Six on Saturday - Mid May 2026

To join in or just to view what a few of us gardeners have to say about the past week in our gardens, head over to Jim's for his Garden Ruminations.

Here are my six:

1. I have just found out that the lovely pink Pimpinella major 'Rosea' is also called 'Pink Cow Parsley' but the botanical names tell me it is not a form of the white cows parsley that is edging our country lanes at the moment.. It was the stand out plant for me on their terrace, when I visited Wyndcliffe Court Gardens, and now I have a clump worth showing. 

It really does want to grow: I moved it last year and I must have left a little bit, as it has come up flowering in its original place as well, and of course that will have to be cleared away at some time as it is a little too close to the Ginkgo.

2. Another plant which I thought I had dug up and moved to the back garden, must have had some smaller bulbs left behind.  This is from the original patch: a fair few Tulipa sprengeri 'Trotter’s Form' flowering on the shady side of a shrub.

Tulipa sprengeri 'Trotter’s Form'

The larger bulbs that I moved and dotted around the back garden are somewhat taller and sturdier, and I hope they get to self seed around.

That self seeded poppy is hardly the plant to establish scale as it is growing larger than any poppy I have ever seen.

3. A more demure little plant that self seeds around is the short lived perennial Semiaquilegia ecalcarata.  It comes up nicely hiding the remaining snowdrop and crocus leaves, but at the stage when these are flowering they form a pretty low rosette of leaves. Next week the foliage from those early spring bulbs will be withered and ready to be cleared away.

Semiaquilegia ecalcarata

Close up of the dainty flowers

4. Although we have no lawn, this beetle was found on a leaf of the ivy that we are currently cutting back.  I have read up and believe it to be The European Chafer Beetle.  

5. Deadheading little spring flowering plants: a lovely spring flowering plant which is easily increased, such that there are now four clumps in the garden is this pale purple Polemonium 'Lambrook Mauve'.  It has a fairly long flowering period if you take the trouble of dead heading it. It also holds itself nicely in little vases of spring flowers. 

Polemonium 'Lambrook Mauve'

6. Another plant that benefits from deadheading, is in that same conservatory bed, This Heuchera which I acquired as a little plant on a charity stall had no name, but it sure is living up to its alternative name of 'Coral Bells'.  There are so many different varieties of heuchera that unless someone can name it for me, I rather not spend the time trying to identify it.  

Even though we have had forecast for rain, during the past few days here, as the clouds passed by and from time to time it grew very dark, the potential for rain moved on and  we have missed any meaningful rain. Next week it is supposedly going to get warmer and drier.  The most notable effect on the garden has been the strong winds, which has meant a lot of picking up of leaves blown from the Holm Oaks. 

This week I went to visit Erika who I have recently met.  We share a similar interest in nature and gardening, she very kindly gave me a bowl of  the mouse tail plant (Arisarum proboscideum), and a piece of a beautiful pink hardly Chrysanthemum  'Dulwich Pink'. I also learnt from her about soaking of mealworms for birds.  The male robin is still coming to my hand to be fed, with the female being happy to come fairly close on the ground. We haven't seen the juveniles but they are close by as the female mainly goes off with food just over the garden wall.