This Saturday’s selection starts with an 80’s throwback. The massive yukka in our garden is known as ‘Yukka Khan’ and is about to take centre stage in the garden display. It has four large flower spikes, about to burst into bloom.

Although our Yukka does not feature an uplifting harmonica solo performance by Stevie Wonder, it’s pretty darn good.

Overall the garden is looking very bright, in that mid-July kind of way. Behind the yukka, under the green apple tree, there’s a growing clump of crocosmia lucifer, which is bright scarlet and flops all over the pathway. I like the way the leaf shapes of the croco’s are similar to the yukaa leaves, and this spot under the tree is where I’ll sit and drink coffee as I’ve finished this blog post.

The fushia on the other side of the bench looked more than half dead just a few months ago, but responded very well to a serious haircut. There are spiders living in this fushia, which weave these cobwebby cocoons around a few of the fushia stems, making a cosy home for zillions of baby spiders to grow.

Yesterday was ‘flying ant day’ and as the sun was low in the sky, we watched hundreds of little ants fly away from their nest by the penstemon. All these insects have attracted lots of birds to the garden, and yesterday evening there were a couple of dozen swifts swirling around the neighbourhood. I tried and failed to get a good picture on my phone, but I can assure you, dear reader, that the swifts were splendid and spectacular, with astonishing agility in the air.

This morning, there were chiffchaffs, swifts, bluetits, blackbirds and pigeons.

You can hear a few of them in this short clip of the view from the backdoor this morning…

Morning 🙂 pic.twitter.com/2CdbXbVxBI

— JenMac (@FromeBlooms) July 17, 2021

Significant milestones have been reached on project pergola. It’s in place, and enormous, and fantastic.

Many modifications and improvements are under consideration for the next phase. The wisteria that used to grow around the summerhouse here is going to find its way up and over the pergola fairly fast I reckon, and husband will put up the cinema screen and try out the projector this weekend. 🙂

We sat out there the other night, and there was a police helicopter circling the neighbourhood for a while, with a blindingly bright and kinda dystopian searchlight. Husband later made a quip about how we seem to have got away with pergalory.

There’s a huge sweep of ladies mantle here, with loads of lovely green frothy flowers, and I like how it contrast with the red leaved heuchera, and the long grasses, which bob pleasingly in the breeze.

My final thing this week is these sweetpeas, which have begun to flower and smell spectacular. They’re doing better than I had expected in this spot, competing with a few brambles for the light.

That’s my six for this week. I’m going to make myself a cup of coffee and sit on that sunny bench for a while.

See more garden selections for ‘six on saturday’ at the propagators’ blog.

Have a good weekend

Jen x