Saturday 14 September 2019

Late Summer

Six on Saturday is a weekly gardeners' hashtag hosted by Mr P.  To join the fun, check out the action both on his blog & on Twitter.


Even the pigeons know Mizzy BunnyButt's a terrible hunter.




Though temps haven't gone below 9C this week, neighbourhood trees've begun to turn, which starts me worrying about pumpkins making it to Halloween.

However, there're a few other things of interest in the garden this week.








1.  Sacred bamboo.

Despite the 9C lows, one morning the sacred bamboo was covered with an off-white patina.  Close inspection showed it to be not frost, but a heavy dew.


I was delighted to see flower buds.  Its first year with us, I assumed it wouldn't bloom at all.  Hopefully they'll open before there's frost.  Next year, berries.


2.  Tough guy Actaea.

This guy's perplexed me.  When the shady border turned out to be not-so-shady, this was the only plant that didn't go crispy, including 2 other actaeas.  So it got left behind during the mid-season move to the shady front garden.


And it's done fine.


3.  Bird feeder plant.

Both this plant (below) & the gangly grass behind the actaea (above) came out of the bird feeder, & got spared by my curiosity.  While the one above served its purpose, never to be repeated, I like the one below, much like the miniature ragwort growing under the bird feeder (shown in the first photo) that I mow around.


Now that the seeds are changing colour, I'm even more enamoured.


4.  Blanket flower.

When I broke out my seed cache this spring, there were some 6 year old blanket flower seeds amongst them, so what the heck, right?  Only one germinated but it was healthy enough to get ignored.


Until the woodwardia moved from the not-so-shady border to the front garden with the rest of the shade lovers.  Woody was in an elephant planter but, as there are hordes of marauding students around here, I didn't want to risk the elephant out front.


Taking over from Woody, the blanket flower has some big shoes to fill, but looks like it'll manage.


5.  Random canna.

I planted way too many plants with the canna lilies this year, so everything's had to find their own little space.


This one's a gymnast.  Love all those curlicues.


6.  Oregano update.

A few weeks ago, I saw Oregano Amethyst Falls during a search for another plant, & bought 2 (as well as the original lusted-for plant).  The oregano started blooming on arrival & though it hasn't hit full stride yet, o what a beginning.


The first flowers were lighter, & now are this deep pink.  The hops-ish bits of the flower (to use the scientific term) seem to grow out of each other, getting a longer & longer chain that gets more & more pink as it grows.

Against that gray/green foliage, it's something else.  And promises to be even more so.



Pigeons're gone, Mizzy BB. Come inside for some Dreamies.



That's this week's selection.


As always, thanks for stopping by.



10 comments:

  1. Pretty flowers of oregano ... By cons they don't look like mine ... I'll have to go check mine in the greenhouse. Very nice photo of the sacred bamboo covered with these fine droplets of dew

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    1. I think even the shape of regular oregano differs from this. It's a really lovely plant. Glad you like the bamboo photo. I'm learning to take better photos, little by little.

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  2. I really like the elephant planter and floral contents. The expression 'cat amongst the pigeons' makes sense now.

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    1. Normally, cats amongst the pigeons causes consternation. Not in this case, as she's such a bad, bad hunter. A good quality to have in a cat.

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  3. Such a cute cat! And I still love your oregano!

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    1. Mizzy BunnyButt's an original. I'm loving the oregano, too. It's so interesting, watching it change.

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  4. Blanket flower is a good ‘doer’ : mine is just coming into flower after dealing with heavy frost all winter. I saw an Acatea on someone’s post a couple of weeks ago and admired it then. Adds nice night to the garden. I read that it likes damp ground, but it seems you have yours in quite a hot spot.

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    1. Blanket flower, my kinda plant. This actaea is larger than the other 2 I have, which didn't fare well in the heat, so were moved. Its size may've protected it, but even so, I water it when I do the potted plants. I'll move this one after it's dormant

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  5. You win this week's prize for the most unusual Six-on-saturday, Lora! Very interesting. Your oregano looks very like my Cerinthe Major plant but with pink rather than purple flowers. I would like to get some bamboo, yours looks very nice. Does it spread? Anyway, lovely Six.
    PS. How do I "Like" your post.

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    1. The oregano is similar to cerinthe, now that you say that, only the bracts form a chain like hops flowers do. The sacred bamboo is the common name for nandina & I don't think is a proper bamboo. At least it's a shrub rather than stalks, so probably doesn't spread, but is really gorgeous in all its phases. I don't think you can like postings on blogspot, but am no expert there, either !

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