Six on Saturday

Another week, another Saturday…

We’ve had some rain, which has helped all this bosky new growth.  The orchard is exciting.  It’s gone from a neatly mown expanse of green, with blue pools of forget-me-nots to a jungle that needs to be explored with elephant guns and tiger traps.  Oh well, the insects will love it.

My six for this week are a little on the wild side – well, some of them are.

1  Ragged Robin, or Lychnis flos-cuculi.

I have Lychnis ‘Petite Jenny’ in the border, a dwarf, very double version of Ragged Robin.  Because it’s so double, it’s sterile and doesn’t produce seed.  Um.  This plant popped up a couple of feet from ‘Petite Jenny’, so I don’t think its mum has read the books.

2  Fringed campion, or Silene fimbriata

This was given to me by one of my students.  It has an amazing capacity to thrive in deep, dark, dry shade.

3  Siberian Iris ‘Rikugi-Sakura’

I got this last autumn for my new border, so I was pleased to see a flowering stem already.

4  How about them apples?

A very muscular bud, one of several, on another new plant last autumn, Oriental Poppy ‘Snow Goose’.  I can’t wait to see the flower when it opens.

5  Heuchera ‘Pinot Gris’ underneath Hydrangea ‘Sabrina’

The hydrangea languished in a pot for a couple of years, surviving an attack by the dreaded vine weevil, but it’s recovering at last.  The heuchera has really good variable colour all year.

6a  Before

When they start to go pink, you know that your Viburnum opulus ‘Roseum’ is going to finish up like this:

6b  After

Someone said what good confetti it would make, and I can’t but agree.

There’s my six for this week.  If you want to join in (and why wouldn’t you?) go here and check it out:

https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/