Six on Saturday (17 April 2021)

Has someone turned the thermostat down? We’ve had a light frost most mornings of late and while the cold appears to be helping to prolong many of the earlier spring flowers (some narcissus have been in bloom for weeks now), outdoor sowings are taking their time to do much of anything. Perhaps I’ve just got used to unseasonably warm and early springs. While I’m grumbling about the cold I might as well grumble about the lack of rain too, although the dry weather does appear to have curbed the all-you-can-eat plant buffets of the slimy plant assassins of the night. Silver linings and all that. Anyway, time for Six on Saturday.

1. These were the first lot of seeds I sowed back in February: a white Black-eyed Susan and Convolvulus tricolor ‘Royal Ensign.’ They’re by far the healthiest looking of all my seedlings. I’ll pinch out the Black-eyed Susan (on the left) to encourage more stems and to keep them small until they can be planted outdoors after the risk of frost has passed. I’ve slipped up with the ‘Royal Ensign’ though. Figuring they’d be great for growing up the garden arch I failed to notice these are in fact a dwarf variety. Ah well.

2. Growing in the border with shrubs and perennials is the most tropical looking plant in the garden: Rhubarb ‘Poulton’s Pride.’ It can supposedly be harvested for 10 months of the year, from February through to November. This is its third year. The tulips (‘Violet Beauty’) are still going strong behind the Rhubarb but other tulips have begun to bloom.

4. This is ‘Lilyflowering Purple Dream’ which is rather lovely.

5. And this is a dwarf tulip ‘Czar Peter’ which is… well, I’m undecided. A Wilko purchase, I must have liked it when I picked up a packet last year. But when I was planting them, back in November, I’d gone right off them. Now that they’re flowering I find I like them one minute but I’m less keen the next. Would I plant them again? I’ll get back to you.

5. I won’t need to get back to you about my next tulip though. Tulip sylvestris is a stunning, bendy-stemmed fragrant yellow beauty. Most of my tulips are in pots but I’ve tried this lot in the ground. It’s a wild native tulip that according to Sarah Raven will be in the garden for decades once planted. I hope so, I just need to make sure I don’t accidentally slice through the bulbs later in the year.

6. And finally… When I planted the new standard Bay tree in the autumn I didn’t expect flowers in the spring, but flowers in the spring is what I’ve got and rather interesting they are too up close. Thankfully, it’s escaped the cold and a mid winter move unscathed.

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.