that it never survived the onslaught.


Another plant doing nicely in the Shady Border is this one...the one peeping up amongst the ferns, (click on this to find out more about the fern in the foreground), the one with lovely two toned leaves: Epimedium versicolor sulphureum grown as much for the lovely leaf which starts out with the bronze shading.


For my last of the six this week, over towards the acer corner, this little geranium glows in the morning: Geranium Blue Sunrise.  I suffer from Winter Blues...and back in 2015, whilst in the Midlands went to seek the cure:  a day of indulgence at Cotswold Garden Flowers.  Without any growth showing, I gave total confidence in Bob Brown's nursery, by buying this geranium...a piece of which I brought to the new garden.  Looking out for this to emerge from its winter slumber always gets me peering at the space allocated to it.  At it starts to flower probably in three or four week's time it will be less golden.



I'm posting this late because I have been spending the morning at The Hardy Plant Sale....such lovely plants and people!

8 comments:

  1. Lovely Six! Glad to know your morrisons clem has put up with the move, mine are both doing very well. I had some of the brunnera, disappeared without trace, perhaps the slugs got it.

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  2. Just love that clematis on the dead honeysuckle. Everything's looking good in your garden this week.

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    1. Thanks Lora, everything is looking quite good particularly after the rain.

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  3. Your Brunnera has such lovely BIG leaves. Mine did when I bought it last year, but the new leaves are very small. What is that lovely fern in front of your Epimedium? I really like the leaf shape.

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    1. With the aid of some great fern growers, I've identified Crytomium fortunei
      https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2019/05/fern-cyrtomium-fortunnei-arching.html

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  4. I have a Brunnera nearby which is much smaller...but it was a tiny plant last year. I thought I had lost it, but with it is making some good leaf now. I fed it with a topdressing of fish, blood and bone, just as the leaves were emerging. This 'girl' has more ferns than I ought to, having moved from a garden with a good shady border, to not much here. This was one that I brought with me. I've lost the name, but I've written to the RHS and also to Fernatix to ask for help in identification. I'll post another message here when I get an answer.

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  5. Oh I like the look of 'Moonbeam' Noelle and what a fabulous way of supporting it. Bob Brown's nursery is probably my all time favourite 😄

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    1. A wonderful place...I've been three times now. The stock beds are superb, and I love watching the chickens running around. My next outing will be to the Malvern Spring Flower Show!

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