June! Supposed to be Summer! We are now having wind, rain, thunder storms and cool weather….what we usually get in early May. Yet every week there’s so much to see, more flowers, lush jungly growth. The garden is loving all this rain. This week, to bring cheer against the rain, I bring you pink and red blooms. Here is my #SixOnSaturday for this week.

Starting with pink, always a joy to behold in early summer, this is an example of the HUGE poppies that appear every year. Almost dinner plate sized.

I’ve gone potty with potted dahlia again this year, it is becoming an obsession. I could not resist some bargain patio-dahlias, and they have already delivered. the first to open, these small pink flowers are looking good on the garden bench.

Dianthus are still coming. Here is a different colour from the one I showed a couple of weeks ago. This one has a small pink centre, then wonderful rich red outer petals. joyful, and will make great flowers for the vase.

Pure red, and always on my courtyard summer windowsill, here are the summer geraniums.

A newish plant, still in a pot. This is a type of chrysanthemum I think. Wonderful rich colour, and a lovely contrasting yellow centre. The bees and hoverflies like that too.

To finish……WOW…..the first lily out this year is a rich red one. I’m still battling lily beetle, but there are fewer this year so flowers look better.

Hope you enjoyed my summery six as much as I enjoyed finding them. Do join in with your own 6 things from a garden. Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. I do read them all, keep them coming. And do join in with #SixOnSaturday. All you need to do is find 6 things in your garden to show us. Then post on social, or add a link at Jim’s blog below. For regulars, our organiser is Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/. And I’m on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot

June! Summer! The warm days have gone and we are having something like April showers. But the days grow lighter and lighter and the garden just explodes with growth at this time of year. There’s so much to see, I don’t know where to turn, slowly I just took a slow breath and contemplated the pond. Therefore here is my #SixOnSaturday for this week, some flowers, all from the pond or near it.

This week, iris have begun to bloom, with a good dozen a=or more all at once. this one is the native flag iris. These just spread and spread, seeming to manage in really quite deep water. we do have to pull out many evert autumn — for now, they look lovely.

This next flower found it’s own way to the pond margins. Water avens is it’s wildflower name. they are the native form of geum and grow in ditches and verges around here. This shot shows a deliate little flower and a sparkly spiky seedhead.

Back for one last time, candelabra primula have had the most wonderful season this year, and still show a few flowers at the very top of the flower stalk.

We were given one little spring of monkey flower for the pond many years ago. Some years the pond margin is bursting with them, this year less so, but they have started. Always a bright and cheerful friend to people, and those runway lights for bees.

I don’t think I ever planted forget-me-not in the pond margin. I think this is a variety that favours boggy ground. It provides a gentle blue to contrast with the bright yellows.

Last for this week, the Japanese iris. What a fabulous mix of colour and form. Almost perfect.

I hope you enjoyed my water six this week. A good 19 years ago we dug a big pond, and have loved it ever since. great for birds to bath, small mammals to drink, and wonderful plants to make their home. What’s not to love?

Do join in with your own 6 things from a garden. Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. I do read them all, keep them coming. And do join in with #SixOnSaturday. All you need to do is find 6 things in your garden to show us. Then post on social, or add a link at Jim’s blog below. For regulars, our organiser is Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/. And I’m on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot

All the lushness of late spring is still here, despite the heat bomb over most of Western Eurpoe, it made it just to about 25 degC here last week. I missed it as I was away up in the far northwest corner of Scotland for an anniversary. The day it hit 33 degC in England it was 13 degC in little Scourie. But it did hit 20 degC for one day only, and I got some sunburn from forgetting to cream my les before a bike ride!

Luckily, a friend back at home checked the garden watering, so my veggies survived despite a rabbit attack (bye bye broccoli). To celebrate th weekend that we move from spring into summer, I have some lovely reds-to-purples to show off this week for #SixOnSaturday

At the red end, a small perennial always atches my eye, a red thiste, called cirsium rivulare. Wonderful colour, and it flowers weeks before the native purple ones.

