Six on Saturday: 25.4.20

Despite being on lockdown I’ve not done a massive amount in the garden this week. Amy has been painting the kitchen so I’ve just done a few jobs over the week. The lawn has had its first mow now the lawn crocus are dying down. The bare patches are gradually recovering from building work last year. The dark-leaved cherry has finished flowering so I’ve given it a prune before the flowers underneath make it harder to get around it. The dahlia seeds went in at the start of the week. I have gone with Bishop’s Children again and a cactus mix. The cactus mix is already showing green signs of germination. Hopefully, the Bishop’s Children will catch up soon. The seagulls continue to be pains. They have taken to digging plants out. I’m not sure if they are after nest material or food while they are missing their usual fish and chips but they have become a bit of a menace. So far I’ve managed to replant much of what they’ve dug out but I need a solution to the issue.

1. Geranium phaeum

The first burst of the geranium flowers are out one on the phaeum varieties. These came to me from divisions of my mums, which I think had come to her through my aunty. They are a small purple variety. It gets numerous flowers all over. not particularly showy but popular with the insects. This is acting as ground cover around the Sambucus nigra.

2. Tulip ‘candy prince’

This tulip came as part of a Morrison’s pink set I bought to please Alice. Not the most exciting form and too pale to be that exciting on there own. They came with bright pink hyacinths and if they came through together it would probably make for an exciting combination but right now they are in a section of the border where they aren’t really standing out in any major way.

3. Clematis Montana

This Clematis Montana grows over the fence from my neighbours. It puts on a glorious display but needs a bit of a trim after flowering. The bees have loved it.

4. Farmer Macy order

I put in an order with Farmer Gracy for an iris and a dahlia a few weeks back. The dahlia is Black Jack. I ordered this one as I was meant to get it as part of a Sarah Raven collection of dark dahlias for pots. But, this one had issues with supply so I never got it. The other two were spectacular so I wanted to get my hands on this one. The Iris is a bearded iris ‘Batik’. This looks to be a stunning blue variety with white speckles. Hopefully, these will feature later in the season. I’d like to comment on how well it was all packaged. The bulbs come in a nice breathable box and are packaged within paper bags. No unnessecary plastic waste.

5. Newsagent bargains

I found these at one of the local newsagents while doing the milk run. They were dirt cheap and not options I’d normally go with but these are unusual times. The tray of begonias are something I’ve never bothered with but having grown lots of these in my work at the garden centre I was feeling it was a shame I wouldn’t end up with any of my own now. The Fuschia is ‘Claudia’. This is a pale pink trailer intended to go alongside another trailing white variety I’ve already got. Then the dark-leaved plant I’m assuming is a dahlia as it has the look of the Bishop’s children I grew last year. Lots of brash plants to add colour this year.

6. Tulip ‘Queen of the night’

These must be one of the most featured tulips on six on Saturday posts but with good reason. They are stunners and reliably come up.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my six this week. If you fancy taking part check the participant guide. I need to carry on watering as it’s very dry though we now have rain forecast. Lots of the seedlings need potting on and looking to make another plot on a plate. Enjoy your weekends and I hope you’re all keeping your sanity through all of this.

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