Six on Saturday
Friday 1st September was notable for two big reasons. First, it was littlest grandson’s 5th birthday and he’s settled in well at school. We all knew he would. Second, if you observe the Meteorological calendar, it was the first day of Autumn.
So what do you like most about autumn? For me it’s the changing colour of the leaves on the trees, cool days where I get to wear a cosy scarf and gloves and not feel silly the way I did during a couple of days in July! I hope for a dry crisp autumn where fallen leaves crunch underfoot in the park and the sparkle of morning frost. Simple things to make me happy.
Our temperatures are apparently going to be 19C to 23C this coming week, better than many days we had in summer. My garden’s parched as we haven’t had rain for what seems like ages and there’s little rain showing on the weather forecast. I’ll have to get the hose out. In September?
Tottering-By-Gently is a simple, single rose that looks stunning in summer when it blooms profusely, but it is also unobtrusive; it doesn’t compete with other roses. Now, entering autumn, it has fewer flowers but still makes me stop and ponder awhile.
Rosa ‘Darcey Bussell’ seems to be doing well since I moved her from her home at the edge of the path (to allow for the path to be widened) and is still producing lovely deep red blooms.
Cosmos ‘Double Click MIx’. My cosmos are hanging on by a thread. I’ve been reasonably diligent in deadheading them to encourage them to flower into autumn, but they’re looking a bit tired now. However, there’s still a few intact and pretty flowers and this one has attracted a pollinator that hung around just long enough for me to get a photo.
Hydrangea ‘Limelight’ was lifted from its position in the garden as it needed a spot with more sunlight. I thought I might have killed it off (I’m skilled at that), but it has flowered well, though with fewer (but larger) blooms. It’s turned now from its lime green to a creamy colour and starting to show a tinge of pink on the flower heads.
Hellebore. Surprise, surprise. I spotted this hellebore a few weeks ago, but I’ve just got around to photographing it. The flower itself is fading though you can see more buds behind it. I hope it will remember that it’s meant to flower during the winter months, and not exhaust itself before then when the garden really, really needs it!
Japanese Anemone. I don’t recall the variety but it’s now growing under the branches of my wisteria tree, probably spreading itself about. The blurry white splodges behind it belong to Anemone × hybrida ‘Honorine Jobert’ and if I can find a way into this border that clearly needs to be trimmed back, then I’ll try to get some photos as it’s a pretty variety that I’m sure most gardeners know well.
That’s all from me for today – do have a lovely weekend and enjoy your gardens. 😊
Jim at Garden Ruminations is our host for Six on Staurday and if you pop over to his blog you can enjoy blog post from far and wide.
Notes From My Garden 
Blimey, a very confused hellebore! Lovely photos, as always, each and every bloom is relished now. Have a great week.
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Thanks, Gill, it really is an odd time to flower isn’t it, but maybe not unheard of. I’ll have to try Google for an answer! Hope you have a lovely week too.
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It will be 19° to 23° next week for you when here it will be 26° to 30°… It’s summer in September!
Is this a false idea : the flowers of Hydrangea ‘Limelight’ are rather rounded but I remembered that it is a variety giving massive and rather conical flowers? Am I wrong?
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It definitely is H. ‘Limelight’, Fred. The second photo has the camera pointing downwards to the flower, and it has compressed the perspective. The photo above shows the flowers are slightly conical and I think/hope as the weeks go on that will become more pronounced.
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PS – Enjoy your autumn-summer weather! It’s unexpected here, but welcome. Meantime I’m heading out to do a bit of deadheading and the hose will have to come out later in the day!
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Oh! I understand now … 😂
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Seeing your beautiful photos sparks various thoughts: why don’t I have any roses, as the 2 you have featured are stunning? Next year I must grow some cosmos! And where on earth is the Japanese anemone I planted last year? There is no sign of it.
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Oh, you must treat yourself to a rose or two or…more. Cosmos too, would be a good idea, but then we all have to restrict ourselves as the borders start to get overfilled! Like you, I have a vanished anemone plant. Japanese Anemone ‘Frilly Knickers’ was planted earlier this year and there’s no sign of it. It has just failed to grow and vanished into the soil.
