Amidst the bewlidering colour and growth in my still-chilyl Scottish garden, it is sometimes easy to overlook the value of white. Until the gloaming arrives (and there’s lots of that just 2 days after the summer solstice), when white really pops out. So to celebrate the peak of astronomical summer, my #SixOnSaturday feature white blooms this week (with the odd hint of colour).

The glorious foxglove will start the show, with dots of brown/purple to welcome in the pollinating bees.

A large garage wall, built from local stone, is the structure that a huge climbing geranium grows up. Just now it is a blur of gentle colour and fragance, and the occasional flurry of pigeons and blackbirds diving into the thick foliage to nest.

Wild daisies pop up all over the garden. These are probably from windblown seeds, as to be found in local field boundaries. About 1m high at times, they provide a bright splash of colour, even though they do tend to flop.

Hardy geranium have exploded this year. I do like this one. it forms a big mound, about 50cm x 50cm, and flowers it’s socks off.

Lovely lupins have been battered by recent storms. Some are still glowing. I’ll chop them down when finished, in the hope that they might bloom again.

For my last bloom this week, the water iris have lasted for many weeks this year. Here’s one against its watery backdrop. I love the gentle curves and the hint of purple along each petal.

I hope you enjoyed my pure midsummer blooms. And thanks to those leaving comments on the blog – sorry if I don’t always get back to you on time! The blog is going well, but it would be great if more folk on Mastodon, or other parts of the Fediverse got into tooting a Six! Go on, its a much kinder form of social media, not controlled by crazy billionaires. 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

12 dec C, mid-June, it has been SO cold. The veggies are suffering, but flowers blast on. This year seems particularly good for roses, perhaps they enjoyed the wet wet wet winter. It’s unusual for me to find six lovely roses in the garden all at once, but I did today, so here they are for #SixOnSaturday.

Many of my roses are very old shrub roses. This is one of them. Plate-sized gorgeous huge pink blooms with a delicious smell.

In contrast, a huge old rambler produces many many flowers, but only for a couple of weeks in June, also smelling fabulous.

I quite fancied a different sort of rose last year, so went for this ‘small climber’, in a dusk orange. It is really enjoying the cool summer so far.

On a very dry, west-facing stone wall, this white rose sits in the teeth of the prevailing weather, but seems to enjoy it.

Another small climber offers a delicate pink and sweet smelling blooms. I think this one is Lady of Shallot. Lots of lovely new buds too.

Last, this one blooms with a rich red, can’t wait to see it fully into flower.

Wow, I didn’t remember I had so many lovely roses until I went to look for them. What a haul. Hope you enjoyed the blooms. And thanks to those leaving comments on the blog – sorry if I don’t always get back to you on time! The blog is going well, but it would be great if more folk on Mastodon, or other parts of the Fediverse got into tooting a Six! Go on, its a much kinder form of social media, not controlled by crazy billionaires. 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

Now that it’s June, my garden is bursting with colour and I’m fighting to keep on top of deadheading those plants who have done their thing. What to show you for #SixOnSaturday? It was hard to choose, so I’ve gone for a vague colour theme…..pinky-purples it is!

First up, the form of alliums can be almost perfect. This one shows off via a sphere of tiny stars, absolutely gorgeous.

Sometimes a slim splash of colour can really make a flower a joy. In the pond, we host a healthy population of Japanese water iris. This one, almost white, with a flick of purple, draws one in. It’s possible to gaze at this for a good while, somehow gently restful.

In a much drier area, 1m tall phlox offer a sweet smell and a cloud of fluffy pale lilac colour.

I am a huge fan of hardy geranium. This is one of my favourites, splashing it’s brightness around. Only in the warest year (probably not this one) can I get this variety to give a second flush of colour, but I will try later.

Another iris really caught my eye this week. I don’t have many of these, yet they pop right out against the green of the garden. A very different feel from the gentle beauty above, this one is bopping at a party.

Last this week, some of my huge poppies have spread to different parts of the garden. This one has showed as a pale pink bloom. Each flower is the size of my hand. Wow.

Did you like my pinky-purple colourful early summer selection for #SixOnSaturday this week? Hope you enjoyed the blooms. And thanks to those leaving comments on the blog – sorry if I don’t always get back to you on time! The blog is going well, but it would be great if more folk on Mastodon, or other parts of the Fediverse got into tooting a Six! Go on, its a much kinder form of social media, not controlled by crazy billionaires. 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

Lots going on at the start of June. I’m showing some favourite blooms today for #SixOnSaturday, many of which are edible.

Red-flowered broad beans give a big beautiful early splash of colour to the veg garden, and hopefully we’ll be dining on their beans by the middle of June.

Rather more diminutive, I have to dive into the border to clear around this lovely little geum so that it can bloom surrounded by garden thugs.

