Hello and welcome to this weeks Sox on Saturday.

Well it finally happened. This week a miracle happened in my garden, a wonderful event….we had proper wet rain this week!!! For to the first time since the end of February we have had some substantial rain. It rained for 12 hours in Tuesday night non stop, in fact it was that substantial it filled half a water butt. Just to rub salt in some of your wounds who have had very little rain this week we also had rain on Wednesday night and Thursday. It was fantastic to see, so much so I spend 5 mins walking around the garden in my T-shirt during the rain. The garden now looks green, plump, vibrant and sparkling and hopefully the garden will not need watered now for a couple of weeks which will give me a well deserved break from the watering can.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago that I was going to sit back and enjoy the garden a little bit. This week I realised I had done that a little bit to much because my mood had slipped and I was getting a little bit lazy. I had found it a bit of a chore to write this blog, in fact last Saturday I finished writing my blog at 5.30 am on Sunday morning. So I have given myself a shake and spent a few hours in the garden today (Friday) and I started writing my blog at dinner time.

Work wise a few London Engineers have had a letter through the post this morning advising them to come back to work. So I could be back at work sooner than I thought fingers crossed. Don’t get me wrong I have enjoyed my extended gardening leave immensely but I cannot wait to go back to work and help build the company back to where it was.

Here’s my six for this week.

1. Rose Tottering by Gently and Alium Purple Sensation

I am not to sure where the Allium came from but I am not complaint. The rose Tottering about Gently is a David Austen Rose named after a comic strip in the Country Life magazine. Being a working class northerner I did not realise there was a magazine dedicated to the butter substitute but each to there own. This rose is a prolific flowerer and has the most simple flower if all my roses but in a way is one of the most beautiful flower I have as it is so simple. It has four petals and a crisp yellow centre and just floats around in the wind gently.

2. Arch

I featured the Rose Bridge if Sighs last week and said I could not take a picture of how great it was looking. I think I was being over critical as this photo shows how good it looks and how prolific it is. The clematis in the other side is Clematis Josephine and as you can see this to is going great guns.

The 2 plants are meeting in the as I speak so next year it should look even better fingers crossed.

3. Iris Lion King

I suspect I have wrote in commenting on someone else’s blog in the last couple of weeks that I don’t have any Irises that flower in the summer. Turns out I was wrong! I forgot all about these. I bought them from Farmer Gracy last autumn planted them in some pots, lost the label, thought they were some type of Aliums so transplanted then into the garden 3 weeks ago. To say I was surprised when it open was an understatements. It is a stunning looking plant with petals that range from brown, purple and orange. These will be dug up when they have finished flowering and planted somewhere more prominent next year.

4. Alium Ostara

A newish hybrid this to was bought from Farmer Gracy last autumn. A cross between Atropurpureum and Karataviense. This is a low growing Alium with a good size flower head. An interesting plant that gives something different. I think this one is going to be a success.

5. Sempervivum Magic Morning.

My favourite Sempervivum at the moment. This was looking so weak and sorry for itself during the winter. I know I have written in previous blogs that Sempervivums do shrink and hibernate during cold periods but I was ready ready to give this the last rights. I am pleased to say however that like the ugly duckling it has made a remarkable recovery.

5. Clematis Ooh La La

I have had this plant for a couple of years and it has struggled. Mostly because I moved it a couple of times but now I have think I have found it now. I have put it on a west facing fence and it is entangling itself in a Golden Shower Climbing rose. This year seems to be a good year from Clematises with all of mine doing well. I think I have got room for another couple so a visit to Morrison’s could be in order to see if I can pick up at bargain or two for the princely sum of £1.76.

That’s my six for this week. It’s supposed to be windy this weekend so I will be having a look around to see if plants need sealed and pots moved to a safer position.

If you want to write a SOS blog 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.