SIX ON SATURDAY

I've noticed that some of my favourite garden blogs join in a kind of on-line show and tell session called Six on Saturday.  The idea is to write and post photos of six things, in the garden, on a Saturday.  'It could be anything - a flower, a water feature, wildlife, weeds, a plan, a job done, a harvest, anything at all.'

It's hosted by The Propagator  a garden blogger who particularly enjoys raising plants from seeds and cuttings but who writes about all aspects of their garden.

My first six on Saturday are plants that have just come into flower this week.  They are 'hot' flowers, in reds, oranges and yellows.

Lychnis Chalcedonica and Achillea terracotta

1.  Scarlet Lychnis and soft orange Achillea make a vibrant combination in the hot section of the Long Border, which is based on designs that Gertrude Jekyll made for the garden of her own home at Munstead Wood.  Behind them the dark red leaves of the dahlias provide some depth to this combination.  The Lychnis has been in the border since 2015, and the plants are now becoming large enough to contribute a good amount of flower to the picture.  The orange section of the Long Border relies mainly on marigolds and calendula grown from seed each year.  The Achillea was bought from Barnsdale Gardens in the hope that it would provide a perennial solution for this area.

Coreopsis

2. My second choice is a Coreopsis that I grew from seed.  This is a lovely, simple yellow daisy which is a short lived perennial, but easy to grow so it can be replaced if it fails.  This is also planted in the Long Border between the oranges on one side and the cooler yellows on the other.

Crocosmia Lucifer

 3. Crocosmia Lucifer is one of the best known Crocosmia, and its easy to see why.  It's a stunning vibrant red.  This plant was not included by Gertrude Jekyll in her Long Border, and I assume its because it wasn't available back then.  I've used it instead of Gladiolus brenchleyensis which is now quite difficult to get hold of.  There is an article on the Hestercombe Garden's website explaining the difficulties they had tracking it down when they were replanting their gardens to an original Gertrude design here.  Maybe I will manage to obtain some one day, but for the time being I'm enjoying Crocosmia Lucifer instead.

Self seeded poppies

4. Red Poppies have sprung up en mass  in this border where the ground has been disturbed.  I wanted to change the planting in this area of the garden, so removed all the plants this spring, with the aim of leaving it empty and ensuring all germinating weeds were removed before replanting in the Autumn.  Well - I had only turned my back five minutes when all these poppies arrived.  They looked so cute that I couldn't bear to remove them.  So here they remain - for now.

This bumble bee was enjoying getting in amongst the pollen.

Achillea Credo

 5. The soft yellow of Achillea Credo is my next choice.  Another one from the Long Border where it provides height towards the back.  This is a much softer, and to me more attractive colour than the more commonly seen yellow achilleas.

Dahlia Bishop of  Auckland

6 Bishop of Auckland must be my favourite of the dark leaved dahlias.  Its similar in stature and flower shape to the popular Bishop of Llandaff, but in a softer plummy red, rather than the scarlet of that Welsh churchman.  This is also a plant from the Long Border where Gertrude's garden plan has a section of red and orange flowered dahlias.  The varieties she lists such as Cochineal and Fire King and not ones that seem to be available now, so I chose this one instead.  I think she would have approved.