Hello I and welcome to this weeks SOS.
I wasn’t going to write a SOS this week because I have been working a lot of overtime thanks to the Edinburgh FrInge Festival. The annual cultural melting point which gobbles up most of the parking spaces and brings pavements to a stand still and make my working life challenging. Garden opportunities have been little to none and I was not going to write a blog as I had no time. However insomnia this morning had give. Me an opportunity to write a short blog.
Weather wise it has actually been pretty dry and avoided all those downpours that North Yorkshire and the Peak District have had. The flash floods they have had really have been epic and my thoughts go out to the people of Whaley Bridge. In fact as I walked around the garden at 6am this morning the A word seems to be in the air (Autumn sorry Mr P!).
1. Fuchsia La Campanella
I bought 2 Fuchsias for a pound each at Morrisons in the spring and both a performing really well. This is the first time I have really grow Fuchsias which is weird as they are one of my favourite plants. My best mate has one on his garden when we were kids and we used to spend many an hour picking the flowers off of the bush looking at the strange flowers. Who needs Fortnite! The 2 plants are planted in containers and are supposed to be hardy so next Spring I will move them into the main border when they start producing shoots.
2. Small Alpine Border
First time I have featured this this year. This is literally a metre square and is packed with plants. There.must be at least 20 plants on here which creates a problem when they grow. This year as you can see in the bottom left the Pasqueflowers are growing fast and I will split them in the autumn. As you can guess there is a no of Sedums in here and all are doing well sort from the one in the bottom left of the picture, Purple Emperor which has been eaten by snails.
3. Allium Summer Drummer
Must Alliums open late Spring Early Summer but Summer Drummer always open in mid summer. One of the tallest these grow 1.5m to 2m. I thought the flowers were going to be bigger TBH. As you can see from the unfocused bee the pollinators love the flowers and the woody stalks act as a great perch for the birds.
4. Pennisetum Karley Rose
As always taking photo’s of grass is almost impossible. This is a fantastic plant which has pink bristles of flowers. It sits in the border which we can see from our kitchen and it asks as a barometer. If it droops or is damp, stands upright dry and sunny and of course you can tell the wind direction and speed.
5. Sedum Confusum
Also known as Lesser Messe Confusum this succulent is fully hardy and is bush like in appearance. I have it in a few places in the garden. This one in a pot best shows the red stems and the green leaves the best. Also it had a beautiful cobweb on it but as with grasses they are difficult to photo. This morning there was a lot of dam web cobwebs to be seen in the garden, another sure sign the A word if on it’s way.
6. Cupid’s Dart flower
Seed Frown this is one of my plants of the summer. I have featured before but I couldn’t resist to feature again. It has purple blue flowers enrich are on an longish dainty stem. Hopefully it will Self seed this year.
That is my six for this week.
I am on holiday for 3 days week with the sole intention of spending them in the garden. SORRY THAT IS MEANT TO BE 3 DAYS!
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 
The pink pennisetum is charming too. I grow a red and it is really very pleasant in the garden. Moreover it’s an easy growing. Have a good holiday too. I’m leaving in 30′
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Three weeks. In your own garden. Beautiful.
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Oh balls days. Bloody brain is fudge after work last week. I wish it was 3 weeks. Festival would be finished.
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Such a gorgeous collection! Enjoy your summer gardening leave – far too early for the A word! š
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I lied I am only off for 3 days….brain fog and lack of proof reading I am afraid.
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Bummer! Hope you made the most of them and have a bit more time off to enjoy yourself soon š
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Ha ha! Three weeks would be heaven but three days would be good as well. Weāre also off for a week or so but the N-G likes to get as far away from the garden as possible š.The alpine bed is full of such lovely texture and colour. I also have Karley Rose and think itās one of the best Pennisetums.
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Envious of your cupid’s dart. My mum gave me a plant a few years ago and it died imediately. I grew several plants from seed this year and all look sickly and have failed to flower. Not sure where I’m going wrong! Almost bought Karley Rose at the flower show yesterday – it’s a lovely looking grass.
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Your alpine border is looking great and I really like your mid-summer allium, will be looking out for this one!
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Thank you. Yes it is a great plant even if the flowers are disproportionate to the length of the stem.
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Your grass looks lovely and the fuchsias nice and healthy. Mine have rust and look terrible! I have never had fuchsia rust before and hope I don’t have it again! Enjoy your days off, I hope the weather stays fine so you can get outside.
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I enjoyed seeing your alpine border and reading about your visit to the stunning Alpine House at RHS Harlow Carr.
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Thank you,
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I once lived in a festival town & feel your pain, especially since the Fringe goes on forever. An image search of Cupid’s Arrow gives me orchids – what’s the name of yours? Since other folk are lusting after it, thought I’d see if I lust as well. Quite like that sedum confusum w/or w/o the web. Some neighbours a coupla streets over have allium that’ve grown about 18″ or more above their hedge which they say is because when they moved in, they manured & composted their entire back garden. Since theirs are blooming now, I imagine they’re the same as yours & would be rather tall anyway. I won’t burst their bubble, tho. Great Six, as always.
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Did K say Cupids arrow? I meant Cupids darts! Dam Edinburgh Festival for giving me brain fudge.
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No, you said Cupid’s dart & I have no excuse for reading it wrongly! An image search shows it’s got quite nice foliage & comes in a few other colours, so I might be smitten, if I can get over the humiliation of not being able to read. š
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Nah your ok….my brain is hurting from last week. Doesnāt help that on Friday I walked backwards and forwards from a site in George Street. Gets home and a call comes in for a site I walked past 20 times! Luckily the job can wait till tomorrow. Also if one more student tries to shove a flier in my hand when I am carrying boxes up the Royal Mile I will not be responsible for my actions!
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Sorry needed to get that off my chest. The poor snails I find in my garden are taking a hell of a beating this week!
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Lovely Six with enough Sedums to keep me happy/quiet. Do enjoy your 3 days in the garden, I am afraid mine has been neglected due to grandchildren visiting. I will have to train them to weed, dig, plant and generally sort out my garden when visiting. Apart from meeting my sister on Tuesday afternoon, I have no outings this week so I intend to be outside come rain or shine – lucky old retired me!
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Autumn?! Our summer just got started. It had been so mild, and just recently started to get warm. I love autumn, but it still seems early. Well, there is a whole lot of distance between there and here so maybe things will continue to be different for us.
That is nice variety of pennisetum. I sort of ignore them when I see them around, since the species naturalized here a long time ago. I got a picture of a dwarf variety in a client’s garden a while back, but might have ignored it if it had not been in my way.
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Yes the weather has definitely got autumnal feel. Supposed to rain all week. Garden is soaked and some plants are struggling…
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