Into the pink with my first rose of the year. It has just appeared, perhaps egged on by the wram spell last week. Fragrant and beautiful.

Pinker still, dianthus have really dried out in a pot in the courtyard, which seems to have triggered them to deliver flowers. One of my new summer faviourites, all over the garden now, and all from a single seed packet a couple of summers ago.

Pushing out towards purply-pink, these wonderful alliums have burst open. I hope they will last a while, they are stunning.

And proper purple is represented by aquilegia, rapant as always at this time of year, and as usual dominated by the basic purple variety, in swathes of rich colour.

My last this week shows off the end of the lilac season. This one is a fully lilac coloured lilac, delicate, but with a rich spicy scent. i must cut some for a vase.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s roam through a colour pallate. There will be more colours coming soon as we head into summer. I hoped you enjoyed sharing my spring #SixOnSaturday. Do join in with your own 6 things from a garden. Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. I do read them all, keep them coming. And do join in with #SixOnSaturday. All you need to do is find 6 things in your garden to show us. Then post on social, or add a link at Jim’s blog below. For regulars, our organiser is Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/. And I’m on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot

All the lushness of late spring is here, and we’re due to finally have some warm weather this weekend yeh!!!!. Here are some of the amazing shapes made by plants in my garden for #SixOnSaturday

Green lushness of a perfect host (not yet attacked by slugs or snails, thank you to garden thrushes). What a wonderful plant to walk by, this once loves living on the edge of the pond.

A very odd plant, but one with so much interest in leaves and stem, is euphorbia. The colours and complexities here, when one looks close, is fabulous.

Back to some leafiness: ferns have been slow to develop in this year’s cold spring, but slowly they unfurl. This is my favourite time to view them.

The bluebells are doing their final mass show of the year before they seed everywhere and I race to dispose of the seeds before they take over completely. They do have such wonderful colour in the evening.

Also a wonderful woodland plant, cow parsley featured on Gardener’s World a week or too back, now it’s popping up of its own accord as spring progresses in eastern Scotland.

And last, always coming into full flower at the end of May, and this time showing off in the evening light, next to the westerly view (with just a peak at the ripe rapeseed field beyond. WOW, my most spectacular rhododendron.

A wonderful mix of satisfying colour and form this week, hope you enjoyed it. I love May, and I hope I have managed to spread some of the love through my photos this week. I hoped you enjoyed sharing my spring #SixOnSaturday. Do join in with your own 6 things from a garden. Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. I do read them all, keep them coming. And do join in with #SixOnSaturday. All you need to do is find 6 things in your garden to show us. Then post on social, or add a link at Jim’s blog below. For regulars, our organiser is Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/. And I’m on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot

This week, I’m not around. I’ve left my partner in charge of the garden. but I did remember to look at some lovely blooms before I left. Here they are for #SixOnSaturday This time pinks to purples again, it’s a colour theme I love.

The very palest pink comes first. My edible quince tree flowers really well each year. Usually almost all the blossoms drop off and I get very few fruit. Maybe the bed is a bit too dry?

Clematis montana is next. last week, the white ones were out. This week the pink blooming plants have enjoyed the sunshine and burst forth.

Now, aquilegia seems early this year, and the pink ones have come out first. This one has a good large solid flower, with lots of intricate form.

Now more pink than purple, close to end of it’s season, pulmonary has been really magnificent this year, blooming through the direct of our endless wet winter, and still having a go now.

My favourite plant of the moment, in the pond edge, right in the mud, are wonderful candelabra primula. I planted one plant a few years ago: look at them now.

Last for this week, rolling right round into purple. These hardy cornflower pop up all over the garden, they will flower for months and months if I remember to cut them back!

