It’s time for my weekly rambling round up of garden highlights, for Six on Saturday, although the usual caveats apply. If you want to see inspirational and informative garden blogs, visit Jim Stephens blog. He’s a gardener, no-dig allotmenteer, camellia enthusiast, retired nurseryman, who kindly shares his planty knowledge at garden ruminations

If you want six (ish) things that caught my eye in the garden this morning, without helpful botanical labels or planting tips, this might be the blog for you.

First up, in the spot where a rose cutting used to live, I’ve put out a little pot of marigold, geranium, and the last legs of some spring bedding pansies.

The carved wooden figure behind the plants is Gog, our greenhouse guardian. This a carving is one of a couple that we bought at Wells market a few years ago, and we named them Gog and Magog after the legendary giants, on whom opinions vary. They’re scary apocalyptic creatures in the bible, and ancient guardians of London town in British myth.

According to Creating myths English Foundation Myths as Political Empowerment:

For centuries two statues have stood in the Guildhall, initially called Gogmagog the Albion and Corineus the Trojan. One incarnation of these statues was destroyed in the Great Fire of London (1666), another just a few decades later, devastated by rats and damp, and a third was destroyed during the London Blitz. By this time the statues had become known as Gog and Magog.

Our little tributes to Gog and Magog are legendary guardians, not portents of doom. Gog looks after the greenhouse and Magog guards the toolshed.

Next up, Oakey. Phill Oakey is the oak tree named after the ‘Don’t You Want Me’ singer and synth superstar. It grew from an acorn gathered on one of our wanderings around here. It’s taken on a marvellous hue recently.

Some people choose not to repeat their selections for six on sat. Not me. This is another bloom from the smashing dahlia that I banged on about last week. Having checked the label, I think it’s ‘lavender perfection’ and its apparently a 1950s heirloom ‘dinnerplate’ favourite, which will produce more flowers the more it’s picked. So no regerts about picking this again for six on sat.

Next up the sweetpea seedlings. I collected these from the seedpods of this summer’s spent flowers. I remember at the time I was cross about something work related, but can’t remember what it was. Now I check the blog, I realise it was AI. Anyhoop, I planted out the seeds less than two weeks ago, and they’re already off and away…

Next up I’m gonna cheat, by including a whole load of snaps of autumn colour.

There’s anemones, dahlias, campanula, daisy and toadflax still in flower. I think those mushrooms might be honey mushrooms, they’ve appeared where the roots of an old tree must be. Have not decided what if anything to do with them yet… And Rishi the Sumac tree is turning red, while it’s namesake, our former PM is off to work in AI in another worrying example of overly cosy relations between lawmakers and technology corporations.

Well, that’s been quite a ramble and if you’ve made it this far well done, and please enjoy this view of the bench all tucked up for winter, and a few garden chairs under the pergola. It’s a very happy place, where I intend to sit with a cup of tea for a while.

Have a lovely week

J x