Saturday, 12 September 2026

Six on Saturday - 12 September 2026

The weather continues to be garden friendly with rain and also sunny episodes.  This gardener is certainly in a better frame of mind. I am joining in with others over at Jim's as usual for Six on Saturday meaning six things from the garden this week, with a little blurb to go with it.


1. With flowers refreshed, insects are visiting in greater number with bumblebees, crab spiders and shield bugs here. The young Robin has developed a fine singing voice certainly far better than a few weeks ago.  He has been enjoying a good supply of proper robin food meaning worms and many have been brought up as a result of removing old plants and planting new.

2. With a little more rain, and the ground starting to take in humidity, it was time to make some hard decisions.  I mentioned that I had removed the apple tree and now that area has a new planting of the Japanese Umbrella Pine Sciadopitys verticillata which I have had for around 12 years and until now planted up every few years into larger pots.

Umbrella Pine Sciadopitys verticillata

3. Elsewhere I decided that one Cornus sanguinea 'Midwinter Fire' was sufficient for a small garden, and also growing along side a large clump of Iris Sibirica Silver Edge was ready to be divided.  And so the cornus was dug up, and the Iris divided and shared amongst several friends, and then there was space.  What a fabulous feeling!  Space to plant two plants that I had been nurturing since last year in pots. 

It is just a year since the Cercidiphyllum japonicum with its autumn caramel scent and Corylopsis Sinensis which will have early yellow spring flowers with a wonderful scent arrived from Jurassic Plants as very small young plants, and after a year in pots it was time to get them into the ground. 

Corylopsis Sinensis ahd Cercidiphyllum Japonicum

4.  Different types of cyclamen are up even some sown a few years ago by ants, which were collecting seed from special cyclamen being grown in pots resting on top of the low wall. Growing in chippings with virtually no soil, and the top of the tuber above ground, I am leaving them as a reminder of the resilience of nature, or at least cyclamen.

Cyclamen hederifolium

5. I picked up a couple of plants this week just to add a little colour at this time of the year.  I had been meaning to add a buddleja to the garden if only to please the many butterflies that visit.  It is still a small shrub but in time will grow up to 1.5 metres high.  It has a lovely scent.

Reve de Papillon Red
It is now in the ground.

6. Again from Thomas D'Arcy, Penstemon 'Andenken an Friedrich Hahn' (Garnet) has been added to the garden if only to offer up trumpet flowers for the Hummingbird Hawkmoths which continue to visit the garden. I've also seen big fat bumble bees visit the blooms. 

Penstemon 'Andenken an Friedrich Hahn' (Garnet)

It too is now planted out. Soon cuttings of this will be taken, and I think that all the pots with plants waiting to be planted out, except for pots of cuttings which are being rooted, and will be kept under shelter during the winter,  are now empty. 

I love the autumn and its lower light levels and early morning slanting light...wouldn't it be lovely to have a few Amaryllis belladonna which Jim has shown this week?   





7 comments:

  1. That Japanese Umbrella pine will make for a stunning feature. I hope it fits in well. Is the fence shared with the neighbours, or will you be able to move it if the pine gets too wide? That said, it will take many years for that to happen...

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    1. I think my husband is of the same opinion as you regarding the proximity to the fence which belongs to our neighbours. I am going to prune back some of the wider branches before they hit the fence in a year or two. I ought to have brought the tree another couple of feet away from the fence, but I didn't want to spare any more space to it.

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  2. You have been busy, Sis! After you mentioned Jurassic Plants last year I was tempted myself and my podocarpus is doing very well. Nice to see your two doing likewise. I might have to have another look at what they have got. This SoS can be very expensive occupation! Love the resilient cyclamen. Have a good week x

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  3. The penstemon should attract lots of bumblebees! I planted one in our community garden yesterday, and they wouldn't even wait until it was in the ground before starting to visit it.
    I love your ant-sown cyclamen! Mine has not started producing leaves or flowers yet, even though the tuber looks firm and nicely alive. I bought it last December, so maybe it is still too early.

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    1. Maybe a SOS on your community garden might be interesting. There are different forms of cyclamen, was is a hederifolium? They all come up in their own time, patience is key.

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  4. The border in front of the newly planted Japanese Umbrella Pine looks lovely. It's surprising how quickly many plants have recovered thanks to the wetter and cooler weather.

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  5. Planting things that are inevitably going to outgrow their space is a good way of making sure that good sized planting spaces become available from time to time when they get removed. I've almost never replaced an over big plant with a small one of the same thing. Pity about the apple tree though, one of the few that can be kept to the same size for a good few years.

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