Ahhhh, look at all that wonderful colour. I love May, and I hope I have managed to spread some of the love through my photos this week. I hoped you enjoyed sharing my spring #SixOnSaturday. Do join in with your own 6 things from a garden. Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. I do read them all, keep them coming. And do join in with #SixOnSaturday. All you need to do is find 6 things in your garden to show us. Then post on social, or add a link at Jim’s blog below. For regulars, our organiser is Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/. And I’m on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot

Spring continues, May rushes on, I’ve never understood how these longer days seem to go faster. For #SixOnSaturday this week I present my first colour theme of the year, from whites to very pale pink.

On the old walls of the house, I grow an almost white clematis Montana, this has just come into bloom.

Suddenly white edibles are in flower. The first are strawberries. Last year the flowers were few and the harvest poor. It’s looking a lot more promising this year.

As the first pink rhododendron from a couple of weeks ago fades, the white one takes its place. This is often buzzing with insect life, but the early morning photo didn’t reveal much wildlife.

In a very sheltered warm corner of the garden, with high stone walls to the north and east, and wonderful clematis with huge white flowers is blooming away. I’ll have to cut it back after flowering as it tends to strangle the plum tree it grows next to.

Broad beans were encouraged to an early start in the greenhouse, went out about 3 weeks ago: now the first flowers have come. This is one of my usual varieties, with flowers shaded from white through pink to black, later I’m trying one that apparently has all-black flowers, we shall see how that looks in a few weeks time.

Last, here’s one of the very last tulips in bloom. this one hides behind a big shrub, so mostly shaded. It has kept its pointy-petalled form for a few weeks now. What a delightful combination of form and colour.

I hoped you enjoyed sharing my spring #SixOnSaturday. Do join in with your own 6 things from a garden. Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. I do read them all, keep them coming. And do join in with #SixOnSaturday. All you need to do is find 6 things in your garden to show us. Then post on social, or add a link at Jim’s blog below. For regulars, our organiser is Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/. And I’m on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot

Spring continues, it seems such a gallop into May, everything is growing, including the weeds. I have lots of little plants to pull out of the greenhouse and into the veg beds, what a whirl of activity. Its starting to get hard to choose now, but here are some lovely colours and some edibles for the new month. Here is #SixOnSaturday.

It is wild garlic time around here. This year I’m trying a new recipe to ferment wild garlic as a spicy healthy condiment. 2 kg went into a pair of 600 ml pots with 2% salt….and we shall see how it does after a week or two. Here is some of it before it got harvested.

Some lovely wild violet have popped up in the lawn this year, many more than usual, making a wonderful purple carpet amidst our untidy moss-n-grass lawn.

A white favourite of mine to end the narcissus season. I have tried pheasant eye all over the garden, but it comes back year after year in just one shady spot, soon to be covered by hosts leaves. Dry shade must be it’s favourite summer habitat.

Some of my blueberry bushes look a little tired, but others are now bursting with tiny perfect flowers, giving us lots of promise for July and August.

We are a good few weeks behind most of the Uk for this one……bluebells have just started to flower. Sadly, my garden does not host the native type. Instead I have a garden full of Spanish bluebells. Not so delicate but bursting with wonderful blue colour that we rarely see at other times of year.

And finally, here we go with the apple orchard. It’s apple blossom time. I always love this time of year.

I hoped you enjoyed sharing my spring #SixOnSaturday. Do join in with your own 6 things from a garden. Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. I do read them all, keep them coming. And do join in with #SixOnSaturday. All you need to do is find 6 things in your garden to show us. Then post on social, or add a link at Jim’s blog below. For regulars, our organiser is Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/. And I’m on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot

Spring continues with the last weekend in April really hotting up. It’s been 17 DegC outside on Friday and will be sunny all weekend. This is a short look at some lovely colours as we’re busy with friends this weekend. So here is #SixOnSaturday.

Late springs see azalea flowering. I love the simplicity of a white bloom.

In a boggier area, hosts and beginning to come into leaf, looking fresh green and pristine at this early stage.

The tulips have lasted well this year, though I suspect a warm spell this weekend will see them bow out for the year.

