Rather than a colour theme, I’m trying a shape for my #SixonSaturday this week: pointy plants. First up, I love a solid-colour lupin, and I particularly love this rich pink one.

And for a cool look in a hot border, white lupins are looking lovely too.

Both the above plants were offspring of this next one. It does seem popular to breed multi-coloured lupins, and this one is fun, but I do actually like too plainer ones better.

I picked up a bag full of persicaria a few years ago. I’m not hugely keen on the foliage, it looks a little wild, but the flowers, ooooo, lovely lollipops.

This next plant is a bit of a cheat, the red hot poker is only JUST colouring up, but I’m already pleased with it.

Last, but very much not least, this is the very first of the foxglove. Gorgeous.

That’s my #SixonSaturday for this week. Stay safe, and don’t forget to follow the crowd on twitter and via the web from links to the originator of #SixonSaturday, the Propagator himself.

My #SixonSaturday this week was so hard to choose, the joy of the June garden. As they are so fleeting I’ve gone for an iris special. The first few of these are found in the pond. First, and best, a stunning white-blue water iris.

These are complemented by a variegated yellow water iris, not as delicate, though the foliage gives plenty of pond interest once the fleeting flowering season is gone.

Also in the pond, we allowed someone to give us a UK-native flag iris some years ago. Although lovely, they do grow and grow and spread and spread.

Now for the drier spots in the garden where iris thrive. I love iris siberica. There’s a deep lovely purple one that looks superb just now.

And on close inspection, I never noticed before that I own another blue variety too, this one with a hint of yellow.

That’s my #SixonSaturday for this week. Stay safe, and don’t forget to follow the crowd on twitter and via the web from links to the originator of #SixonSaturday, the Propagator himself.

I love my garden, but this time my focus is elsewhere. This was the week when I put my post-covid nerves aside and took a long train journey…..all the way to the Chelsea Flower Show. My first time…we had a great time. This week I’m dedicating my #SixonSaturday to highlights from the show.

First, up, this year’s style was very much naturalistic planting, I think the plant that featured most was geum, and here are some really gorgeous examples. I need to get some more for my own garden.

I’m a big fan of alliums, and they did pop up in some of the show gardens, but also featured in several displays in the grand pavilion. WOW, look at these.

With a 6.5 hour train journey home to contend with, I didn’t buy any plants, but bulbs and corms were had, including several from a fabulous stand showing Zantedeschia — previously known to me as calla lily. I’ve gone for the purple-white one on the left, and a bright red that didn’t make it into this shot.

One stand wove clematis across the ground, round boulders, round obelisks, and they were so SO sumptuous. Like this one.

I always keep an eye out for veg. I know it’s a show garden, and thus ‘faked’, but just look at these rows of obedient and tasty veg: the stuff of dreams.

Finally, a long shot of one of the gardens. The pink-purple through to muted orange was very much a favourite theme of the show. What’s not to love about those colours? This was a ‘wild garden’ example, in the grand pavilion itself (it did turn out to be a breezy and rainy day, so the pavilion kept us happy for hours).

I’d love to go again one day, but maybe next year I’ll focus on a show a little closer to Scotland! Tatton Park and Harlow Carr look promising, as does a new flower show that’s being set up at Scoune Castle, near Perth.

That’s my #SixonSaturday for this week, back to my own garden next week, and maybe to veg, which I’ve been working to get planted and watered in nicely before a holiday (yep, GOING AWAY to another country) that’s coming up soon. Stay safe, and don’t forget to follow the crowd on twitter and via the web from links to the originator of #SixonSaturday, the Propagator himself.

Late spring I guess, and we’re well into May. It’s almost time for Chelsea (I’m SO EXCITED, going down to London for my first EVER Chelsea Flower Show next week). So what to choose? Pink has tickled my fancy this week, so that’s what you’ll see here for my #SixonSaturday. My first offering this week is a bit of cheat. Last weekend I visited the wonderful Branklyn Garden, in Perth, full of acid loving pitcher plants and spring bulbs. On the way home, I felt inspired and couldn’t resist a bright pink candelbra primula, now nestled in the boggy-bit, next to the pond. It’s gorgeous, so I hope it likes it there.

Next, something rather different: the coarse leaves of persicaria are not my favourite thing, but the delicate popsicles of flowers are lovely, bobbing about in the big border.

My house is wreathed in very old clematis montana. After years of getting out of hand, I hacked a lot of it back to 1m off the ground this winter (it was over 1m deep in places). I am pleased to see that it has started to come back. The flowers are simple, pretty and fragrant. That’s all I need.

My late spring garden is full of Spanish bluebells. they are thugs, but I love the colour, especially when they also come in pink.

