Six on Saturday - 29th July

Posted Sat 29 July 2017 in garden

Its Saturday so it is time for another six things happening in the garden. An idea hosted by The propagator blog.

I've been away all week and was expecting that things would look very different when I got back, but no... there is still not much new going on, still I've managed to get six things to talk about anyway.

1 Salvia 'Hot lips'

The first thing I noticed is this Salvia with its striking set of flowers. This is because it really is new, I bought it last weekend and planted it just before I left, so this is the first time I've had a chance to see it properly. There may even be a few more flowers out than when I bought it.

2 Japanese Anemone not looking so healthy

The next thing I noticed is this Japanese Anemone. I bought it a while back and it sat in its pot until I found somewhere to put it. I cleared an area with an Alchemilla mollis plant and lily of the valley and a small shrub. The Salvia above is also in this space.

It was planted about a couple of weeks ago and it was still fine when I left, so was shocked to see it today with faded yellow leaves. The centre still looks green and healthy so I have hope it will be alright.

3 A divided Geranium

There is a strip of soil down the side of the house where it seems even the weeds struggle to grow. I dug up a small piece of one of the Geraniums and planted it here some time back.

It has put on new growth and now has a new flower, so I now feel I can count this a success. Next step will be if it can survive the winter..

4 Nepeta faassenii 'Persian Blue'

This was another one that I bought and planted just before I went away. As I went to take a picture of it a butterfly was feeding from it.

I planted it next to a strongly lemon scented plant (maybe lemon balm) in the probably misguided hope that it would keep the cats away from it. Anyway it doesn't appear to have been attacked by any of the neighbourhood cats so far...

5 Cotoneaster berry

I used to call this The Tree and still do, but now I believe I know what it is. It is deciduous and when the leaves first came out the only thing I could find that looked similar was a viburnum, however when it flowered it was distinctly Cotoneaster like. During flowering there were so many bees on it you would think there was a hive near by.

I'd had no luck searching pictures of either Cotoneasters or Viburnums and then one day I thought I would just search for both terms together. One of the pages that came up was someone with a very similar shrub asking which it was. Although there were different opinions in the replies(!), I was lead to Cotoneaster bullatus. I certainly could be that one, or something very similar. Anyway definitely a Cotoneaster then.

Its berries are just starting to turn red.

6 Honeysuckle

This was growing up the same trellis as the winter jasmine, I'd thought it was probably a honeysuckle, and it has now started to flower. The first flower opened just over a week ago, and this is the second flower.

Posted by Steve