Six on Saturday 6th November

Good morning, welcome to another Six on Saturday! The garden is in an interesting place as far Six on Saturdays are concerned: I’m pretty pleased with how it’s looking but the things that are growing well are the same things that have been going strong for several weeks now. Pretty much everything worth looking at has been covered over the last few Saturdays. In the interests of change, this week I’m going for low visual impact, high concept. Visually it’s one step up from featuring six white squares; concept wise it’s a matter of mystery, potential, planning and such. To be slightly less highfalutin about it, here are six plants I’ve been acquiring over the autumn. Before we get going: as is usually the case, The Propagator is hosting a great variety of other Six on Saturday posts; do take a look!

1. White Agapanthus

This young chap has survived a rather rude, mid-growth uprooting: it’s looking pretty good all things considered. This particular plant must be a tough variety – the garden it came from is on poor, dry, sandy soil. Despite my best efforts to improve it, it always seems a losing battle. Despite it’s hardships, and what would seem to be the wrong growing conditions, it’s a reliable flowerer. Hopefully it will do the same for me.

2. Phlox

I can’t remember much about this Phlox, but I’m assuming it was a good ‘un: worth pinching. As is so often the case, it hasn’t been potted up properly on the basis that it will be going straight in the ground; unfortunately I’ve been crippled with indecision about where it should go. It is coping admirably with it’s mistreatment.

3. Yellow Crocosmia

Looking at a few other Six on Saturday posts over the summer, I became deeply envious of the various yellow Crocosmia on display here and there. So much so that I found one which had a few shoots to spare around it’s perimeter. It didn’t take to kindly to the disturbance but I’m sure the corms will be well enough to recover next year, despite the early demise of the foliage.

4. Helianthus

This is a perennial Helianthus type thing – beyond that I’m not sure exactly what it is. It’s an ‘enthusiastic’ spreader and grows to the mighty heights of six or seven feet before it puts on a generous display of pale yellow flowers. I’ve been eyeing it up for a while. Every autumn it needs a little taming: digging it out of any other plants it has decided to grow into. This year I took the opportunity to take home a few roots for myself.

5. Fern No. 1

I know very little about ferns (or their names, at least). Any fern enthusiasts: feel free to posit a name for this one. It’s a nice, well behaved fern with several appealing qualities. At some point in the future, we’re considering having the drive done. It is currently completely paved over, as it has been since before we moved in. It’s useful to have the space, especially if people visit, but it’s not great for water run-off or the environment, and quite frankly, it doesn’t look very nice. If we ever get around to it, the aim would be to have a bit of a border on the one side. This could then be home to a mixture of Dicentras and Corydalis, along with a few ferns to take over towards the end of the year. Anyway, that’s what I have planned for the ferns featured above and below.

6. Fern No. 2

Again, any identification attempts welcome! It dried out quite a bit when I dug it up, and is showing every bit of it’s stressful existence. It seems to have settled down a bit since.

There we have it. Six petty crimes committed (actually, I mostly asked permission), six pots, six little bundles of potential: another Six on Saturday brought to a close. Have a great weekend!