Hello and welcome to this weeks SOS.
Well it looks like if this weekend we are going to have typical bank holiday weather. Showers and a cold Arctic Wind. However I will not be rushing out to put anything undercover as all the weather models I have seen for my area shows there should not be a frost where I live on the coast, I am unfortunately working this weekend I am a bit of a lazy git sometimes.
I have gone big with Hostas this weekend in more ways than one and I have bought 5 varieties from Ballyrobert Gardens from Northern Ireland. I have bought plants from here before and they always are quality plants.
The good weather we have had so far this year really is making the garden look good. The shrubs in my garden always take on the sheen at this time of the year and I have even noticed some of the patches of shrubs in Newcastle City Centre are positively glowing this year instead of looking dry and untidy like they usually do.
Here is my SOS
1. Hosta Empress Wu
I tend to buy my plants on a Sunday evening on the net when watching Countryfile. I don’t know if it is the pictures of green fields and nature but it always seems to make me order plants. After my visit to the Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh last week I had Hosta envy. So as there is no known cure I ordered 5 Hostas. Like most of my impulse buys I don’t really check all the details of the plants J am buying. I order my plants like I bet on the horses, I buy/bet like the name of the plant/horse and the colour of the plant/jockeys colours. So I was surprised to find out the this variety Empress Wu is actually one of the biggest cultivars you can buy. I was a little bit shocked to say the least as my garden is fairly small but after thinking about it if it does well then wow what a talking point this is gong to be. It could however be a full all you can eat buffet for the SaS but having read up on the varieties supplied by this supplier it could do ok. No doubt if this does take off it will be the subject of many a post to come.
2. Heuchera Bella Notte or Melting Fire
I bought 2 Heucheras that looked exactly the same within 2 weeks of each other and planted them next to each other. Unfortunately I won’t know which is which until it flowers. I took this photo at 6.30 am on Thursday morning as the colour of the little blighters shell caught my eye in the damp. I gave it a stay of execution as most of the plants in the border where it is is slug resistant. If it was in another part of the garden it might not be so lucky.
3. Erysium Golden Jubilee
This is one of the best performing plants in my garden. Flowers profusely every Spring and well into the summer. Just need to give it a brief trim in the winter and let it do it’s thing.
4. Spiraea
Possibly Goldflame but not sure. This plant had been suffering for years in a dry area beside the hedge. This was the first plant I planted in the new area behind the shed. The area is sheltered, more shaded and full of damp compost rich soil and by the looks of it this plant is loving it.
5. Red Tulip Hollandia
Simple but one of the most stunning looking tulips I have in my garden. Planted in my main border and just left to get on with it.
6. Most important plant in the garden
All plants are important in the garden but this hedge is one of the most important ones. Planted in the east side of the garden this runs the gardens full length. It stands 10 feet hide and acts as a barrier against all the cold weather that comes off the North Sea in the winter. I would like to take credit for the cutting of it but we get an man that cut it.
That is my SOS. I am working this weekend and it is the Spring Beer festival at my local Micro Pub so there may be very little gardening this weekend.
That is my SOS. If you want to write one it is not that difficult. As always to find out how six on Saturday works please follow the following link The Propagator. The don of Six on Saturday.
Until next week goodbye.
Sedums, Dahlias and Hayfever 
It looks like spirea gold flame because mine has the same appearance : Pretty colors right now.
I also liked the snail shell that couldn’t be hidden by the heuchera leaves…. not very clever this guy…caught in the act !
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Aye that Snail ever has a death wish or is as hard as nails.
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I really like hostas too.
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Woo Hu! Hope you’ve got some organic slug pellets or nematode friends. Thanks for letting control my new-found succulent addictiion but no thanks for that Heuchera! Lovely shiny purple. I’ll add it to my list after I’ve nipped out to pass on your thanks to Fook. I’ve been fancying a Chinese takeaway for a few days! 😉
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Oh the organic slug pellets have already been deployed and at the moment seem to be working. Yes that Heuchera is striking I have an even better one beside it called Ginger ale. This will no doubt be featured in the next couple of weeks.
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WHAT! NO SEDUMS! I need my weekly fix of them – I shall just have to go and gaze at my little troughs instead. I was brought up to dislike hostas, both parents grimaced every time they saw one, I will never know why! Anyway, interesting Six and different from the usual.
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Sorry Granny I will make it up for you next week with the Sedums already got photo’s.
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Love that Erysimum. I remember seeing wallflowers growing on the walls of Bamburgh Castle, they is hard, except they go soft in our balmy southern climes and don’t last very well. Your snail was lucky he was in your garden not mine.
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You know what I have never been in Bamburgh Castle. Of course I have drove past it loads. I am on holiday week after next will have to put that right. Will also have to go to the Gertrude Jekyll garden at Lindisfarne Castle as well.
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John Craven has a lot to answer for! Great variety in your selection. That Spirea is lovely.
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Thanks Tim. That Spirea is certainly showing off their year.
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I’m another one wowed by that spirea. I’ve seen gold flame in nursery catalogues, but the photos never caught the light as you did here – maybe they used too much light? – so didn’t catch how warm this spirea looks. So lovely. It’s not Sunday & I don’t have room for one, so no buying for me. Hopefully. Great Six!
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There is always room for a Spirea…
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Your method of plant buying made me laugh. I visited our local garden centre on Friday to buy a new garden carry bag. Needless to say I came away with multiple new plants which I suddenly realised I desperately needed. They do say big plants are good for small gardens, so maybe you have met your match in Empress Wu.
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It’s amazing when you suddenly realise you need a plant. I am not buying anymore plants, I am not buying anymore plants…..oooooh I need that plant!
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Your hedge is perfect, a wonderful backdrop for your plants. Lots of lovely colour this week, especially the wallflower and the tulips!
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Thank you. Yes the hedge does add something else to the garden.
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Best keep that snail away from your new Hostas! They can move you know!
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Oh I know only to well! Having said that the 2 Hostas I have planted haven’t had a nipple yet. Perhaps my Sluggo pellets are working.
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I have used Sluggo, but my hosta still got shredded last year.
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Oh thanks for that will be vigilant.
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I initially thought you had been harbouring a grudge since the days of John Craven hosting Newsround or Screen Test. Glad to see it’s a more recent grudge, not healthy to hold on to that all these years! At least he is forcing you to buy plants rather than something less wholesome.
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Only grudge I have got against John Craven in the past was some of his jumpers in Swap Shop!
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European hedges seem to be so ridiculously PERFECT! One of may main pet peeves is that so-called ‘gardeners’ NEVER prune them vertically or sloped slightly (but evenly) inward at the top. They are ALWAYS fat on top, and shading out the lower growth. They crowd into the space that they are supposed to frame. Seriously, I almost NEVER see an even partly properly shorn hedge. Yet, in Europe, such hedges seem to be standard!
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How long to wallflower last there? We got some new (modern) garden varieties lat year. They are pretty, but I expect them to only last a few years like the traditional types do.
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Some wall flowers last only a couple of years before they go to woody. This one is more an Alpine variety so lasts much longer.
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So it probably grows more like a perennial than a perennial trying to behave like a woody shrub.
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