Why hello there, welcome to this week’s Six on Saturday! I haven’t really done much at all in the garden this week; the days are letting in darkness like a boat with a hole in the hull: this doesn’t leave much leeway for post-work toil. We’re slowly wending our merry way into the tapestry of colours, and weather, that autumn brings, and the garden is behaving accordingly. As usual, this post is part of a wider collection of musings and images which can all be found over on The Propagator’s blog.
1. Oxalis hirta ‘Gotherburg’
You may or may not have noticed the occasional Oxalis popping up in and amongst my Sixes. I have a small collection of these intriguing little beauties in pots, to keep me amused when I’m not messing around with Corydalis and Dicentras. They’re slightly mysterious plants, from a grower’s perspective, as there doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of information available about them. This is an autumn flowering Oxalis: the species itself originally hails from South Africa, but this cultivar was bred at by Henrik Zetterlund (who happens to be a Corydalis expert) at Göteburg Botanical Gardens (which happen to be the home of Corydalis cultivation). Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing what happens with this!
2. The Pergola
Right outside the back door and kitchen window is the verdantly festooned pergola. There are three posts supporting a beam which in turn supports five old wooden ladders reaching between the beam and the house. The main purpose of the pergola was to support the Wisteria, planted at the base of the middle post. One of the outer posts is home to the Virginia Creeper. This was a freebie from somewhere and I planted it to add a little interest in the autumn and to cover the pergola more thoroughly. It certainly does it’s job. It gets a twice yearly hack to keep it in order. In between it’s semiannual mutilations, it sends down dangly appendages to grasp onto passers by:
3. Aristolochia californica
On the third post of the pergola sits this interesting character. It used to be home to a rather fetching Sollya, which sadly succumbed to last winter’s worst excesses. I’ve had this Aristolochia waiting, unloved and unhomed I’m ashamed to say, in a pot for about a year. I finally planted it and it’s made a really good go of things. I think this little growth is the beginnings of a flower. The race is now on to see if it can develop before the season is out.
4. What happens when I’m not paying attention
Sometimes, I’m busy being busy and I hear a pair of little voices say “Can we blah blah blah?”. I usually answer along the lines of “As long as you don’t make a mess,” or something to that effect. I should probably listen to the question in more detail; regardless, a ‘potion’ or ‘soup’ has been created on the patio, using all of the Calendula flowers in the process.
5. Canna seed pod
I noticed this spiky little customer on the old Canna lily flower. I’m not sure what will come of it this late in the year – time will tell. It looks interesting all the same.
6. Hydrangea quercifolia
Ah yes, our old friend the Oak Leaf Hydrangea. The flowers are looking a little ragged now, but I see it has decided to try it’s luck with a new one. Generally speaking, it’s looking great and taking on some nice autumn hues.
That’s all for this week. Have a good ‘un!
Oh that calendula soup! What could one say….
Any buckets or tubs that are left unattended tend to get filled with something or other!
Ah, I had a similar experience, but it was with orchid buds. Some party visitors of the small variety pulled almost all of them off, while my back was turned. They didn’t even make a potion…
And yes Oxalis is local to where I am, and grows everywhere in parks, in grass etc. I would have said it was a weed, but that is only a point of view. The stems can be chewed as a refreshing thing, slightly sour, if you are short of a drink. As long as a dog hasn’t got there first, of course.
That’s interesting! I work for a lady who grew up in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia as it was then), and she’s always telling me all these plants we consider as exotic rarities are really weeds!
I can’t wait to see the evolution of this aristolochia flower. For me, I grow the A. fimbriata and I have not had any flowers this year.
The plant has been attacked by spider mites… What a pain.
It’s true that the canna seed pods are very aesthetic and with different colours it gives pretty pictures.
I just hope the weather doesn’t see the plant off before it flowers! We’ll have to wait and see.
Just the mention of Aristolochia is enough to get my attention, because it’s something interesting and different that I haven’t grown. I’m wary of being tempted by climbers, my capacity to accommodate verdant festoonment being very limited and more than adequately filled already. Nice though, and you can get seeds……
It’s an interesting looking flower (although not one I’ve seen in the flesh – yet!). The patio and pergola are south facing and get some decent heat from the sun and insulation from being near the house – a good spot for something a little more exotic!
Do let your little ones continue with their floating arrangements, after all the great gardeners do this to great effect and that is called art, maybe they need something better that a red bucket…maybe a large bronze urn or mable bowl, then you would have something to post each week. I just gooled that Oxalis..what a beauty.
It did look quite nice didn’t it?!
One of the other autumn Oxalis is very nearly in flower, so I have high hopes for this one too!
Still chuckling at the Calendula soup/potion tale! Nice to see the ladder pergola again. Most impressive.
It’s one of those things were it actually goes to plan – a rare occurrence!
I had to look up both oxalis and aristolochia! Oxalis I know, but only as a weed; yours is much nicer. Aristolochia is a very interesting group of plants. I hope we get to see yours in flower.
Quite a few of the Oxalis are very weedy – we have a few of this ilk that are native to the UK. There are some lovely ones from South America too.
I don’t really know much about Aristolochia, but I’m looking forward to seeing it flower (if it makes it in time)!
I second Noelle – those flowers in the red tub did actually look rather pretty. I nearly bought a Hydrangea quercifolia last week after admiring yours in a previous post, and now I’m kicking myself that I didn’t.
I’m coming round to it!
The Hydrangea is a great plant – quite slow growing, but well worth it.
Love the Calendula soup even though you might be slightly annoyed those flowers are no longer in the border! You could force them to eat the flowers in salad as a ‘punishment’ 😉
I think the oak leaved hydrangea puts all the other hydrangeas in the shade, it’s lovely.
Actually the Calendula soup is a big improvement on the usual bucket of mud. I also once found a bar of soap and a carrot in one of their creations.
Yep, the Hydrangea is a star!