Six on Saturday is hosted by Mr Propagator to give us a weekly look into each other's garden. For more links, be sure to check out Mr P's comment section & Twitter's #SixOnSaturday hashtag.
There's plenty still blooming in the garden, but this week, the focus has begun to shift towards getting ready for colder times.
So let's do this thang.
1. New hydropod propagator.
It's that time of year you collect cuttings in case your favourite plant doesn't survive the winter.
I'm terrible at getting cuttings to take. Every year, I chase some new bit of advice in hopes the tides'll change. Nope. Nope. Nope. They never do.
This year, I bit the bullet.
It's now been assembled & loaded with cuttings, rumbling away in the living room, waiting for a boisterous DoodleFace to crash into it & flood the place.
2. Visitor.
This fella came in with some rose cuttings.
His innards are visible through his ectoskeleton, which makes him pretty ugly.
3. Gaura.
I'd wanted gaura for a coupla summers now. This being our first year here kept me pretty busy, though, so planting the seeds got postponed until about the time everyone else's were blooming.
Mr P'd mentioned his sometimes didn't make it through the winter. Because mine got a late start, I worried they'd be more at risk, so left them in the potting shed, expecting them to reach about middling size.
Now they're blooming. Aren't they just smashing? (Photo bomb courtesy the basil.)
4. Bessera elegans.
These fellas, on the other hand've been outside the whole time. While my neighbour's have bloomed & gone over, mine've been like this for a while now, getting deeper & deeper in colour, but not opening yet.
That's Lord Butte Pellie blooming at the bottom of the photo.
5. Echinachea.
Even as they fade . . .
. . . these guys are never dull.
6. Welcome to Gilead.
Where producing big beautiful seed heads . . .
. . . gets you hung on the mattress spring trellis.
That's my Six for the week. Thanks so much for stopping by.
See you next time.
There aren't many laughs to be had when watching The Hand Maid's Tale but number 6 made me chuckle. The hydropod propagator should be exciting. I'll be curious to see how things go with it.
ReplyDeleteYes, we always brace ourselves when watching Handmaid's Tale, driven to see how it ends. If the cuttings are successful, you can bet I'll be crowing about it.
DeleteI love the idea of the trellis made from mattress springs!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tanya. The mattress was too old to give away, so I took it apart, used the outside for a dog bed & the springs as trellises. It's survived 2 summers w/o any protective paint/coating, so hopefully will give me a few more years.
DeleteYou've succumbed to the hydropod, you too like Jonathan .. It looks really interesting and I may be tempted. Funny and nice last picture, though... these mattress springs... very useful !
ReplyDeleteO Fred, I'm so abysmally bad at getting cuttings to take, I had to do something. In all my many years gardening, I've had less than 5 plants survive my methods. It was time to go tech. I do love my spring trellis. I'm thinking there's another bed in the house that could use a new mattress, so . . .
DeleteUnder his eye!
ReplyDeleteSend muffins.
DeleteLord Bute? - I am jealous because I want one and I haven't seen one for sale. It's a fantastic rich colour. I'm also a bit fixated on the name for some reason (I'm picturing a tweedy gent, with a monocle, ex navy, and spending his retirement breeding pelargoniums on his country estate).
ReplyDeleteGill Heaven recommended Fibrex Nurseries for pellies, so I obeyed, & am happy w/the result. I always think of him as a Darcy sort of character.
DeleteThanks Lora, I'll have a look at Fibrex Nurseries. I am now picturing him as a Regency heartthrob too.
DeleteI have used Fibrex nursery for my pelargoniums including Lord Bute and they are excellent (well actually the first Lord keeled over, but his replacement is doing well - not sure what happened with him as all the others I ordered at the same time survived)
DeleteI have some of those Bessera elegans too, but mine are just leaves! What did you do to get them to flower? I also bought 20 Gladiolus murielae and although lovely foliage only one actually flowered! I am so disappointed as my spring bulbs usually do so well.
ReplyDeleteDid Fibrex replace your original Lord Bute? Mine has really flowered up a storm this summer. As to the bessera, they arrived at a time when I didn't know what to do w/them, so stuck them in pots - maybe 5 bulbs/6" pot, usual compost, watered & ignored. My neighbour's are planted in a wide (24"?) but shallow shell pot & bloomed a lot sooner. Both his & mine are in very sunny areas. 20 non-flowering glad murielae . . . o, what a heartache! Next yr, maybe?
Delete"Complaints cannot be entertained unless these conditions are adhered to and are made within 7 days of receipt of your order. If we deem there to be sufficient evidence to prove that the plants are at fault, in due course, the plants will be replaced free of charge. We cannot be responsible for the future health of plants when plants are grown in conditions beyond our control" are the t&c from Fibrex. Obviously the death occurred much later than 7 days. I planted my Bressera in a deep pot, maybe that's the problem. I shall try a shallow bowl next year.
Delete