Green Girl Gardener

Saturday again! I think! Our local Chinese takeaway has reopened, oh joy of joys, so I have more of a reason to remember when it’s Saturday now! You wouldn’t believe how good it tasted after more than two months of it being closed!

I was back at work for three days this week, but I clocked off for another three weeks yesterday. This furlough business has its pros and cons. Less pay is obviously not what anyone aims for and the uncertainty is very unsettling, however, ever the optimist (most of the time, anyway,) it also means lots more time for gardening and crocheting so I guess all I can do is make the most of it and hope for the best. Who would’ve predicted these circumstances? Just crazy!

Anyway, on to my Six for this week. I’m starting with Hosta which appears to be doing remarkably well. I’m almost one hundred percent convinced that it’ll succumb to the slimy things before long, so I thought I’d document it now! I’d actually forgotten I’d even got any Hostas. I got it from a sale table last year (or maybe even the year before) and it disappeared almost as soon as I’d planted it out so it was a lovely surprise to spot those lovely stripy leaves earlier this week.

Speaking of garden nasties brings me to my next point. Actually, I don’t know if these are nasties or not, but they don’t look very pleasant to me! Millions of baby spiders have hatched on the door handle (the outside) to my greenhouse. Should I be worried? In my head I’m going to wake up to John Goodman in a boiler suit in my garden (the film Arachnophobia for those of you who weren’t so traumatised by it to have had it burnt into your memory for ever more!) Should I move them? I suppose they’re actually quite pretty, as arachnids go. Not sure I’ve seen a yellow spider before. Maybe they mature to brown?

Moving on to a far more pleasing garden fellow. The bees seem to be huge this year. I’m sure Olive, one of our cats, made friends with one through the window yesterday, perhaps mistaking it for a fellow feline given its size!

This one wasn’t so big, but it did very compliantly sit on my Geum to have its photo taken earlier this week. I love this Geum. The flowers sit upright and wave around in the breeze and the colour really pops. It’s so bright you can see it from most places in the garden. Maybe you can see it from space? No ok, maybe that’s going a bit far!

I shared my new Camellia in last week’s Six but I felt compelled to share again this week because it has the most beautiful flower.

I don’t know if this has a specific name other than Camellia, but honestly, don’t you think it should be called Wedding Day? It’s so perfectly delicate and pure. I didn’t expect to see any flowers until next year given that our other Camellia has already dropped most of its blooms. Another lovely surprise. I can’t wait for it to get big and have dozens of these flowers. Perfection in plant form!

I’m hoping someone can confirm what my next shrub is. I’m pretty sure I didn’t plant it, although that’s always a possibility and I’ve forgotten it in the multitude of sale finds, but no, I’m sure it was in our garden when we moved in. This is the first year it’s flowered, or the first time I’ve noticed anyway, and surely I would have noticed a shock of bright pink petals before. Is it an Azalea?

I’m being a bit cheeky and including two for one in my last photo, except I can’t remember what the beautiful photo bomber is called and I can’t be bothered to search through my labels. I think it begins with S! It was one of my rare full price plants because it made me gasp it was so pretty. It had to come home with me. I should do it the courtesy of remembering its name really!

Anyway, the reason I actually took the photo was to showcase the Osteospurmum, not the beautiful mini me behind it. It’s been in bud for a good week or more, and today I looked out of the window and they’d all opened. Such a beautiful display.

Wow, that’s all Six! That was quick! If it was too brief and you’d like to see more Sixes, check out the Propagator for more.