Six on Saturday | June is burgeoning forth

A bit late today, but we’ve been away for the week and my goodness, a lot has shot up in our absence. Too tired to investigate the garden when we arrived home shortly after 7pm yesterday, (Note for anyone heading down to West Cornwall, the roadworks are still ongoing on the A30 and a bit of a nightmare) I was eager to have a look around this morning.

The first thing I noticed as I looked out of the upstairs window was that two of my three new oriental poppies ‘**Patty’s Plum**‘ planted as bare roots this spring are in flower. I am delighted that the S&S don’t seem to bother them and I like them so much I may well be adding a few more.

The poppies are in the **Lost Willow Bed** along with hardy geraniums and the white sweet rocket which is still flowering its sock off. **G. Magnificum** has joined **G. Anne Thomson** now.

I was excited to see that the **Nigella damascena (Love in a Mist) ‘Persian Jewels Mix’** has opened whilst I was away. These seeds were scattered in the new raised herb bed last September along with Corncockle simply to fill the bare bed until I get around to choosing new herbs for it. There are pale blue, sky blue, dark blue, pink and white flowers.

White Nigella

Deep blue Nigella

Pale pink Nigella

And even self-seeded **‘Miss Jekyll’** elsewhere in the garden.

A common visitor to the garden is the **Collared Dove**. Usually in pairs though sometimes up to half a dozen will land beneath the bird feeder to hoover up any spillages. Here, nicely framed by the Californian poppies which self-seeded around the large flat rock from last year’s flowers

Last year was the first time that I sowed biennial seeds. I haven’t had an awful lot of luck sowing annuals, but thought I’d give these a go as they do not need to be kept inside. I sowed foxgloves of various colours, wallflowers, sweet rocket (white) and honesty. I sowed mine around this time last year and planted them in the garden around the autumn equinox. I have been very impressed at how well they have done, so much so that I will have another attempt this month with some of the seed I have left.

Apricot

White

Purple

Finally, the **corncockle** is flowering – these seeds were also direct sown into the new raised bed last September. At the moment this bed is a haven for the bees as I mistakenly planted two white foxgloves here instead of the two white sweet rocket that I intended to have in this bed.

The raised herb bed will have to have a good clear out once everything has finished flowering. I will try and sort out new herbs in the autumn as all my thymes have died. I may have to rethink where I plant thyme as this bed is probably too rich for them.

My garden has turned into very much an English Cottage Garden, which was not my intention, but having learned what likes to grow here and more importantly, what thrives here, along with the haphazard self-seeding this is what I have got!

Jim of Garden Ruminations is our host now and as a former nurseryman has a lot more than the SOS happening over on his blog so well worth following. As always, if you want a peek over other people’s garden walls then please pop over to his site where you find links to many more wonderful garden enthusiasts from all over the world. See here for the participant’s guide.

Six on Saturday

80 Comments Add yours

Mthobisi Magagula says:

Jun 13, 2024 at 18:13

Wow. A delightful, breath taking and wonderful blog post Jude. Indeed, a lot has happened in your absence as you said. A week feels like a month even here in the blogosphere is you have been away.

Also, these flowers🌼🌷🌸 are so beautiful and eye catching. The white Nigella flower is stunning my friend🔥👌🌷