Hello and welcome to this weeks Six on Saturday.

This week the weather has been pretty boring but in a good way I suppose. Dry, mostly dull with average temperature. It has also been noticeable that the nights are drawing in fast. Of course Thursday was the start of Meteorological Autumn. The main garden seems to have a bit of hiatus at the moment and I may need to think about getting more late flowering plants. This week I have increased the no of days I work from 2 to 3 so gardening opportunities have been limited but as I am working from home now it has been nice that I can spend lunch time in the garden.

I have been buying alot of succulents since I have started gardening again. I think it is because I curtailed my spending when I was ill that I have went on a bit of a spending spree. I am however going to have to put a stop to it soon as I am running out of space for where to put them for the winter and I don’t want to have a repeat of last year when I lost many plants partly because I was under the weather and partly because I stupidly decided to run an experiment to find what semi hardy succulents could handle a Northumberland winter. Turns out not many!

Here is my six.

1. Graptoveria X Metallica

At this time of the year most Echeverias change colour to much more intensve and striking colours. Their pallettes change to autumnal tones and look their best. This is because the plants are “stressed” due to the long periods of sun, warm temperatures and lack of rain. Their colours will change over winter to much more subtle ones over winter. This is 1 of the succulents that caught my eye this week not only because of the metalic sheen but also because of it”s symmetrical shape.

2. Potting Bench

This is where the magic happens. My potting bench. Ok tidy it up once a week but it soon descends into chaos as you can see. I guess this is artists pallet, my writers desk or my potter’s wheel. This is where the magic happens. This is where I put my cup of tea down and inevitability where a bit of soil or grit ends up in it. This is my go to place where I want to chill and put the world to right. The Ivy does make a good background but it also acts as a mollusc hotel so I can’t leave any plants on here overnight and have to put these onto a shelf directly behind me on the side of the shed which is a much more sterile area.

3. Sempervivum Planter

My main garden project this week has been gathering some of my Sempervivums together and making planters. It was something I always wanted to do and it was sparked into life when I found some terracotta bulb pots in my garden centre for £4.99. I was going to explain to the staff that these labelled these wrong as they should have been called Sempervivum bowls but I bit my tongue and fave them a wry smile. I have made up 4 of these planters this week and I am pleased with the results. Hopefully I have put enough grit in the compost but I suppose there is only one way to find out. I will put a stone or brick under one side and tilt them in the winter so excess water has a better chance of draining off the rosettes. Sempervivums supply freezing temperatures but don’t like getting to wet. There are 7 different semps in this bowl and these are Lavender and Old Lace, Limelight, Pacific Sexy, Bronze Pastel, Gargamel, Rosie and a Calcareum

4. Mystery plant.

I planted this plant in a concrete planter and for the life of me I can’t remember what it is. For the last couple of years I thought it was a Saxifrage but now I think it is a Sempervivum. The Rosettes are small and I have to admit Semp like. I will post it on a Sempervivum forum to see if I can get an ID. The reason I thought it was a Saxifrage is I can remember planting it along with 4 silver Saxifrage.

5. New Echeverias

As I mentioned in my introduction I have been buying alot of Echeverias. This is a tray of 15 and some are a little to pale for my liking. So these are going to be placed at the top of a South facing mini greenhouse I have at my front door. I will be able to keep an eye on them here and they should get enough sun during winter. Now I know we obviously that we get far less sun in the winter but you should think of succulents like solar panels they will receive enough sun when cloudy.

6. Sempervivum Golden Nugget

I have mentioned Chick Charms before on my blog. An American owned brand which has taken some of the most colourful existing Sempervivum hybrids and renamed them with names that relate to food or sweets. This however is one of shouldn’t get it wet..

That’s my six for this week.  It looks like The weather this weekend is going to be as they say changeable in the extreme so gardening opportunities might be

Until next week goodbye.