I opened the blinds early one morning this week and looked down on the garden. ‘Autumn has definitely arrived’, I thought, before remembering that it was only the 5th of August. The garden still has plenty of flowers, but that morning the garden looked defeated as the rain hammered down and the wind howled. I kind of felt a bit like that myself.

The explanation from the experts is that Scotland has either been under, or on the cold side of the jet stream that has stubbornly refused to move out of the way to allow warm air to flow up from the south. I think most of us here have accepted that all hope of a real summer has vanished. My mind is now starting to turn to late winter and spring flowering bulbs and plants. There’s always something else to cheer up home gardeners, isn’t there.

Here is my contribution to this week’s Six on Saturday.

Papaver somniferum ‘Lauren’s Grape’. I anticipated getting some lovely photographs from these poppies, but it was never meant to happen. They’re fabulous poppies and I hope they self-seed everywhere next year. They should have flowered weeks ago, but I guess, like everything else in the garden, they’ve been held back by the weather. By the time I managed to get some photos, most of them had flowered and I was left with the remnants. It was a very windy day, as you can perhaps see in the last photo, but even so, it’s still a magnificent poppy!

Rosa ‘The Lark Ascending’ is flowering well in the pot it was planted into earlier this year, next to the garden bench. Rosa ‘Roald Dahl’ was planted at the same time, but it’s only on the verge of blooming, so no photos yet. Both were bare root roses. ‘The Lark Ascending’, with its lovely open-cup blooms and beautiful fragrance, is a joy to sit beside. Eventually it will need to be moved to a border as it can grow up to 5′, but for now, I am enjoying it in the pot by the bench.

Cosmos ‘Double Dutch White’. Grown from seed, some germinated, some failed, which is a pity because it’s a nice-looking flower. The borders are usually well populated with Cosmos of many colours, sadly, that’s not the case this year.

Helenium ‘Wessergold’. This one is new to the 2024 border and just getting going – but horrors! The other heleniums, ‘Moerheim Beauty’ and ‘Sahin’s Early Flowerer’, are nowhere to be found. I’ll have to dig out my Sherlock hat, this isn’t good at all.

Thalictrum splendide ‘Album’. In the foreground, Thalictrum splendide ‘Album’ looks very delicate, but is surprisingly strong. We’ve had a lot of strong winds this summer and while other plants have been forced to the ground, this lovely airy specimen has remained unbroken and upright. Only just visible in the background is Thalictrum delavayi ‘Hewitt’s Double’. I’ll have to move one of them, the effect is too spotty. That’s another job for autumn.

Clematis ‘Luiza’ and Fuchsia ‘Rose of Castille’. I like the combination – they’re made for each other…in my opinion. 😁 The clematis is a short trailing variety in a large container and the fuchsia is in a much smaller pot. They were placed together way before flowering, but here they are now, happily harmonising with each other. Clematis ‘Luiza’ also featured back in June and it’s still looking good.

Six on Saturday is hosted by Jim of Garden Ruminations. Jim is a very knowledgable plantsman, and on his site you’ll be able to find out more about Six on Saturday and how to join in as well as meet other gardeners from around the world.

I have a young teenage grandson arriving soon for a little holiday. Although he was here last year with his older brother – this year he gets to travel alone while his brother is preparing to go away to college. I’m sure this will be an exciting adventure for him, but for me, I know I’ll be nervous until we collect him at the airport!

For the next two weeks the garden and the blog will have to take a back seat, but I’ll look forward to being back here at the month’s end, perhaps with some early autumn flowers and news that we’re finally bathing in sunshine and warmth! 😎 There’s nothing wrong with dreaming!

Have an enjoyable weekend!

Catherine 😊