Hey, Good Looking!

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 comment section & the Twitter hashtag, #SixOnSaturday.

Plenty of handsome stuff in my garden this week.  Come on over here & check it out.







1.  Verbena hastata.

I fell hard when I saw my first v. hastata in other SoS gardens last year, so of course, got one.  I didn't know if it'd survive winter outside, so collected seeds, not all that sure they'd germinate.

The parent plant did die over winter but the seeds germinated too well, & not only by my efforts.  They self seeded the flowerbed as well.

So I've now got a kazillion baby hastata plants.  Handsome little dudes, aren't they?


2.  Mirabalis jalapa (4 o'clocks).

Fred sent me these seeds a coupla summers ago.  They didn't germinate last year but've done well this time around.

The round first leaves really impressed me with their vigour, but the pointed second leaves knocked my socks off.  Pretty striking seedlings, to be sure.


3.  Iris.

For a more conventional beauty, here's this gorgeous thang.  I haven't a clue what it is, but every year, it takes my breath away.

Although there's 4-5 plants in the bed now, I've only ever had 1 flower stalk a year.  Some irises bloom once, then produce a new plant that'll bloom the next year, so perhaps this is one of those type irises.  I hope that at some stage, there'll be enough babies having babies that we get more than one flower stalk. 

Here's a close up of the flower.  Just love those colours together.

And then the bud . . .

. . .  which in itself is a work of art.


4.  Appletinis.

The appletini trees are still producing their beautiful russet new growth, while the mature leaves've turned green.

From a distance, the little appletinis themselves look black, creating a wonderful contrast with the leaves.  Here, they look like unripened blueberries, but they're actually a very dark brown.  Handsome indeed.

And Mr BigNoseDog ain't that bad looking, either.


5.  Clematis carnaby.

At the other end of the life cycle, the dying c. Carnaby blossom.

Miss Havisham's got nothing on this fading beauty.


6.  The Empress.

An established Empress tree can grow 2.5 metres in a year.  When I planted this one on 27 April, she was 12" tall.

That makes her growth rate an inch a week at the moment.  If she keeps that up, she'll not add 2.5 metres to her height, but'll possibly be as tall as myself in her first year out of the pot.

So there's some of my good looking stuff.

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope to see you next time.