Brrr…just as well I didn’t pack away my winter clothes. A drop in temperature of 12 degrees causes dismay at any time of the year, but in early June when most of the tender plants are in the ground it’s an unwelcome shock. I’ve had to don a fleece and a jacket again when I had been enjoying working in a lightweight summer shirt. There’s little doubt that that the change in weather will have slowed down growth but hopefully the plants will be strong enough to hold their own with this chilly, and very windy spell of weather.
Weather aside, the garden’s getting into the mood for summer, with roses beginning to open their buds, and some annuals also showing their pretty faces.
Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Double Click Mix’
I’ve been growing Cosmos from seed for a few years now, but this variety is new to me, and this is the first flower to open from the April sowing. I think it’s rather lovely, and if the others are just as pretty then it will be a definite keeper.
Bacopa cordata ‘Gulliver White’
Why have I never grown Bacopa before? This is such a pretty plant and I’m sure as long as Friday’s high winds haven’t destroyed the flowers, it should cascade further over the pot and put on a pretty good display from now until summer is well over.
The plants have been grown from rooted cuttings that were delivered during early April.
Rosa ‘Princess Anne’
This was the first rose to bloom this year, and over three days, four flowers appeared, all side-by-side on the plant. Gorgeous!
Alas, even the most beautiful roses put on their best display for such a short time, then fade and die. But new buds are standing in the wings, ready to take over, and in a few days, will bloom just as beautifully.
Climbing Rose
Plants that have been in the garden for many years have lost their labels and my memory just won’t cooperate enough to be able to say exactly what they are. This is another of those plants – but it does have a little story.
I wanted a red climber and decided to travel a little further afield than our local garden centre to a nursery that carried a large stock of roses. I found row upon row of climbers and finally came across one that I loved. I was pleased. I walked up and down that double row and finally picked what I thought was a good, healthy, well-shaped plant (they were probably all healthy and well-shaped but I think I just wanted to look as if I knew what I was doing). I made my selection, paid and took my plant home.
The following day I went outside to plant it and discovered to my dismay that the label didn’t match the variety I thought I had chosen, it was a different rose. I had probably picked the only plant in the section that shouldn’t have been there, and I had no time to take it back.
But to shorten all the in-between details, this rose has grown taller than all the plants that have grown around it, completely hiding its base. It grows through two conifers and a fatsia, and for years hasn’t been fed or pruned because there’s no access to it. But it flowers prolifically every year, and I’m kind of glad about the mistake that made it end up where it is today.
Rosa ‘Gertrude Jekyll’
Everyone loves Gertrude Jekyll with her beautiful rosette-shaped bright pink flowers and gorgeous perfume. This is her first year in the border, she has spent the past few years in a pot, but the pot became damaged so it was time to find her a new home. So far, she seems quite happy where she is.
Sea Campion (Silene uniflora)
I’ll finish today with Silene uniflora – a herbaceous perennial that has been in the garden for about four years. It returns reliably every year and adds a lovely white splash to the edge of a border.
Be sure to check out all the other Six on Saturday posts from around the world, where you’ll find plenty of inspiration and garden ideas. I hope the weather where you are will be good this weekend, and that your garden will flourish. Stay safe everyone.
Here are the details:
ABOUT SIX ON SATURDAY
Six on Saturday is like a weekly journal. Take six photographs and post them to Twitter and/or your blog. You can get all the details from The Propagator who kindly set it all up. If you want to join in and see what everyone else is doing in the garden, just follow the link!
All photographs copyright of Catherine Wood unless otherwise stated.
Notes From My Garden 
Nice Six! Lovely rose photos, the red single was a happy mistake. I am fond of that silene too, and also the role of white flowers in the garden. Stay warm and safe 🙂
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I’m becoming quite fond of white in the garden…do I feel white border coming on? Perhaps not – that’s a bit too ambitious for me, I think I should stick to the occasional pot. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. 😊
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I’m noting the Bacopa, it’s beautiful. And also the Silene. They seem very robust! A lovely garden!
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Thank you Prue. The Silene is definitely a good performer, but the Bacopa, lovely though it is, still has to be tested throughout the summer. Enjoy your city weekend.
