Green Girl Gardener

I haven’t done a Six for a few weeks. Not sure why! I don’t think I’ve been particularly busy, I’ve probably just been faffing and procrastinating and ran out of time! That sounds like me! I’m making the effort today because there is so much to document at this time of year. I’ve been out in the garden today weeding and pruning and generally trying to make it look a bit tidier, but it really is too hot out there to do anything much. I did manage to finally plant out my grown-from-seed cosmos and some erysimums that I salvaged from the sale table a few weeks ago, but I drew the line at planting out the magnolia and the buddleja that are patiently waiting in their pots because it’s too hot to be digging!

I’ll start with a couple of pink offerings. First a hardy geranium. These grow really well in our garden and it really is pretty impossible to kill them! They’re self-seeding all over the place, but I’m letting them because they’re kind of nice, they fill spaces well and, as you see, they’re good for pollinators.

Next is a first. I couldn’t get a decent photo of it, but this is a flower on my leptospurmum. I’ve had this for a good four or five years and I had no idea (or I’d forgotten) that it was supposed to have flowers. It’s never had one before and when I saw this one, I was so surprised that I went to check it hadn’t just fallen on it from another plant, but no, it’s definitely attached!

Moving on to orange now with a close up of a giant begonia. This is in our wheelbarrow planter and it’s supposed to be apricot! I’d be quite concerned if I had an apricot this colour, but I’m quite pleased to have this growing. The plants came from QVC and are supposed to be an apricot mix – so far they’re mostly this colour with one yellow one.

This one, I know is generally considered a weed, but my mum potter it up for me from her garden last year because she likes them, and I have to agree. They add a lovely splash of colour to the front border and they look particularly cheerful in the sunshine.

Speaking of looking lovely in the sunshine, these pansies are positively glowing! I planted up several pots with pansies and violas a few weeks ago, but they haven’t done very well on the whole. This pot is one of the few successes and I can see it from my home office and it cheers my heart all week.

I’ll finish with another success. In fact, it’s a bit too successful and it’s difficult to move along the path past it, but I don’t care because it looks beautiful and is good for the butterflies. It’s such a vibrant purple colour. When I finally plant out the second buddleja that I have waiting, I’ll make sure I put it somewhere with plenty of space!

There’s my Six for this week. I hope everyone’s enjoying the good weather and that some gardening is being done in between sunbathing and ice cream eating! Don’t forget to check out the Propagator for other Sixes.