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Lovely photos once again, I had a Hellebore flower a few weeks ago too! How odd they are. Remind we where we are with getting you to guest on my Enchanting Gardening series.
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Did we agree on anything Rosie, I can’t remember! Feel free to message me with my email, you should be able to pick it up from your blog. 😊
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We agreed to chat after your Grandsons had visited. I can’t see any email details, when I click on your name or photo I just circle back to your blog.
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If you go to your dashboard and click on comments, you’ll find the addresses of those who’ve commented on your blog. But I have yours, Rosie, so I’ll email you. I’ll be out tomorrow but will be in touch shortly after that. 😊
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Oh I’m glad that works for you, I can still only see wordpress addresses in comments and not actual emails. You must get something different to me. I shall look forward to hearing from you.
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Tottering-By-Gently is another plant with a daft name, but what a lovely flower. Your roses are delightful, I think I will give my two to my daughter as they really don’t do well here, always getting blackspot and looking very unsightly. That hellebore is very confused. I shall have to go and check on mine, some of the white ones flowered so late this year they were still in bloom in summer.
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Tottering is a David Austin rose, and apparently, it was ‘named to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Annie Tempest’s classic weekly cartoon’. That probably explains the slightly eccentric name (which I rather like, but when I mention it in the garden, to my family, I do get some very strange looks!).
Blackspot on the roses drives me to distraction! I’m about to dig up another one and bin it like several others. I give the affected ones a few years but they just get worse.
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Tottering-By-Gently is such an elegant rose and the name is rather lovely too. I’m sure I purchased a very similar pink Japanese anemone a few years ago (‘Bowles’s Pink’ I think) and it’s vanished.
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Oh, another vanishing anemone! Helen (above) has lost one too – and I planted one earlier in the year that’s disappeared. They’re slug, snail & rabbit resistant so what else would wipe them out?
You’ll have to don your Deerstalker and solve this mystery. 🤔
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Tottering-By-Gently is a rose I have considered for my garden, it looks great! ❤ Love your Japanese anemone.
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Thank you, Sarah. It’s now growing into a more substantial plant than I’ve allowed space for. It might need to be moved in a year or so.
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Roses are doing well for you and so are your japanese anemones, mine have just sat there for years and not done much at all! I now realise that I must grow some cosmos next year!
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The roses like our heavy clay soil in sun (when we get it) and the anemones seem to do well in the same soil with a good amount of shade. Perhaps yours will just take off next season and surprise you, Pauline. Cosmos is a pretty annual.
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Oh hydrangea ‘Limelight’ looks lovely with the hardy geranium Catherine. Is it ‘Ann Folkard’? I think that my favourite things about autumn are the light, the smell and harvesting fruit. Hoping for a touch more summer first though 😂
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It’s geranium ‘Anne Thomson’ which is very similar to ‘Ann Folkard’ only less vigorous.
Autumn does have its own distinctive smell, doesn’t it. And you’re right about the light. I love those still, misty mornings that have a silence all of their own.
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Beautiful blooms, as always! Happy birthday and all the best for the school year for the grandson. We’ve had highs around 33C-34C for the past few days, and 21 days without rain…very unusual for this part of the Upper Midwest U.S. in late summer/early autumn. Here’s hoping both of us will get some rain soon. 🙂
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Thank you, Beth. The weather definitely has been weird this year. Some say we should worry, some say it’s nothing to worry about. But no one is saying that there’s not a change afoot. Hope you’ve had some rain in the past few days.
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I don’t think I’ve seen any single yellow roses before, but yours is just lovely and I’m going to have to keep an eye out for it. We only have the usual pinks and whites, but there’s something so refreshing about yellow roses. The very eager hellebore is probably no more confused than a lot of the rhododendrons out here going into second flower. Something about the weird weather this summer!
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I don’t think there are too many single yellows, Angela. But I’m happy with this one.
Our plants are really confused with the odd changes of weather through this year. I hope it doesn’t affect your rhododendrons when it comes to the ‘real time’ for them to bloom.
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