Hopefully, there won’t be too many more frosts — if not the gunners will continue to grow and grow. it has just started it’s comeback for the year.

The last of the doffs are hanging on, but are now going a little curly at the edges. It has been a great season for them.

Last this week, the bridal veil is in its gentle fluffy flowering, a delicate and beautiful sweep of tiny flowers.

I hoped you enjoyed sharing my spring #SixOnSaturday. Do join in with your own 6 things from a garden. Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. I do read them all, keep them coming. And do join in with #SixOnSaturday. All you need to do is find 6 things in your garden to show us. Then post on social, or add a link at Jim’s blog below. For regulars, our organiser is Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/. And I’m on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot

Spring continues with April being the most colourful month in my Scottish garden. Here is a riot of colour for the week’s #SixOnSaturday.

My favourite blossom of the slightly later season must be amelanchier. Not as full blown as the cherries, but set against a lovely red-brown set of stems. It wafts in the gentlest of breezes, yet holds it blossom for a good long time.

After years of trying to get tulips to naturalise in the garden, they are finally doing it. We’ve had a few warm wet winter lately, maybe that’s what they need. I love this bold rich red against the fresh growth coming on the border perennials.

At the pond’s edge, spring marches on, with marsh marigold enjoying its couple of weeks in the sunshine.

Another almost-as-favourite blossom is pear, this is a very old tree trained up against the 200 year old house wall. I’ve always wondered if the tree is as old as the house. I suspect it is.

Everyone has been marvelling at the huge and numerous blooms on camellia this year. Including nearby, such as my neighbours garden. Yet just a few yards down the hill, my camellias just have not been up to much this year. Each bloom is rather lonely, set in a flush of green leaves. they are so beautiful despite (or because of) their scarcity.

To finish this week, my garden must have been well designed 100 years or so ago. I host a succession of different rhododendrons, that flower in succession, giving us huge splashes of colours for weeks on end. this one is the first. Wow!

I hope you have enjoyed the wild and crazy form and colour that the Scottish spring brings. That’s all for this week’s #SixOnSaturday. Do join in with you won 6 things from a garden. Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. I do read them all, keep them coming. And do join in with #SixOnSaturday. All you need to do is find 6 things in your garden to show us. Then post on social, or add a link at Jim’s blog below. For regulars, our organiser is Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/. And I’m on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot

Quite some weather this week. We started with Storm Dave, which was very wet, very windy, but didn’t do too much damage. Then a few more frost nights, then a very disappointing 12 degC in what promised to be a mini-heatwave (apparently it was 25 degC in parts of England). But I guess that IS why the Scottish spring is so beautiful, it is long, cool and slow. The blossoms unfold one after another, the spring bulbs fight the wind. Here’s some of that flavour for this week’s #SixOnSaturday

WOW….my all time favourite flower of the year. I wish you could hear the bees buzzing round the blossoms on my wonderful Japanese cherry. Magnificent!

Despite the wind and rain, daffodils of various varieties are bobbing along in the sunshine, and giving me plenty of pickings for vases in the house.

One of my favourite narcissi is Thalia, there is something so pure and beautiful about the pure white flowers with slim, yet sturdy, trumpets.

I don’t know the name of this multi-headed little gem, but it has really wonderful scent.

This year I planted mixtures of different tulips in pots. I must say I’m very pleased with this yellow and red mix, with different structures. When the sun comes out, so to the flowers for a blast of spring warmth.

And last this week, by 2nd-best-ever plant in the garden is also in full bloom. A huge magnolia near my legs beds. An ancient form of tree I believe, yet a wonderful icon of the season.

That was my joy-of-spring best this week. I loved collecting the images and taking a slow stroll round the cool garden. Hope you liked my selection. Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. I do read them all, keep them coming. And do join in with #SixOnSaturday. All you need to do is find 6 things in your garden to show us. Then post on social, or add a link at Jim’s blog below. For regulars, our organiser is Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/. And I’m on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot