Here’s six on Saturday on the first weekend of August
- The slow fall of Rishi Sumak
- Anemones
- Geraniums
- Under the apple tree
- Pond life
- Speckled wood butterfly
Rishi Sumak, the tree in our front garden, looks fantastic at this time of year, but it’s not looking like it will last much longer. It’s been gradually sliding down the hillside, and it’s trunk is practically horizontal. We’ve recently noticed a crack at the base, so expect that we’ll have to remove or substantially cut back this fine specimen fairly soon.
Anemones. There was a clump of them here when we arrived, and although they’re oversized for the space I expect them to be there forever, and don’t mind that at all.
Geraniums – technically perlagoniums or is that the other way around? Anyway, these are old fashioned, cheap and cheerful common or garden flowers, artfully arranged on a disused garden gate in hanging tin pots. Those pots were a pressie from my parents, and I like how they brighten up this spot by the greenhouse.
Under the apple tree there are a lot of windfall apples, and a few busy lizzies dotted around in similar colours. The hot lips salvia has done well here, but it’s a tricky shady spot and we’ll be moving things around and trying new plants in the future. Hazel O Concrete, the horse head statue, is a fine feature that was here when we arrived at this garden six ish years ago.
Pond life – a massive red dragonfly was pointed out by my lovely husband and poorly photographed by me.
And finally, a speckled wood butterfly, resting on a laurel leaf. Such a pretty little thing.
So that’s my selection of six garden things for the week. You can see many more by visiting the Garden ruminations blog.
Have a lovely week,
J x
Very pretty, I do like the Anemones.
Anemones are enviable. I can not explain why, but they do not perform well here. However, they do not completely die either. They just . . . linger. I am determined to take some of what is already here and grow them well.
Good luck! I’ve tended to find them fairly indestructible once they’ve settled into a spot. My dad calls them ‘enemies’ because they spread so rapidly! That’s in wettish, west of England weather, which is usually fairly mild and damp, although it’s changing to become hotter with more extremes of drought and downpours…
Rishi Sumak and Hazel O Concrete! It’s reassuring that other people give their plants and artifacts silly names.
It’s all part of the fun isn’t it? We also have Micheal Bay the bay tree, which we like to imagine will explode cinematically one day, and we say ‘nice to see you… when Bruce Fortsythia is in flower 🙂
Happy August! Beautiful creatures and plants. <3
Happy August to you too!
Hi Jen, So often i want to reply to your Six, and here i am finally doing it — maybe i should join the site myself … your Japanese anemones make me chuckle, because ours are set to take over the garden if we don’t confine them to a few clumps. (I was slightly surprised that gardening sites actually sell them and there are lots of varieties — we regard them as wildflowers.) They’re gigantic this year, and flowering hugely in this summer in which everything has grown gigantic …
I love your wee geranium pots, but we don’t have anywhere in the garden where we could hang them, except the back of the bench which would be uncomfortable for anyone who actually got the time to sit on it. We’ve got big pots dotted about where we put pelargoniums — both the P. regale which most people call pelargoniums and the ones like yours in the pic, which most people (including ourselves) call geraniums. The true geraniums are the hardy perennial ones, which live in the garden and have to be culled from time to time. Or so saith the RHS ( https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/pelargonium) …
What’s growing in the strawberry pot on the table? A little sedum of some kind?
Here. we’re rejoicing that there seem to be lots of agapanthus in the patio pots, and enjoying the second wave of colourful plants (coreopsis, tall pink phlox, world-dominating Lathyrus latifolius (perennial sweet pea), some roses still doing their thing. But everything is a bit early this year. Even more so with the veggies and fruit.
All of which was knocked sideways (literally) by Storm Floris last Monday.
Lots of love Mandy
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