Once again, somebody left the oven on all week, and the garden has been cooking. Gardens can be harder to enjoy when everything is baked hard, with the plants wilting against the power of the sun, but there are still some lovely things coming through.
Most notably, the bees. I take a certain amount of pride in knowing that I’m providing for pollinators, including this week, 5 species of butterfly.
SixOnSaturday is curated by Jim at Garden Ruminations, and you can find the participation guidelines here.
1. Finally, a leafcutter bee has sat still for long enough for me to take a picture. They’ve been busy flying in and out of the holes they’ve tunnelled amongst the gravelly soil of my succulents. Their life cycle is really cool, and I’m thrilled to have them in the garden.
2. More bees on my Allium sphaerocephalon. These have taken a few years to properly establish, and I’ve needed to tie them up to stop them flopping everywhere. Hopefully, they will get stronger year on year now that they are established.
3. Bees on teasels, bees on sea holly. (Dr Seuss first draft)
4. After our box hedge was destroyed a few years ago, I had to rework the front garden. This has now become one of my garden plans that actually worked. I added elecampane (Inula helenium) for its bright flowers, but also to add height, breaking up the view into (and out of) our living room window.
It didn’t completely work as my kids are so terminally screenbound they keep the curtains shut at the first hint of daylight, but nevertheless, now established, my elecampane is very pleasing. They’ve started to seed themselves (the elecampane, not the kids) down the garden too, and with a second front garden rework on the agenda, I’ll have to decide what to do with them.
5. An unplanned success is this Gazania. I picked up a punnet of them on impulse, to complete a garden centre multi-deal. They’re not really the sort of plant I like, but if you’re looking for a shot that demonstrates nature’s beauty and symmetry, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more appropriate flower.
6. More planned success (twice in one week!) is this Cobea scandens or Cup and Saucer plant. A flower has appeared. Grown from seed, planted in January, and now growing up over the conservatory roof, this is a very exciting moment for me. It’s a purple variety, so maybe more colour will come through in the coming days.
That’s it for this week. See you next time, and thanks for looking at my #SixonSaturday
PotsandPlots 
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