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How you are ahead of the cosmos! Mine are only 20 cm high and I don’t have flower buds yet. I ‘m looking forward to seeing them…Nice coloured Six as always Cath.
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That’s unusual for any of my plants to be ahead of yours Fred. The seeds were sown on 28th March in a cold greenhouse, do you recall when you sowed yours?
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Edit – it wasn’t March – it was April they were sown, got them mixed with something else. I can check the date tomorrow.
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Some of them are self seeded and I also sowed a few mid April. That’s right.
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Beautiful colours and pictures. The white Sea Campion is a lovely plant. I am in the conservatory while the rain on the roof is almost deafening…..the first heavy downpour for ages.
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We’ve had a lot of rain this week, and high winds – I was out this morning picking up broken rose and shrub stems, but I hope the rain gave your garden a good soaking, without doing any damage.
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That Cosmos is stunning. I’m going to have to make a note of it! Your roses are lovely and the Sea Campion is very pretty indeed. I’m typing this wearing a thick jumper – it feels really chilly, and I’m down in the South West where it’s probably quite balmy compared to where you are!
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I haven’t planted as many Cosmos as I usually do, but hope that I’ll get enough flowers to give a good display. The seeds came from Sarah Raven, and most germinated.
I had cosy clothes on this morning, but by mid-afternoon it was warming up nicely. Officially 17C here this afternoon, though still with blustery winds.
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Oh, I can’t decide which plant I like best! The photos really do them well! I especially like white plants in the garden and I especially like the way Gulliver flops over the pot!
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Bacopa is a very popular plant, apparently. I’m just discovering it. Lol. I guess I’m way behind the general gardening population.
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What a lovely cosmos! I’ll have to look for seeds.
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Thank you. They’re fairly widely available Lisa, and can also be bought as plug plants or seedlings.
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The climbing rose was an excellent choice whatever its name was. It looks very healthy. The bacopa trailing over the edge of the pot makes an elegant display and hopefully will keep going all Summer. Lovely photo of the Cosmos.
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It’s always nice when mistakes work out in our favour. I’m hoping the bacopa will look good until the summer ends.
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What a gorgeous post – so many lovely flowers.
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Thank you – it’s nice to a touch of summer in the plants.
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Beautiful floral photos! Love the Cosmos, I have several types this year, bough as seedlings from a nursery as I don’t have a lot of luck germinating my own seeds. Not sure I have this one, but I am looking forward to them flowering. I had some purple Bacopa last year that didn’t do too well as they were in the same container as Cosmos and scented leaved pelargoniums. I should have had them in their own pot. The white ones do look lovely.
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I germinated mine indoors this year in a small electric propagator, moved them on to the upstairs front bedroom windows for light and warmth, then down to the kitchen, study and patio doors at the back and finally out to the greenhouse, but it was so much hassle! The house was beginning to look like a plant nursery. I think I will buy more seedlings and plug plants next year. 😁
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Magic of Mother Nature,
Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you for your comment. 😊
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Gosh, that Cosmos is just magnificent. Lovely close up shot of it too! I loved your rose story. That is just something I would do (and have done)! Your roses all look beautiful! The Bacopa looks lovely too, especially as it cascades down the pot.
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Just read up on Bacopa…it sounds like a very worthwhile plant to have!
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Time will tell! 😁
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It’s a very pretty flower, I was quite taken with it when it opened. I hope there’s more just like it. Thank you for your comments about the roses. 😊
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Cosmos is a great annual to grow, both for foliage & flower. All the new varieties make it hard to choose which one. Yours is lovely, as is the rose mistake. Stunning, that one is. Looks a bit historic, if that makes any sense, a rose that harkens back to other centuries plus the colour! Wow. May I ask, in the 2nd Jeckyl photo, what is that burnt orange swath in the right back ground? It looks really great.
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All I can remember about the rose is that it had a German-sounding name. The orange in the photo is Geum ‘Scarlet Tempest’. The border takes a right turn at that point and doesn’t get quite as much sun, so there’s a change in the planting and the colours.
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Geums? wow, that’s a lot of blooms. O that mine were so wonderfully plush.
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Two plants, Lora, fairly close together and separated by a terracotta pot. Geums
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