Six on Saturday: batten down the hatches (10 August 2019)

Just as the standard buddleia was finally starting to recover from previous blustery batterings this summer, along comes a perfectly timed storm to do yet more damage to the davidii. I’m hoping it’ll have toughened up a bit but we shall see. I’m also a bit worried about the Sambucus nigra ‘Black Lace’ which was planted last month but has yet to be staked. And what about the fences? Will they still be standing come the evening?

Ah well. We’ll just have to wait and see how the garden fares. Knowing things were on the turn most of these photos were taken earlier in the week when the weather was more clement.

1. Cosmos ‘Fizzy’ has taken ages to get into the swing of things but now, finally, we have flowers. This one, growing in a pot with some Rudbeckia and dwarf Dahilas, is in fine fettle; bushy, tall and feathery rather than short and scratty like some of the others in the garden. I’ve had to keep an eye on the black fly though as they seem to have added this plant to their menu.

2. The Zinnia have also been slow to get going. Last year they were in full flower by mid July. Initially I thought this was down to planting most of them in the borders rather than in pots. However, those in pots have proved just as lackadaisical, some doing their usual trick of withering away for no obvious reason. Still, better late than never. I’ve tried a few varieties this year. Half the fun with Zinnia is watching how the flowers unfurl. This one (‘Whirligig’ mixed, free with the Garden News magazine) started off like this…

… and now looks like this…

This one is ‘Sprite Mixed’, peeking from behind the garden bench, oddly untouched by slug or snail.

3. Miraculously, some of the Wilko Dahlias that were planted as tubers earlier in the year, have also seen off the slimy plant assassins of the night. Perhaps watering them with a garlic concoction actually worked. They’re a lot shorter than I thought they’d be but hey-ho. Like the Zinnia, it’s fun watching the unfurlage. This was one of the flowers last week…

And this is how it looked on Thursday…

4. Around this time last year I was surprised by the early appearance of the cyclamen. Well, they’ve taken me by surprise again.

5. Next up, an anonymous Allium. This is much smaller and paler than ‘Millennium’ which featured last week. Purchased several years ago, it originally grew in the front garden where it tended to get swamped by the other plants. Last Autumn I moved it to the back garden and it’s doing much better.

6. Hmm. It’s becoming apparent that most of my choices over the past few weeks have been of pinkish-purplish hue. Time to shake things up. Brace yourselves…

Some of the Wilko Minibel tomatoes finally ripened. I say some, it was actually just two. As you can see from this photo not many of the flowers have developed into fruit. They were picked soon after this photo was taken earlier in the week, chopped up with some yellow Tumbling Toms, sprinkled with salt, pepper and torn basil leaves, drizzled with olive oil and served on toast. And rather delicious they were too.

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.