Six on Saturday - 19 September 2026

 SOS you know the form, Six(ish) things from the garden all linked together over at Jim's.

1. The Asters are starting to give a wonderful splash of colour, taking us and our gardens up to the feast of Michaelmas after which all these flowers were originally named.

A Blogging friend Brian Skeys has just written a delightful article celebration Michaelmas, which reminded that some of mine could feature this week.

Aster novi-belgii Blue

Since adding the Asters to the garden a few years ago, I have divided them very successfully and have some repeats. I would love a pale pink one, and ought to look out for one in readiness for next year. Any suggestions?

2. Sometimes it is the juxtaposition of plants that brings a smile to my face as here where the Pittosporum Tom Thumb which thankfully has survived the rather harsh trim and the silver leaved Lamium maculatum form a temporary twosome.  Temporary as I believe there are bulbs lurking beneath the Lamium which will be removed at some time during the winter or spring.  It got there are a little weed seedling and for now it stays. It gently self seeds and being easy to pull up, it usefully fills bare spaces around the garden especially protecting the earth during the winter rains, and offering cover for the various insects.

Lamium maculatum

3. Another lovely leaf pop is supplied by the chartreuse green leaves of the Persicaria 'Golden Arrow'. My friend Maggie gave me a small piece somewhile ago, and I have been able to divide and place them around the garden.  This particular one was burnt to a crisp, and just before the rains, I cut it to the ground, now it has re-emerged fresh and chartreusey.

4. Another Aster and one which I divided earlier in the year is Aster Pyrenaeus 'Lutetia'.  She has had a rather tough year, but has had no watering since the initial two or three weeks settling in water. Here she is sprawling through to reach a 'look at me position', through the Miscanthus nepalensis.

Aster Pyrenaeus 'Lutetia'

I need to think over the best position for these Asters.  All three plants of Lutetia and in 'subprime' positions.

5. During the summer this pale lemon calendula, seeds supplied by SOS sister gathered from her garden, has been a beautiful counterpoint to the other colours in the garden. I call it 'Lemon Heaven' as I dead head it., In one case also the plant was cut back almost to the ground.  It has since come up rather well.  

Calendula 'Lemon Heaven'

During the heat the flowers were imperfectly formed, and I thought maybe the form of the plant had degraded due to some unknown genetic condition, but it was just the heat, and like many of us, we flourish only when 'normal weather' resumes.

6.  Although I no longer have my very small veg border, I still grow a number of herbs.  I find them decorative and delicious, and I certainly would not be without the Allium tuberosum, or more easily remembered as Garlic Chives. 

They hadn't been watered either during the summer, and from the number of flowers, I think it is time to refresh the plants and autumn is a good time. This time of the year they throw up their flowers and they are another form of nectar for the insects. There was a small copper again this year on them, but I didn't have my phone on me.  I shall leave the flowers for the bees and butterflies, then divide and share amongst my gardening friends locally.

That's it for this week, except that the garden threw up another interesting insect observed for the first time here. I found it dead in the shower room, which is just by a length of ivy covered fence, so it may well be Oedemera femoralis.  

Oedemera femoralis

I hadn't realised its rarity, otherwise I would not have thrown it back outside after I took the picture.  I'll be sure to observe it more carefully next time.

In the garden mid July 2026 - Six on Saturday

 Another week of sun, heat and no rain and with the temperatures remain high even overnight, the garden is certainly showing signs of stress.  However we are still gardeners and trying to enjoy the open space which is our privilege to garden.  To read a little more on gardens and other gardeners head over to 'Jim's Garden Ruminations' where we congregate each week to share these weekly 'garden cuttings'.

1. Some of the roses are having a second flush, with the sun and heat they are not lasting, but it is lovely still to enjoy them.  Munstead wood is trying very hard:

Rose Munstead Wood second flush

Early one morning just as the sun was rising I went out to deadhead the Munstead Wood rose before it shed its many petals, and what did I see but this green insect.  The light here is different to the picture above as it was not long after 5 a.m. when I went out. I didn't get a good enough look to see whether it is a cricket or a grasshopper. I posted this on the Entomology group on Facebook and it has been suggested that it is Leptophyes punctatissima (f) Speckled Bush Cricket.

Whilst deadheading I was collecting the petals which I shall dry and add to a bowl for the house.

2. It is even worth taking pictures as within days the plants start to flounder. The combination of Helianthemum Golden Queen this time with the Lemon Thyme behind it has been one of my favourite deck chair views. 

