A rather quick Six on Saturday today as I’m off up to North Wales to stay with my folks for a few days. I still haven’t planted the Sweet Williams or the rest of the bulbs. However, last weekend I dug up the unscented ‘highly fragrant’ Jasmine humile ‘Revolutum’ (now living in my mother-in-law’s garden) and accidentally killed a small tree (Prunus mume ‘Omoi-no-mama’) whilst trying to relocate it elsewhere in the garden. I was a tad too eager in waggling the trunk to see if I’d loosened the roots enough to move it (I hadn’t) and it snapped at the base. Truth be told I’d never been completely happy with it and perhaps the old subconscious wanted to do it in.
1. Anyway, the sudden demise of the tree resulted in trips to several garden centres last Sunday to find a replacement. No tree was purchased but I did end up with this small Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Little Bunny’ grass…
2. …. and a controversial dwarf conifer. My wife’s not keen on them and I didn’t think I was, but I rather like this one; it adds a bit of pointy structure.
3. The Graham Thomas rose is flowering again.
4. And the scabious plants grown from seed are still going strong, though the red one hasn’t done so well as the other colours.
5. The Jasmine has been flowering off and on for a while now. It will get a good chopping back soon as it’s taking over one side of the garden. It’s great for privacy from the neighbours though.
6. And finally we have my nemesis, the washing line, an essential bit of kit for drying clothes but one that dictates the overall layout of the garden. I have a plan to plonk another holder/hole for it in the centre of the lawn so that we can move it there when drying sheets that require more space but leave it near the path the rest of the time. Hopefully this will mean we can plant some slightly taller plants near the path.
It has also inspired a poem (best read doing an Alan Bennett or Pam Ayres impression):
And they were my Six on Saturday. For more Sixes on Saturday, from all around the world, take a look at the site of the chap who started it all over at https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com.
One Man And His Garden Trowel 
It’s strange how conifers went from ubiquitous to controversial. Our “dwarf” Chamaecyparis ‘Little Spire’ is now the height of the house. It looked a lot like yours once, you have been warned. Didn’t make it into the poem either I see.
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You’ve got me worried me now…
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Lovely Six, especially your pictures of roses and scabious plants. I’m like Jim a bit suspicious of dwarf conifers … I also planted one 15 years ago (it was said up to a maximum of 1.50 m) and it reached the roof of the house (especially widened…) , so it had to be dug up. Take a look at it ….
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Okay, even more worried…
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Lovely rose there. It’s a great autumn for roses. On the washing line, I used to have one that was retractable, attached to the wall of the house that I could pull out and attach to a hook on a fence. It worked very well but it was a tiny garden!
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A retractable washing line? I like the sound of one of those!
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Still laughing at your marvellous poem – it was National Poetry Day on 4th October and this is a grand example read of course in a Pam Ayres accent. I have to confess that my rotary dryer has scuppered my plans to rid the whole garden of the lawn and plant flowers. Sheets need room! Or I need a bigger garden!
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Thank you. The rotary dryer is a great invention but it does limit you a bit in a smaller garden. Sheets need a remarkable amount of room!
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Oh how I love the scent of jasmine! 🙂
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Washing lines (we call clotheslines) have a special place in my heart and remind me especially of fabulous years lived in Europe without an electric dryer. Like Katharine, I’ve owned retractables, too. On the plants, your scabious are perfection. Mine also started from seed are finally about to open. Let’s hope they beat the first frost…
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Thanks. We having washing lines but clothes horses! Fingers crossed your scabious flowers before the first frost.
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I’ve also gone for the retracting washing line. Retracting end attached to house wall and masked by wall planters and stuff so hidden when not in use. At other end, I concreted a ground spike into the lawn and have a two-part pole that fits over that but can be removed when not in use and stored under a garden bench where it’s not noticed. To hide the ground spike I got a half barrel, made the hole in the bottom bigger and then got some drain pipe which is fixed over the hole and is cut off just below the top of the barrel. Plant around the drain pipe and that’s hidden from view too. Then just insert pole when needed, extend line and voila.
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Cunning and minimal impact. Great idea.
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Bad luck with your broken tree! I did the same thing this evening with an 8′ bamboo cane. Couldn’t get it out of the ground. In share your washing line pain.
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Cheers. Still pondering what small tree/large ‘treeified’ shrub to go for. It’s becoming a big research project.
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I like your replacements for the murdered tree, & hope your conifer doesn’t grow to Jim & Fred proportions. Isn’t that white scabiosa something else? And the rose, of course. I must be a heretic, because I abhor clothes dried on the line. I think they’re stiff & itchy. Maybe I do my laundry incorrectly? At least I don’t have to work around a clothes line. Your poem had me laughing. I’d’ve loved to see the project in full, the one in your head. Sounds marvelous. But what, no hedgehog house?
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No hedgehogs so no hedgehogs house. Though perhaps if I build it they will come. The conifer will be kept under close surveillance. ‘Murdered tree’. Sounds really bad when put like that!
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You did suggest it might’ve been intentional. 😉
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