Purple usually dominates the huge numbers of aquilegia that pop up in May. Perhaps I managed to stop them self-seeding, as this year I’m hosting other colours, including a pale pink little bonnet. Such a complex flower.

Last, but very much not least, a rhododendron at it’s very best. This one’s outrageous pinkness dominates the garden and can be seen from the lane into the village. Wow, I never tire of it’s annual display.

That’s my #SixonSaturday for this week. Stay safe, and don’t forget to follow the crowd on twitter and via the web from links to the originator of #SixonSaturday, the Propagator himself.

I love my garden, but with some occasional rain now in the picture, the growth is TOTALLY out of control. Lots to love….so time for me start some colour theming for #SixonSaturday. Given the mid-spring season, it has to be blue/purple, and will start, of course, with bluebells (though apologies that they are Spanish…this is what I found when we moved here..invasive, but still beautiful).

There are some wildflowers that pop up amongst my pots that I love to leave until they threaten to swamp them. Alkanet is one…big, thick, almost spikey leaves host tiny little flowers. There will be a vaseful later this weekend to replace some finished tulips.

One of the first annuals to get going (especially when started in the greenhouse) is cerinthe. For several years I have saved my own seed from this weird and wonderful plant. In a good year, they flower for months.

Also at the very start of their season are a copious number of aquilegia. The purple ones pop up most all round the borders. Annoyingly, a huge windstorm on Friday 13th has blasted many to the ground….perhaps there will be many vases of flowers this weekend.

We have witnessed another dry spring in Fife, after a mild winter. The conditions have proved perfect for rosemary, flowering prolifically, growing by 30cm, I’ve way to much to use in the kitchen.

Last this week, the very first allium heralds the next flowering season. This one is the first, I suspect many more will be showing up in #Six’s this season.

That’s my #SixonSaturday for this week. Stay safe, and don’t forget to follow the crowd on twitter and via the web from links to the originator of #SixonSaturday, the Propagator himself.

We’re into May, I’m trying to use up all of last year’s frozen fruit and veg in the kitchen as the new season approaches. While I do that, I’m noticing the edibles are really gearing up now, ready for this year’s fruiting and vegging season. This week’s theme reflects my excitement, mostly edibles, in whitish colours, for my #SixonSaturday. I’ll start with the exception that breaks the rule. The very LAST of the narcissi, I often wonder where my Pheasant Eye have disappeared to. Then their striking heads pop up in early May. One of my favourites.

It is very much apple blossom time now, especially the early fruiters. I have 8 trees in the garden, mostly very old, fruiting sequentially (a previous garden custodian really new their stuff). This huge tree fruits at the back end of August, with small red apples that are perhaps a bit too sweet for my taste. The tree looks fabulous this week.

As old as the house…probably….at about 210 years, the old pear tree (30cm diameter trunk) has been covered with blossom this year. Most of it has blown away now, to reveal a host of tiny fruit. Here’s a sample of some oldish blossom with new fruits revealed underneath.

A final blossom for this week has just arrived on a large Saskatoon Berry bush. Whenever I have tasted the dark purple-black berries in August they’ve been rather bitter. Perhaps not quite ready? Who knows, by the time I try again, they have usually become bird-food.

Down to the ground now. I started broad beans in pots in the greenhouse back in February. They got planted out in early April, and now are flowering away for an early bean harvest. The flowers have a complex white-with-purple-black-stripes pattern, worth some close inspection.

As a finale, down in the shady undergrowth it is very much wild garlic time. With some trepidation I introduced these to the garden from a local woodland some years ago. They are rather invasive, but they put up a good fight against the pesky ground-elder that continues to spread across the whole garden, and their flowers are gorgeous, so good luck to them (make a sparky, spicy addition to a spring salad too).

Have a lovely weekend and find time to enjoy the flowers and the edibles. There’s so much to do in the garden just now. That’s my #SixonSaturday for this week. Stay safe, and don’t forget to follow the crowd on twitter and via the web from links to the originator of #SixonSaturday, the Propagator himself.

I went a bit mad with tulips this year. Partly due to a delivery failure from a well known bulb company. Two consecutive deliveries didn’t arrive, so they sent replacements, then 2 weeks later I got a couple of mystery deliveries! So for the last day of April (how did we get there so fast?) it’s got to be a tulip special. My favourite is red, so here’s a joyful pot of tulips illustrating why.

I’m not sure I’ve ever planted white, or pink-white tulips in the garden, but occasionally one pops up. This one has a gentle delicacy.

There are a few yellow tulips in the garden, again, they must be left overs from year’s go, because I tend not to choose them (plenty of yellow from the daffs). Some friends came rounds with these last week though. They DO look lovely in a vase and have lasted a whole week already.