This coming week I shall be snipping back all the spent flower stems on the Helianthemum, which tend to fall parallel to the ground with the newer growth on top.  This Helianthemum is just marvellous. I try to leave the flowers on for all long as possible as we have so many different bees, moths, butterflies etc in dire need of a little respite too.

3. Also in the gravel garden is this delicate little yellow Allium flavum. I originally planted a little pot in 2021, but this gradually dwindled, and these two flowers are from a little group of self sown ones. As this little allium with its blue grey leaves are perfect in this spot, I shall be sure to allow the seedheads to mature fully, then prepare a little area not far away to receive the seed, then just cover with a thin layer of finer stones, and let nature take its course.

Allium flavum

4. I've not watered the front garden at all, and it is looking decidedly 'Mediterranean' but not as bad as my friend's garden in Spain, where even her garden cacti are in very poor shape.  Amazingly this Kniphofia name 'unknown' is doing remarkably well.  We have heavy clay here and it seems to be doing well despite that, and when I plant I do try to incorporate a little grit.  The mother clump is yet to flower, but I have just read that they need dividing every three years or so, so when this has finished and we have some rain, making the soil workable, I shall be dividing the older clump and probably this one too, relocating a few around the garden. I'll cut a flower or two with some leaves, put them in a jar, and place that around the garden to see what they will go next to well, then put in a cane to remind me where to plant the divisions.

Kniphofia

5. I mentioned Pelargonium 'New Century White' only a month ago, mainly to show its cuttings.  This is the original plug plant from last year.  Repotted and trimmed it has at least fifteen flower spikes open!

Pelargonium 'New Century White'

6. Whilst we are with white flowers, I continue to be intrigued by the different flower forms coming up on the Cosmos.

White Cosmos

Sometimes not growing a pure strain of seed brings more interest and variety for a small garden. another good plus for Cosmos is that the slugs and snails leave them alone.

For my six I have tried to keep positive but the picture below of Astilbe Chinensis Pumila taken from my post in 2014

shows that the conditions in my new garden and with the hotter drier summers, it is a plant that will not thrive, having been reduced to this dry mass not flowering each summer for the last three years. An example of wrong plant, wrong place, wrong climate! 

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’

Six on Saturday - 6 June 2026

The start of June has been cool, wet and windy, but with a few hours of sun as well.  The water but is now full and at least with this rain the soil is more moist making it easier to garden, move plants, and seedlings etc.  Our band of gardeners heads over to Jim's with our six each Saturday and there should you fancy joining in you will also find how to do it, as well as links to other SOSers posts.

Let us get cracking:

1.  Starting off with a view of my garden shelf as it is this week:

The succulents have made their way out of the conservatory, and some of the smaller ones are in their summer location on the shelf.  I tend to change what goes on this shelf purely on a whim. They usually are the smaller plants with intricate details, that I like to observe close up. The larger pots are on the ground, and more about them another week.

2. In the taller studio pot is our 'plug plant for the year' from my gardening club.  This year we were all given the same one to grow which we are then to take for judging at our Summer Party.  

It has taken a few weeks to grow from a plug plant to this colourful specimen of  Bidens 'Bee Happy Orange', and at the level on the shelf one of the surprising things to discover is its lovely scent. 

Talking about judging, I am off to day to judge a section at the Garden Fete at the Bishop's Palace in Wells today. 

3.. This  small hover fly was attracted to the bidens. This week I was relieved to find hover flies visiting flowers.  I think they are late this year, was it my lack of observation or was a hiatus in their life cycle?

4. I was checking out the front garden and noticed that the clump of Rhodiola pachyclados sometimes known as Sedum pachyclados, was ready for 'rejuvenating' as it had grown wide with the middle dying out.  I removed some of the side growths and have placed them in one of the old bonsai pots, making a 'Kasamono' style planting. I like the smaller dainty rssetts of blue green to silver leaves.  At this level it is so easy to love at their wonderful detail.  I have never had these flower for me but I am quite happy with that.

5.  With a week of very heavy showers and also strong winds, the roses shrubs have had a battering. Rose Grace and Rose Munstead Wood definitely came off worse, and I have had to trim off some of the heavier flowers whilst dead heading, and will need to find some supports.

Over on the other side of the seating circle the four Timeless bushes with their strong stems are still upright.

This is a close up of Timeless Pink the closest in the above picture.