It was a cool and very wet spring, so I suspect strawberries will be a little late this year, but here they come nonetheless.

Chives offer wonderful flowers in early June, these have a delicious sharp and spicey taste, great for sprinkling on top of a salad.

Simple, small, but due to bring fruit much later in the summer, the delicate flowers on blueberry bushes are now fully engaged.

Last but not least, and certainly not edible. I love the blast of orange from this bright euphorbia.

I guess this post counts as the first from my colourful early summer garden for #SixOnSaturday this week, hope you enjoyed the blooms. And thanks to those leaving comments on the blog – sorry if I don’t always get back to you on time! The blog is going well, but it would be great if more folk on Mastodon, or other parts of the Fediverse got into tooting a Six! Go on, its a much kinder form of social media, not controlled by crazy billionaires. 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

New blooms are all around as spring accelerates at the end of May. Here are a few of my favourites for this week’s #SixOnSaturday. I’ll start with a stonking dinner-plate sized flower, filling this corner of the garden as my white clematis blooms.

Much more delicate are the first tiny flowers on a diminutive little hardy geranium, each the size of a 10p piece. Wonderful detail in the darker pink veins on each petal.

A classic May bloom comes from the clematis montana that grace the stone walls of my old house.

Roses grow slowly here. this small flower in the first of the year, on a shrub that will produce a flush of tiny blooms soon (sadly not fragrant).

One of the last trees to blossom, quince is just coming out, and will enjoy the 2 days of endless rain we’ve just experienced (about 2cm per day!). I think this tree like to have damp feet, so here’s hoping for a few more fruit this year.

This year, I tried plonking a few camassia blubs in the very boggy, constantly wet, region next to the pond. They didn’t rot in the mud, they have instead delivered gorgeous flowers. The delicate lilac is set of by the what and yellow of the stamens and pollen. A complex and very beautiful flower.

I hope you enjoyed my colourful spring garden for #SixOnSaturday this week. And thanks to those leaving comments on the blog – sorry if I don’t always get back to you on time! The blog is going well, but it would be great if more folk on Mastodon, or other parts of the Fediverse got into tooting a Six! Go on, its a much kinder form of social media, not controlled by crazy billionaires. 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

POW….the garden explodes. And as always happens in May, the whole garden seems to be filled with aquilegia (I’m not good at weeding them out). It therefore seems fitting to go for an aquilegia special for this week’s #SixOnSaturday. First up, is the basic purple. This must be close to th wild-type as about 70% of the plants have colour like this one.

Some of the flowers that come are doubles. This one, a double pink tone, has a wonderful form.

In stark contrast, perhaps the most surprising is a coupel of plants that offer an almost chocolate brown, with simple spikey flower shapes.

Pale pink appears often, I like the horns on the back of each petal on this one, each ending in a purple point.

A few plants offer the simplest pure white flowers.

This year, there seem to be a wider range of darker pinks too, perhaps I did manage to weed out some of those purples last year.

Just a small sample of the huge numbers of these glorious flowers that bring such a joy to mid spring. I hope you enjoyed my colourful spring garden for #SixOnSaturday this week. And thanks to those leaving comments on the blog – sorry if I don’t always get back to you on time! The blog is going well, but it would be great if more folk on Mastodon, or other parts of the Fediverse got into tooting a Six! Go on, its a much kinder form of social media, not controlled by crazy billionaires. 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

Thank goodness I have a lovely garden to enjoy the peak of springtime. I’m 3 months on from hip surgery and my consultant this week ‘is very happy with progress’. Wish I was, still nowhere near walking straight nor onto my bike. But I am able to hobble round the garden: the slow pace does make for some long detailed looking. This week, I’ve been looking at bright colours and crisp forms for #SixOnSaturday, barely a theme, but I love all these flowers.

A wildflower that I have let spread, looks cool and crisp, and is edible too. Wild garlic flowers are great in a salad.

Another wildflower dots itself around the garden in drifts of yellow and orange. The Welsh poppy. This ones comes with a passenger, my first sighting of an orange-tip butterfly this year. I am impressed by how similar the colour of flower and butterfly are.

A soon-to-be edible is my third choice. Apple blossom is late this year, though as full of promie as ever. No late frosts to get to the harvest, so far!

Its not my fault that my garden hosts Spanish, rather than the native, British bluebells. They are thugs, but hard not to love them.

The second of my huge rhododendrons is in bloom. A crisp white, with clusters of little gold flecks acting as a pollen guide for bees.

Last, I picked up a gorgeous candelabera primula a couple of years ago. It really loves the very boggy area next to the pond. Seems to be growing and spreading. A fabulous colour, set off wonderfully against the blue-grey furry stems and the greens of the soon-to-flower water iris.

I hope you enjoyed my colourful spring garden for #SixOnSaturday this week. And thanks to those leaving comments on the blog – sorry if I don’t always get back to you on time! The blog is going well, but it would be great if more folk on Mastodon, or other parts of the Fediverse got into tooting a Six! Go on, its a much kinder form of social media, not controlled by crazy billionaires. 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

With so much lush growth around the garden, I’d thought of a leafy green special for this week’s #SixOnSaturday. Yet the tulips called out to me. This year, I’ve experimented with both species-type, small delicate, lovely, though I’ve yet to get them into the borders proper as they are rather small. And I thought I’d try a few ‘mixed’ bags of bulbs this year. I’m glad I did, very cheerful for a spring when I’m fairly sedentary in the garden much more than usual. So here, we go. To start, some bright red species tulips that open wide and look almost like a field poppy.

Next, a slightly shocking burst of bright yellow. This is possibly a ‘double’, but surely is more of a treble? It appearsto be absolutely stuffed with petals.

from the same blub bundles, a red version that’s so bright that I have to photograph in the shade to have any chance of picking out the detail. Certainly eye-catching.

One big bag of bulbs contained a mix of striped tulips. I’m never been sure of these, yet in fact they are rather elegant, and seem to last for ages. Here’s a pink and white-tipped version.

And here a red-cream feathery effect is rather facinating. It was for the bees too. Before this flower was fully open I was dran to it by an constant gentle buzzing. A bumble bee had got stuck inside and could neither fly or walk out. A little tip of the flower helped her on her way.

Last, another gorgeous little pot of species tulip. This is ‘persian beauty’, and they really do glow in the sunshine.

I hope you enjoyed my tulip special for #SixOnSaturday this week. And thanks to those leaving comments on the blog – sorry if i don’t always get back to you on time! The blog is going well, but it would be great if more folk on Mastodon, or other parts of the Fediverse got into tooting a Six! Go on, its a much kinder form of social media, not controlled by crazy billionaires. 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

Brghhhh, just back from a chilly trip to the Western Isles of Scotland, and returned to my chilly central Scotland garden to discover there have been frosts and really cold winds here too. Makes me feel a bit better about not planting my tatties yet. Am trying to keep warm by looking for cheering garden colour. Keep warm with me, by viewing my pinky-purply selection for this week’s #SixOnSaturday.

Periwinkle (vinca) are having a great spring, they seem to be impervious to the cold. A pretty flower on a plant that can become a huge thug, even grows through a cobbled path.

Camelia really are at their very best now, enjoying the cold, but not so much the frost. Either way, my huge old shrubs have flowered very well this season.

Previous garden custodians planted a range of azelea, which does very well here. I’m not sure I’d have chosen this shade, though the colours fit very well with the rest in today’s little collection.

Not much to say about primrose, other than it brings a little cheer, for a long while, and spread very nicely around the borders.

A delicate single tulip has appeared in the front border. Wonderful shape and form, but I can’t remember where it’s buddies went…mouse winter fodder? Even on its own, this one is a wonderful sight.

Last, POW…this year the honesty is going bonkers. Each plant is 1m high, this one is also 60cm wide. I wonder what I did right?

Thanks for viewing my pinky-purply picks for #SixOnSaturday this week. And thanks to those leaving comments on the blog – sorry if i don’t always get back to you on time! The blog is going well, but it would be great if more folk on Mastodon, or other parts of the Fediverse got into tooting a Six! Go on, its a much kinder form of social media, not controlled by crazy billionaires. 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

As spring wears on, the cool weather means that the tulips are JUST coming into their own, and hopefully they will last a good while. A couple of light splashes, and tulips, therefore seem fitting for this week’s #SinOnSaturday.

First this week, my favourite Thalia daffodil is a late bloomer, but here’s a huddle of simple pure white blooms.

To get tuplipy, I’ve managed to establish just a few tulips in the garden, mostly red ones. Somehow, they seem to have sneaked away from hungry mice.

For years I stuck to the red tulips that I love, but I’ve been becoming a little more adventurous. This one has a strangely faschinating orange-pink colouration.

This one seems to have found its way into my pot from someone elses collection. Amidst the pale red blooms a red-white striped one has arrived. Rather nice. I do like the slightly ruffled edges to each petal.

I’m not sure I like these, not quite the ‘purple’ I was promised. They may grow on me.

To set this all off, THIS is the week when my Japanese cherry is doing it’s thing. Always, just WOW. A mass of white blooms, and a mass of bees feeding.

Thanks for viewing my picks for #SixOnSaturday this week. And thanks to those leaving comments on the blog – sorry if i don’t always get back to you on time! The blog is going well, but it would be great if more folk on Mastodon, or other parts of the Fediverse got into tooting a Six! Go on, its a much kinder form of social media, not controlled by crazy billionaires. 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