Back to the bright colour now. Does anyone know what these twisted petal varieties are called. A pink specimen here illustrates how structurally fascinating tulips can be.

Some more twisted type, this time in red, with interesting variegated red-green leaves. Just a few of these in a pot work well together with their foliage.

To finish off, I’ve gone for a much darker pot of pink blooms for my current favourite. These pink-wine coloured tulips are new this year. I splurged and put a full dozen in one pot. They will be amongst my last to flower, last but certainly not least.

Have a lovely weekend and find time to enjoy the flowers and the edibles. Some of my own veg will be featuring soon. That’s my #SixonSaturday for this week. Stay safe, and don’t forget to follow the crowd on twitter and via the web from links to the originator of #SixonSaturday, the Propagator himself.

After a long weekend away meeting family on England’s Yorkshire Coast, I got home to discover spring had properly sprung with a blast of blossom. As high winds are starting, it had therefore better be time for a #SixonSaturday blossom special.

A biggy to start. I don’t know how many year’s it’s been in place, but at a foot diameter and at least 12m tall, this beautiful magnolia has graced the edge of the veg plot for many years. Looks perfect against a blue sky.

Something much smaller next. Azeleas look a bit green and boring, filling space in the side garden for most of the year. Right now, though, they glow white all evening and are a joy to come home to.

A more diminutive magnolia now, at just 1.5m tall, and very slow growing: the great thing about this stellata is that the flowers last for weeks.

A very old pear tree grows up the south side of the house, quite possibly the same age (200 years+). Some year’s it does little, this year the branches are filled to bursting with blossom, and my neighbour’s bees are busy having their fill of its sweet nectar.

I love the way that the white amelanchiar blossom contrasts with the almost bronze leaves, delightful and delicate.

This week is my favourite week of the whole year, because of this. A Japanese Cherry spreads its wide branches and fills the air with gentle scent and blossom. It’s a week (or sometimes two) that’s always worth waiting for.

Have a lovely weekend and find time to enjoy the flowers and the strong spring growth. That’s my #SixonSaturday for this week. Stay safe, and don’t forget to follow the crowd on twitter and via the web from links to the originator of #SixonSaturday, the Propagator himself.

Some settled weather has settled in for Easter after a cold spell. I’m excited to have had enough choice this week to go for my first colour theme of the year. Here’s a pink one. Happy Easter.

One of the most exciting blooms in the garden this week is the first camellia of the year. This one is from a huge old shrub that sits mostly in the shape. It takes a while to bloom, the flowers last for a while once here.

I suspect this will be the very last outing for the hellebore. They have had a magnificent year, I’m going to miss them.

I’ve even managed pink (or admittedly, more like purple) as some early veg. These pak choi might go into the garden, although pigeons appear to have a taste for them this year.

There have to be tulips for Easter. I don’t often choose pink, seems I did this year. These make a lovely display on the front door step.

Still going strong, magnolia stellata provide a bright, slightly spikey spring interest. The shrub grows so slowly, but year by year we get a few more flowers every spring.

Last, but very much not least, my first rhododendron of the year has just opened. Not a native species, but they lover eastern Scotland, and we love them.

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the bank holiday if you are lucky enough to have one. That’s my #SixonSaturday for this week. Stay safe, 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 the spring week when the warm sunshine turned back to a northerly wind and a wee bit of snow. Spring has decided to slow itself down again, nice in some ways. To celebrate the pace, this week’s #SixonSaturday represents the ‘almost there’ that is everywhere in the garden this week.

First, some lovely tulips. These might be some sort of dwarf variety, the flowers are coming, but these are just a few cm high. I love the bright pink colour.

Things are beginning to hot up in the veg garden, well in the cold frame at least. I have trays of mizuna and pak choi ready to go out into the garden. Question is, will the soil be warm enough for anything to grow away? Will they be eaten by beasties? Time will tell.

Whilst on the edibles, rhubarb is starting. I love the texture of the first leaves, their wrinkles before they stretch into growth. Lots of lovely crumbles in mind….

Now for some spring blossom, a Japanese quince has a host of buds, the bright red flowers are almost in bloom now.

One of my favourite blossoms of the year is on the old pear tree. 40cm across, spreading 4m across the south facing stone wall of the house, I’ve always thought it must be as old as the house (>200 years). Perhaps one of the oldest pear’s in the county. Here she goes…

Last, but not least, I’ll repeat the tulip theme, we really are coming into tulip season. I’m not usually one for pastel shades, but looks at least beauties. Delicate joy.

That’s my #SixonSaturday for this week. Stay safe, and don’t forget to follow the crowd on twitter and via the web from links to the originator of #SixonSaturday, the Propagator himself.