Rose Timeless Pink

6. This is a view along the Shady Border path leading towards the Gooseberry bush.

Towards the back, a little in front of the gooseberry bush, the patch of Valerian with its tall flowering stems is wafting its lovely sweet vanilla scent. It currently has loads of blackfly up its stem, with a patrol of ants travelling up and down, but there are also loads of ladybird larvae and pupae around the garden and they will soon be under control.  For some reason loads of white Love in the mist has come up but no blue ones this year, and the pale pink froth half way down the path on the right hand side are the flowers of the lovely ground cover plant Saxifraga stolonifera.  Once it flowers, the plant dies off, but there are plenty of little plants forming at the end of their stolons, a little like strawberries. Is there a name for a plant that is hardy, lives through the winter and dies after it flowers, but has in the meantime propagated itself through stolens? Also does this saxifrage set viable seed?

AI tells me that they are called stoloniferous monocarpic and produce vegetative clones called pups or runners.  I'll be exploring my lovely old books later to read more about this and understand a little more about this form of plant.  

So it is best bit and tucker to go judging and helping out for the day.

Six on Saturday - End of August 2025

The hot dry weather has broken, and we have had a little rain, but nothing to penetrate the soil yet! Even when we have rain forecast it has something been no more than a sprinkling, then more sun but with some clouds. We are still taking every opportunity of being outside. Outside is the favourite place for gardeners except perhaps when they want to catch up with their fellows over at Jim's to share Six things on a Saturday. 

1. We were having coffee in the morning in the garden, when we spotted a number of pretty Small Copper Butterflies, yes that is the name of this butterfly,  with the favourite food source being the Asters. One with a large mound of flowers is Aster pyrenaeus 'Lutetia' and I wouldn't have time to count the number of bees and butterflies on it at any one time.

 

2.  I bought half a dozen of little Cosmos from the Bishop's Palace and planted them in a couple of different beds.  They have grown tall, well over a metre, and no flower!  Even in the sunniest beds they have behaved just like this one.  It does make quite a nice green bush, but I want flowers!  In fact it reminded me of the 'Burning Bush' Kochia scoparia which my in laws used to grow back in the seventies in their garden.  Such a blast from the past are those, and funnily I don't see them around these days. 

Tall Cosmos that refuses to flower

3. I sowed some Cosmos seed directly late, and transferred three seedlings to the same bed, and here is one of them feeling quite relieved that it is starting to rain. They were Dwarf Purple Picotee Cosmos from Thompson & Morgan.  

4. Just emerging through the Aster pyrenaeus 'Lutetia' is the Miscanthus nepalensis, or is it that the Aster has draped across  the Miscanthus's space?

 Miscanthus nepalensis

5. I have been battling the watering, and Mr S came up with something that will make it so much easier for me.  This is of course supplementary to the waterbutt when it has water in it and water collected as part of savings from indoors.  Firstly he fitter a small splitter to the outside tap so that I can keep the hose connected and am able to turn it on and off, without having to disconnect the timer and its various finer pipes that go to the larger outdoor pots.  I was finding rolling up the heavy hose a little too hard and now I have a new expanding snake hose. It is so much lighter and easy to coil up and hang.  The timer is now near the floor rather than coming out of the tap.  The whole thing will of course be put away for the winter.  

6. And why do you think I am showing my old but favourite pair of secateurs?  It is because after looking for them, they were lost for a whole 24 hours and then they were found. I felt full of thanks and rejoiced.  However this was not before I had emptied the shed, sorted out the tools, thrown out lots of old bits of string, and worn out gloves, etc, swept out and cleaned other tools, scoured the garden, and emptied the green bin.  I had resolved to allow a week to pass and then order or perhaps even visit the Kiwaki Show Room. This would be an excursion, what gardener doesn't love an excursion with perhaps a garden visit etc thrown in as well? 

 

It was not till I cycled into town, and locked up my bike, that I found the secateurs nestling right at the bottom of my panier.  It has been there for three or four days from when I had cycled out hunting for elberries to harvest from the hedgerows on the levels ready to make Elderberry Cordial. I don't normally phone home whilst I am out, but to save poor Mr S from continuing the hunt, I had to share my find and my joy.

Six on Saturday - 23 August 2025

I've left my usual weather observations and general feelings about the garden to the end of this post.  For other posts called 'Six on Saturday' and what this is all about head over to our weekly gathering headquarters on Jim's Blog and post. 

1. I very nearly had to arm wrestle my friend for this beautifully coloured Echinacea.  I loved its colour and the angle of the petals. It was in a small pot, and has been put up into a larger pot and the flowers cut off. I am pleased to report that it is 'bulking up' nicely.  Is that the term one uses to describe a plant when it is increasing the number of basal shoots?

