Friday 8 May 2020

Blooms, Buds, & a Buddy


Six on Saturday is a weekly diary hosted by The Propagator & contributed to by gardeners all over the world.  For links to other SoSers, check out Mr P's blog & the Twitter hashtag, #SixOnSaturday.






It's Saturday, it's sunny, the outside beckons.

So without more fuss, let's do this thang.











1.  Pellie blooms.

Pot mates Lord Bute & Aztec are both blooming.


One of Aztec's blooms looks like the veins of colour have seeped into the white.


And a close up of Bute who is equally stunning.


Both pellies have a lot of buds on them, so this show could go on for a while.


2.  Gill's pot.

Two years ago, Gill Heaven, our Off The Edge gardener, sent me some miscanthus seeds.  That year, I couldn't get them to germinate.


This year, no miscanthus seedlings either, but an ivy-leaf toadflax did appear in one of the cells.  When it bloomed, it earned a pot of its own, now called Gill's pot.


3.  Rhododendron Scarlet Wonder.

Way back in January while suffering an incapacitating case of rhodo envy, I discovered the first ever bud on my young Scarlet Wonder.  It has 10 now, one of which started its grand opening this week.


That scarlet is a wonder, indeed.


4.  Fuchsia redux.

Last week, I mentioned some dead sticks that'd once been a lovely fuchsia.  I lifted it for a gardening friend who got ill, so I replanted it, after which all the leaves dropped off.


This week, it returned to us.


5.  Tamarix.

In March, I paid £1.79 for some other dead sticks that were magically going to become a Tamarix.


Proof of life here as well.


6.  Garden buddy.

With no hose attachment during April's dry spell, the water level fell in the Doodle pool, exposing more of the bamboo life raft.  Birds began to prefer the pool to the bee water bowls set around the garden, perhaps feeling safer off the ground & having more plant cover.  The segmented bamboo also provided a nice little bath tub.


If you look closely, you can see a blackbird perched on the pool rim above the bamboo.  Just before this photos was taken, he'd been bathing in the section of bamboo below the bright yellow Creeping Jenny.  Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to snap him in the act, but he was having a wailing good time.

The proper hose connector finally arrived & we've filled the pool high enough to cover the plant baskets, but low enough that the birds'll continue to bathe there.






That's me done for this week.  Thanks for dropping by!  Hope to see you again real soon.

20 comments:

  1. Beautiful pellies and that yellow and white aquilegia is rather stunning. I'm always relieved when a dead looking stick shows signs of life. I was a bit worried a caryopteris had snuffed it but leaves have started to appear on the bare twigs.

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    1. People think gardening is a gentle occupation, but it's really full of drama. So glad you caryopteris lived!

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  2. Very nice pelargonium, I had never seen like that ( the veined white).
    You will have to wait a few years to have a tamarix as big as that of Granny but you have hope ...it has started !

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    1. It doesn't matter how big it gets in my life time. At the moment, it's made me very happy by being alive.

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  3. Hilarious! I'll send you some more seed this year x Fabulous yellow aquilegia. :)

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    1. I suspect if I'd scattered your seed in the bed, it would've taken off like blue blazes. My tender mercies are less successful.

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  4. I hope your Scarlet Wonder is as bold and beautiful in flower as it is in bud. I love a Rhododendron. The iris buds in your final photo look very promising too.

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    1. The iris is pretty gorgeous when it opens. I'm VERY excited to see what the rhodo looks like when it has several blooms open. As you say, they're a wonderful shrub.

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  5. Ok that is a stunningly diminutive aquilegia. Lord Bute will alway be one of my favourite Peles but I have given yup growing them as not enough space for over wintering. As for that Rhododendron wow it is going to look stunning.

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    1. I'm puzzled by the term 'diminutive'. What does it refer to - the foliage? (I can't find an explanation on Google for it.) Scarlet has another bloom opening today & yes, it's promising to knock my socks off.

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  6. Your Lord Bute is looking healthier than mine although he did have a good prune so should come roaring back. I've taken some cuttings from him and they're rooting. Glad the doodle pond is popular with birds. My pond is only getting pigeon visitors at the moment but I did see a beautiful dragonfly yesterday.

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    1. I've not seen dragonfly nor reptiles around the pool, but this is only our 2nd summer, so maybe this year. My bute was new last year, so not pruned in autumn. Perhaps that's why he's still looking good. Old dreamboats, you know.

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  7. Your tamarix looks really healthy, but it may be some time before it does reach the height of mine. We have lived here over 20 years and it was well established when we moved in. Your pelagonium blooms are a lovely shape as well as colour.

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    1. Your tamarix gives me something to aspire to, if I can live that long. I avoided getting pellies for a long time, put off by having to over winter them, but SoS gave me the push I needed & I'm really quite happy w/the ones I got. Hope they keep it up.

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  8. I just love watching birds in the garden and the antics they get up to. Hope your blackbird returns time and again during the season to bathe.

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    1. I agree. Ironically, I've been thinking about getting a proper bird bath to stick in one of the borders. Seems I don't have to.

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  9. Lord Bute is a favourite, but one I haven’t had in years. Must put that right. The Aztec is very unusual - it’s a little bit of a flamboyant personality.

    That Rhododendron is going to be gorgeous - make sure you show it off when it flowers. Glad you finally have your hose connector!

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    1. In a Twitter chat w/Fibrex, the nursery I bought them from, my ID has been corrected from Aztec (its ancestor) to Askham's Frilly Aztec. I fairly certain there's a photo of Scarlet in my SoS future unless tonight's winds blow her away.

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  10. wow lord bute is a stunner alright. must look him up, see if he wants to sidle over into my patio for some planty fun and friendship.

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    1. He is a stunner, altho, as the photo shows, he's slightly smaller than Askham's Frilly Aztec. I like the combo of the 2.

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