Welcome to another Six on Saturday! As usual, I am joining with The Propagator and chums for a spot o’ blogging. Since we last met, there’ve had some absolute scorchers and a couple of pretty biblical deluges; it would be fair to say it’s been a week of extremes. August ’round here has been very dry, and the first few days of September really turned the screws on a few of the plants. The downpours that inevitably follow such intense, sweaty heat were more than welcome. Here are few damp and drizzly photos to capture the mood:
1. Canna Lily No. 1
I have two slightly underperforming Cannas courtesy of a friend of mine’s dad (the plants are courtesy of him, not the underperformance). This one flowers very reliably, but the foliage looks a little underwhelming. It starts growing very late in the year, and I suspect it wishes it lived somewhere warmer, or at least with someone who tried to pamper it a bit more.
2. Canna Lily No. 2
This one has lovely big leaves (the picture here doesn’t really do the leaves justice – I was messing around with photographing raindrops) and comes on a treat in the spring. Unfortunately it never flowers. Again, if it lived with someone who treated it better, it might return the favour with a bit of floral reciprocation.
3. Rose ‘Charlotte’
‘Charlotte’ is gracing us with a few more flowers: they’re quite small, probably due to the lack of water. The delicate yellow stands out rather well on a dreary day, or late in the evening.
4. Hollyhock
This old chap wasn’t quite ready for the torrent of water that suddenly descended upon him. He’s just about finished for this year anyway.
5. Salvia confertiflora
This one featured a few weeks ago, but it’s looking even better now. It’s a slightly eccentric looking thing and all the better for it! I need to remember to take some cuttings of it, as I don’t really fancy it’s chances in the unheated greenhouse over the winter. At least cuttings are small enough to sit on the windowsill.
6. Cyclamen mirabile
The first few leaves are working their way up on Cyclamen mirabile. I’m pleased to see it as some of the Cyclamen don’t take to our damp summers. This year I popped all of the potted Cyclamen in the cold frame for the summer and left them to it. It seems to have worked with this one at least.
That’s all for today’s Six on Saturday. Have a great weekend, I’ll see you next time.
Did you say downpours? here it’s dry…. my water supply is decreasing : no water expected in the next 15 days. Canna lily ´ n° 1 is very pretty. I have one looking like n° 2 and it’s orange
Yes, we’ve had some pretty substantial rainfall over the past couple of days. Before that it we had a mini heatwave.
Lovely pictures this week – especially the rose.
Thanks! I quite like the one of the raindrops on the Canna leaf.
I have a few plants in a similar position to your Hollyhock, as we’ve also had torrential downpours here! I do like that Salvia, very natty, and like you perhaps I ought to take a few cuttings of salvias, am never really sure how hardy or tender they are, but my nemerosa salvias all made it through a hard winter outdoors with just a mulch.
Yes, the Salvias are a bit of a lottery of hardiness. This one is very much not hardy, precautions have to be taken!
Your salvia is one of my favourites, it doesn’t look quite real does it. And the smell is a little odd. Lovely to see the leaves coming on the cyclamen. Poor hollyhock! We needed the rain, but it was a bit rough wasn’t it?!
The smell is quite strange, now you mention it!
The one spell of rain we had was very intense. The sort that by the time you’ve run for cover, you’re already soaked through!
The hollyhock looks lovely, despite it’s flattening, and that Salvia is very striking. We had some heavy downpours on Thursday. The rain was certainly needed but we could have done without the power shower setting. Good to see the new leaves of the cyclamen coming up – a very pleasing site.
I’ve just had a little look and quite a few of the Cyclamen are beginning to get going now – including a few choice species which I didn’t really know if I should trust myself with!
Your salvia is a new one for me. It seems quite unusual. The raindrops are very nice on the canna leaves, what a pity it doesn’t flower.
The Salvia was grown from a cutting I took from a clients plant. I think she won it as a prize in a gardening club she is part of. It was new to me at the time, but I’m very keen on it now.
What’s not to love about Canna Leaves, they are large and lush for sure.
Too true!
Do you leave your Cannas in the ground? Starting into growth late seems to be a thing with the ginger family, Hedychium, Roscoea and Zingiber all do that with me. Would potting them and giving them early heat get them going sooner I wonder; it works for Dahlias and Begonias.
I put them in the greenhouse for the winter, but it still gets pretty cold in there as it’s unheated. Whether it gets warm in the spring really depends on the weather! I’m toying with the idea of getting some heat in there, even if it’s just a heat mat or something similar to give some warmth to a few choice plants. We’ll see…
That salvia is definitely a showstopper. Most unusual.
Charlotte is cute