As we almost draw October to a close, it has to be a Halloween theme for my #SixonSaturday this week. After failing to grab shots of scary spider webs, because the pouring rain and wind had ripped them away, I give you pumpkin….well actually a lovely squash…just the one on a plant grown up the outside of the greenhouse wall this year. I think we are are much on the outer edge of squash-growing territory. This one will likely feature in a veg curry pretty soon.

I tried to find something spooky in the garden, this is the best I managed, the creepy tops of echinops seed-heads stalking the border.

With no frosts in evidence yet, calendula are bobbing their cheerful, festively coloured heads in the pouring rain.

Not ghoulish, but soon to be ghosts (it seems to be controversial that they might overwinter in the UK), there’s the odd butterfly pottering about still. Red admiral has appropriate seasonal colour and is enjoying nectar from the still-flowering hebe.

Another splash of October colour from the nasturtium, they look a bit ragged now, but this one seems to have one of those creepy-clown-face grins that suits the theme.

FInally, we’re approaching the end of the eating apple harvest, and this is what’s left…try not to notice the one or two dark decaying specimens…my creepy Halloween finale.

That’s my #SixonSaturday for another week, hope you enjoyed the view. Stay safe, keep yourself and others safe by wearing a mask, and don’t forget to follow the crowd on twitter and via the web from links to the originator of #SixonSaturday, the Propagator himself.

In a week when I’ve had a few days away in the mountains, bathed in the misty chestnut hues of autumn, it was startling to come home to a garden still showing off it’s vibrant colours. Here are some of my best reds this week for #SixonSaturday.

In the greenhouse, a few toms and chillis hold on, with most leaves stripped off the bright sun is achieving some ripening. You can’t get redder than this.

Having dug the last of my potatoes on Friday, one of the veg beds has had its cardboard jacket put on for winter. In the other, there is still much deliciousness, including a favourite patch of rainbow chard, this one’s one of the best.

I’ve grown more and more nasturtiums over the last few years. When the sweetpeas die back, I have these in the same pot and they grow up and over the drying sweetpea stems. This year it looks like they will make it until November. A new mix this year has thrown up some extra-red flowers.

Despite a major sulking period in the middle of a wet spell in August, what appeared to be a poor showing from autumn raspberries turned out to merely be a delay. The fruit are huge, shiny, juicy, and starting to fill my freezer. I can feel some jam-making coming on soon.

There are some plants that sit in the middle of the border looking boring all year, then they do this: smokebush doing its rich smoky purply-red thing.

And last, but by very no means least, I’ll try to keep adding a dahlia into my six until they have all finished….will this be the last week? Has got to be one of my favourite flowers of all this year.

That’s my passionate red #SixonSaturday for another week, hope you enjoyed the view. Stay safe, keep yourself and others safe by wearing a mask, and don’t forget to follow the crowd on twitter and via the web from links to the originator of #SixonSaturday, the Propagator himself.

As we descend into the dark months, I’m taking cheer from the pinky-purple warmth of autumn blooms, and a few summer survivors that are still going. To start, a rather suprising hanger-on, chives having probably their 4th attempt at flowering this year.

Made slightly bedraggled and tatty by the season (a bit like me), I can’t resist showing what is probably the very last flower from the grown-from-seed dahlia. This was the first year I tried growing dahlia from seed. The result has been a bit mixed, but is fun. I’ll do it again.

On the more elegant side, I grow several fuschia, not sure how much I like their fussy form. But flowering well into October, their delicacy and detailed beauty does bring joy.

A second summer champion is osteospermum. In my Fife garden, these are grown in pots so that they can be wintered in the greenhouse. The rich purple is set off well by the rich green leaves that are sometimes evergreen.

Hesperantha flower for just a few weeks at this time of year, when they come into their own, I always wish I’d got more. They seem to spread very slowly indeed.

I will finish this week with a stalwart of the season. I wish it hadn’t changed it’s name, I keep having to look this one up: hylotelephium.

That’s my #SixonSaturday this week. Trying to get into the garden on bright weekend days, there’s lots to do, though the storms have started. Have a good gardening weekend. Stay safe, keep gardening, and don’t forget to follow the crowd on twitter and via the web from links to the originator of #SixonSaturday, the Propagator himself.

This was a week when the weather changed for the cold and breezy, then changed back to Indian summer with a couple of very strange days of warmth, but drizzly rain. Doesn’t make for much joy in the garden, yet the raindrops on the still-resiliant blooms are lovely. So this week’s #SixonSaturday focuses on wet stuff, mostly pastels. To start, echinops are doing their best to stay in bloom, rain drops seem to cling to each little set of petals, seedheads still look very good too.

Foliage can looks gorgeous in the rain, the soft leaves of purple sage almost look shiny. Sages have had a wonderful time in this warm summer, it must be time to dry some soon for my Xmas stuffing.

Many plants that show up in my garden have invited themselves. Mallow is a plant that is around locally in hedgerows, and it popped up near the brick path this year. By now, the leggy stems have been chopped back a couple of times, yet still they flower. Delicate, and pretty.

The gardening blogs and programs suggest that hardy geranium will re-flower after a chop back in July. few do, but this little pink beauty came back this year. I’ve been getting lots of physio to fix my dodgy knees, I can finally get down to see low-growers like this one.

Perhaps the warm autumn has perked up the large hebe shrubs again, several are having another go at flowering. Flowers and glossy leaves do give a very nice display in the rain.

Finally, this is the second Saturday in October, and STILL I have cosmos that are bursting into flower, with many buds following on behind. Keep dead-heading, it seems to really do the trick while the frost stays away. What a joy!

That’s my #SixonSaturday this week. I do hope the sun comes out before the next working week begins. Stay safe, keep gardening, and don’t forget to follow the crowd on twitter and via the web from links to the originator of #SixonSaturday, the Propagator himself.

An active weathery week has heralded proper autumn. Now that October is here, with high winds, driving rain, and day-time temperatures finally down into ‘normal’ figures, I’m shivering away, trying to keep cheerful by enjoying the beginning of the garden’s autumn colour. This week will be an autumn-foliage-filled special for my #SixonSaturday. My first this week is hypericum: leaves are losing their chlorophyll in a fascinating pattern, starting with red blobs symmetrically placed along each leaf. I wonder why?

A large cotinus is well into it’s autumn glory, green tones merge with purple as the winds tousle the broad leaves.

One plant that is barely showing the season yet is gunnera. Sitting by the pond overflow, the plant is statuesque, with leaves about 50cm across and the whole plant a couple of metres high and wide. Still looking lovely and green, I suspect one morning soon the frost will wilt it.

I always forget that alamancia has autumn interest. It is such a good value plant in spring, with delicate white blossom, and comes back into it’s own now, with vibrant, almost orange foliage.

Even garden perennials can do their thing towards autumn brightness. This vibrant red is provided by a couple of peonies: having hidden themselves in broad sight in dark green cloaks all summer, they finish with a colourful flourish. I’ll chop them down eventually, well into winter.

Last of my six this week, it’s hard to stop absorbing the limey brightness from a small old-fashioned mulberry tree. Each year it provides a few little fruit, but now, WOW, what wonderful colour to start a weekend on.

That’s my #sixonsaturday for this week. Hope the weather works out for a gardening weekend. Stay safe, keep gardening, and don’t forget to follow the crowd on twitter and via the web from links to the originator of #SixonSaturday, the Propagator himself.