2. The pot was moved closer to the house to make it easier to keep my eye on it, and one morning I noticed a bug on it, small and quite pretty that I had not seen before.  It reminded me of a shield bug, but I had seen one this colour, shape and pattern before.  I was on the right tract as it turns out. Looking through the NHBS guide to Shield Bugs, on line.  This is the first Bishop’s Mitre Shieldbug (Aelia acuminata) I have seen, and it is our garden. 

Bishop’s Mitre Shieldbug (Aelia acuminata)

3. The succulents continue to please.  They are all in pots and watering is easy.  From time to time plants do need thinning and repotting such as this one.  I first bought one little plant of . Haworthia venosa var. tessellata back in 2014, and have since replaced a half pan type of pot every few years with divisions. Last time this was done was 2020, and it is getting rather crowded now. I have found that it does poorly in direct sun, and I bring the pot back into the house during hot sunny periods, as it does of course during the winter, when it is quite happy in the conservatory.

Haworthia venosa var. tessellata

4. This year for the first time the foliage on the Acis autumnalis (Leucojum autumnale) died right down, but I am pleased to say that the little flowers have recently appeared.  I had my first little pot four years ago, and divided it to plant around the Gingko. 

5.  With the drought, a few areas are devoid of above ground activity such as this patch where the Scilla peruviana grow.  Usually there are lots of green leaves, again this is the first time that the foliage has died down completely.

Just a few new shoots are emerging, and I would really like to lift and divide them but the ground is just too hard. This is how the looked earlier on in the year. 

6. The two Dahlia 'Karma Sangria' plants are now in the ground and although they did have labels with that name, I think they had the wrong labels as they look a lot pinker than other pictures online. 

Still no rain, and I am holding back the tears, such is the condition of the plants in many areas of the garden.  One minute I despair then my eye catches something that with a little watering is struggling on.  I really do hope that next year will be kinder.  We have visited a number of inspiring gardens over the last ten days, and I have some projects, replanting, moving etc, but these will have to wait till it is cooler and we have had some rain.

One of the gardens we visited was The Oudolf Field at Hauser & Wirth, musings and pictures of our visit: https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2025/08/hauser-wirth-first-visit.html

Interesting plants I would consider growing from other blogs this week:

A lovely rose called 'Tropica Rose'. 

From my Garden - Six on Saturday - 26 October 2024

 Ending the week with some sunshine makes wandering round the garden even more delightful. Not all life is closing down for the winter just yet, even though the Amelanchiers have shed all their leaves.  As most plants start to prepare for the winter, others are coming to the fore and  I find little tasks, and make a note what I would like to do the following day as I put away my tools.

I am linking as usual with other SOSers over at Jim's, it is not at all an 'exclusive club', find out there the guidance for anyone wishing to contribute six items from their gardens.

Acer Wakaranai (Japanese for 'unknown') 

1. I've rearranged some of the potted plants in the garden and placed a couple on the small round table the better to be seen not only a reasonable height but also from the window's at the back of the house.

2.  Behind it is a small flowered Chrysanthemum which is of similar colour to the acer: Chrysanthemum Picasso is such a neat, tidy and well behaved supposedly hardy Chrysanthemum.  I was asking around at the HPS meeting last week about it, and some had lost it during the very wet winter.  Having lost mine, thankfully  Brenda, to whom I had passed one of my propagated plants in 2022, gave me one back.

Chrysanthemum Picasso

3. As I was admiring the small flowers, camera in hand,  I spied a Cricket.  I have seen grasshoppers in the garden before, and I was chuffed that this Dark Bush Cricket wasn't camera shy. 

Dark Bush Cricket

and as if one interesting insect was not enough a few flowers away was a shield bug

 Gorse Shieldbug, Piezodorus lituratus 

Identification is thanks to a request on the Entomology Group on Facebook. I seem to have a few different types, and found some tips online on identifying them.

4, Mahonia Soft Caress is having its best year.  I've had this plant nearly ten years found and bought at Cotswold Garden flowers when I went out on a January excursion to Cotswold Garden Flowers. 

5.  Fuchsias continue to look attractive and growing there around the perimeter of the garden and allowing them to grow tall keeping the stems from the previous year has worked nicely. Here the white flowered Fuchsia 'Hawkshead' has kept its leaves so far, as well as its flowers and has been in bloom for months.

6.  The small silver leafed Fuchsia microphylla ssp. hemsleyana ‘Silver Lining’ is another of those plants in garden with close association with friends, and was brought here in a pot from my previous garden. It has not needed to be moved, and in its ideal sheltered spot, it still has flowers, it is showing off its tiny pretty purple fruits.