There’s much to share; I’m tempted to to break the Six on Saturday conventions and add a garden gallery… But first here’s a selection of six highlights in the garden, to share with the ‘Garden Ruminations’ gang of bloggers who share SIX things in the garden each week. (Rules are rules 😉 )

1. A big fancy pot with an olive in it.
2. Warminster Broom
3. Horsey border progress
4. New bench
5. Lights!
6. More wildflowers

1. The big fancy new pot is from a local garden shop called Acres, and we’ve had the olive tree for a while. Yes this may well be a cliched look for the front garden, but I don’t care and I like it.

2. The lemon yellow flowers of Warminster Broom in the pots by the back door look wonderful. The bees really love these flowers, and I enjoy watching the bees buzz by.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/70960/cytisus-praecox-warminster/details

There have been butterflies in the garden when the sun occasionally shines, but it’s a tricky season for wildlife, with cold wet weather slowing down growth. Farmers are struggling with a cold wet spring, and I’ve seen some soggy looking blackbirds and crows looking grumpy. (I may be projecting my own views about the weather into the corvid mindset – or just empathising. I’m not sure.)

3. Horsey border progress continues – with more colour coming in as the new plants begin to settle in, and the established ones like the sedum and heuchera really get going.

We got a new bench! Another bargain from Acres garden centre, this was made with vintage arms and a new back and seat. Its a bit of a frankenstein bench, and it was quite a bargain. The bench that was once in this spot wasn’t very weatherproof and spent much of its time hidden under cover, so this weatherproof one is an improvement. The old bench and it’s ugly cover have a new home in a less prominent spot under the pergola.

Lights! It’s finally time to spend a bit more time outdoors, and so we untangled the lights, cables and solar panels and put up the garden lights. My husband quickly perfected the positioning of the lights by the pond and it looks amazing in the twilight. The raised pond and flower pots, with ‘Gog’ the wooden carving that we named after a local giant, looked especially lovely.

And for my sixth selection, here’s a wildflower that google lens suggests is meadow rue.

I’m pretty old (48) and have been lucky to play with computers and tech since I was a teeny kid when computers were very basic. Now and then I find it astonishing that I have a small device that can photograph and identify flowers, record and ID bird song, and get me in touch with almost anyone anywhere. But I also worry that while we’re in a position to catalogue and share all this amazing wildlife, it is rapidly disappearing.

So I’m gonna sign off with a plea for gardeners (and everyone else) to be wildlife friendly, and an optional extra gallery of more garden snaps.

You can see more collections of garden highlights for ‘Six on Saturday’ at the Garden Ruminations blog.

https://gardenruminations.co.uk

Have a lovely weekend,

Jen x