Hello and welcome to this weeks SOS.
Well the longest day has come and gone and the nights are getting shorter🤗. Almost half a year gone, wow? The weather has been more calmer and kinder this week. I have managed to potter around the garden for a couple of hours every night this week and there is nothing better to help you wind down after a hectic day.
I had 5 painted ladies in my garden this week. I have never seen a painted lady butterfly in my garden or at least never noticed one. They are flighty buggers but I did manage to get this photo.
I have also had loads of ladybirds in the garden this year which has filled me with joy!
I wouldn’t say that gardening is becoming an obsession but when I was driving back from home down the Edinburgh bypass, I saw a sign for RHS parking at the end of M8. I started to follow the sign thinking that there was a open garden and then I suddenly realised that the signs were parking for the Royal Highland Show and not the Royal Horticultural Society! If I had followed the signs I would have ended up at the Ingliston Show ground thinking mmmm this garden is pretty boring.
Here is my six.
1. Sisyrichium Striatum Aunt May
I wrote about this plant in a blog about a month ago saying that I did not think that this was going to flower this year. How wrong was I tall spikes suddenly shot up and produced these fabulous creamy yellow flowers up and down the shafts. This is going to favourite for years to come.
2. Oxalis Adenohoylla – Saur Klee
I was checking the thin border under the ivy hedge last week and I saw that this was flowering. The flower is very exotic looking and really catches the eye. The leaves are a grey green and are pretty distinctive. This plant is native in Argentina and Chile.
3. Eryngium x Zabelli Forncett Ultra or Big Blue
I have planted 5 new Eryngiums in my garden this year mostly because they are drought tolerant. This one is one of the stand out ones. A big blue flower surrounded by silvery bracts that look they are made from silvery glass. The bracts look like they are part of the costume of the White Witch from The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe. I have a feeling that there may be more Sea Hollys in my garden if more of them look like this.
4. Primula Scotica
Or of course the Scottish primrose. Is a native to Northern Scotland including Caithness, Sutherland and Orkney. A diminutive little primrose that punches above it’s weight. As it is a small plant I have planted this in a small pot at the moment but no doubt I will be moving it to somewhere more permanent soon. I feel another Alpine trough may be happening soon.
5. Sempervivum Ruby Heart
Some of my Sempervivums are starting to flower. This one is producing a huge death bloom that looks like it is going to be spectacular. This one is planted direct into the garden and is doing well. It is planted in one of the front borders which is only 8 inch deep and on top of flagstones. This area gets the most sun in the summer and the gets the least sun in the winter. It gets really dry here so I have to plant plants that like dry summers and wet and windy winters.
6. Bergenia Harzkristall
A lovely flowering Bergenia. White flowers with a pink tint this is it’s second flowering. Bergenias are a must have plan for me. The ever green leaves and stout stems make a good home for bugs in the winter throughout the year.
That is my SOS.
I am in holiday next week and I am planning on visiting a couple of gardens amongst other things. I am going to pop down to RHS Harlow Carr in Harrogate and Threave Castle in Dumfries and Galloway. Both will be day trips.
The weather looks favourable this week so bring on the gardening…
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 
Your RHS story made me chuckle! I like the Painted Lady photo. Don’t think I’ve ever seen one in our garden.
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I was surprised when I saw the painted lady. I have to admit. Reports say there is a lot on the Northumberland coast.
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I also have a lot of Painted Ladies but ladybirds are few. Maybe because I don’t have a lot of aphids … Enjoy your next vacation and these gardens to visit !
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A ‘death bloom’ ? Will the plant die after flowering?
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No only the rosette that is flowering. That is why Sempervivums are also called ahem and Chickens and forever living. They always produce offsets before dying. They are monocarpic
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Hens and Chickens!
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Butterflies are in short supply here this year! Maybe now it is getting warmer they will return. Are you visiting the Threave Castle gardens or just the castle? The gardens are gorgeous and if you have time there is one in Kirkcudbright itself (Broughton House) which is a lovely example of a small(ish) town garden.
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Yes I am going to the gardens.
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Will have a look out for that garden.
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I have just been reading up about it. That has been added to my itinerary.
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Hen and Chickens!
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Thank you again for your sempervivum! Much to my delight, one of mine looks as though it is just about to flower, like yours! Enjoy your garden visits this week.
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Thanks Granny. The flowers will be wonderfully weird when they open.
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That is certainly one of the prettiest and most subtle bergenias I’ve ever seen!
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Thank you. It is different than the rest.
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I like the Eryngium very much, but I don’t have much success growing them myself which is strange because our climate should suit them. I have no idea what I’m doing wrong. Enjoy your holiday!
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Nice eryngium! Hope mine look that good. Enjoy your week off.
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Your primrose is just too cute. I’m growing a few primula from seed but al really not sure what they’ll be like. If I get one like yours I’ll be delighted.
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Thank you. Great things come in small packages as they say.
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The Sempervivum Ruby Heart has such a lovely flower. Unfortunately, I killed mine with overwatering. You ahve reminded me I need to replace it
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People like our bergenias because they bloom in winter. I suppose that is nice, but there are quite a few things that bloom in winter; and we prefer things that bloom in summer when most of our guests are here. . . . Well, we get guests in winter too. They do happen to be reliable in the litter of the redwood forests, which is an asset.
Did you show the picture of the green Eryngium last year? I can not keep them all straight. When I grew them as cut flower in 1986, there were only two cultivars that were commonly available. Those that we grew as cut flower were the same that people grew in home gardens.
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No I didn’t post a picture of that Eryngium last year. After some research I
Have decided it is actually Eryngium Blue Star.
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‘Blue Star’? If I remember correctly, that has been around a while. I do not know because I do not remember their names.
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The sisyrichium striatum are blooming all over my neighbourhood at the moment, so perhaps this is their blooming time, you impatient thing, you. Love both your sea holly & primula. I didn’t realise the latter was a Scottish native. How wonderful a bunch of those must look in the wild. My bergenia is also blooming now, but it’s a second blooming, so I was surprised. Is this your first for the year? They are a great plant, as you say, if they don’t get carried away w/themselves.
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I can be impatient at times🙏😊. This is the first time this Begonia has flowerer because I it to my sister last autumn she left it in the pot and let it dry out. Only one leaf left. I saved it though. Now she only gets plants I have split or plants that have been reduced in price.
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I’ll have nightmares over your sister. I’m impatient, too. I used to stand over my plants & say, ‘Grow, you little b******s!’ until one day I heard my elderly neighbour cackling at me. Now I simply think it a lot.
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