Six on Saturday – Pretty little things

18/06/2022

Temperatures have dropped dramatically since yesterday I am pleased to say. (I start to droop, along with the plants, when the mercury reaches 25°C.)  This morning it’s possible to work, so I’ve finished planting out the climbing beans, so that’s Borlotti, flat green and purple-podded added to the runners and blue-and-white heirloom beans growing up bamboo wigwams. Yes, you guessed it … we like beans! There something magical about watching them find their supports and steadily twine round them, growing noticeably higher and more secure each day.

Now it’s drizzling, so I’ve come in to post for #SixOnSaturday, a snowballing, monster of a meme, hosted and managed by Jonathon @ thepropagatorblog.

Here, then, are my six gardening things:

1) Trachelium caeruleum ‘Black Knight’

I bought the seed from Special Plants last year and while they were billed as ‘a tender perennial usually grown as annual’, they didn’t get big enough to flower last year after all. They were therefore overwintered in the greenhouse and are finally doing their stuff now. I find myself quite entranced by their delicate sprays of rich purple flowers and long, white-tipped stigmas held above dark, almost black, leaves. They are also supposed scented, but I’ve not smelled anything yet.

Trachelium caeruleum ‘Black Knight’ against stachys byzantina.

2) Poppy ‘Amazing Grey’

I am very pleased that this variety seeded around after trialling them last year. They are still eye-catchingly gorgeous, but I am trying to decide whether they are more pink this time round. Possibly? But there were plenty of dusky pink and slate tones in the originals anyway.

Papaver rhoeas ‘Amazing Grey’

3) Tayberries

The weather seems to have suited fruit formation for our Tayberries this year. We’ve had our best ever crop. Usually there are enough to be able to pick a daily handful for cereal or yoghurt, but yesterday I gathered enough to do something more major with them. I am thinking … ice cream 😋 .

4) Water Iris

When I bought this iris, I was hoping for a colour other than purple. It was labelled as an American water iris and the photos above their watery holding bay showed a variety of shades, so, with fingers-crossed, I bought one. As you can see, it was not to be, but I like it anyway and it is quite different from the others in the pond. I think that it might be Iris Louisiana ‘Black Gamecock’.

Iris Louisiana ‘Black Gamecock’?

5) Rose ‘Queen of Sweden’

Our ‘new’ rose bed is already in it’s fourth year (how time flies!) and the David Austin roses in it are looking stronger now and are, happily, more able to hold their heavy blooms up. ‘Queen of Sweden’ though has always been a strong healthy plant, well able to support its petal-packed flowers right from the start. That may be because the flowers are just that bit smaller than our other choices. This is possibly my favourite in the bed. It repeat-flowers reliably right through till the autumn and has a lovely fragrance (apparently of myrrh, but having never smelled myrrh, I can’t confirm this).

Rosa ‘Queen of Sweden’ is repeat-flowering, scented shrub rose bred by David Austin

6) Daylilies

I have a couple of patches of these day lilies. They were acquired at the pack-up stage of a long ago school fate, so I have no idea what kind they are, but they cheer me up every year with their large hot orange blooms. Since discovering that day lilies are edible, I often wonder what they would taste like. I just can’t bring myself to snap one of the flower off to try. Have you ?

Orange daylilies (Hemerocallis)

That’s six. It’s hard to choose at this time of year, but that’s part of the fun!

Have a great weekend! It’s Father’s Day tomorrow and we are off to see our grand daughter and family, so that’s going to be lovely. I’m taking surplus tomato and chilli plants down to gift my son, so that’s half a dozen fewer pots to water 🤣.