Here in the Cotswolds we are still blessed with good weather and after the recent rains we now have warm sunshine which is promoting new growth and repeat flowering.
Most of the perennial wallflowers have finished and been cut back but Apricot Twist just keeps going. Difficult to place and a bit sprawly in habit but delicious nevertheless.
The first of the Kaffir lilies are appearing and will continue right up to December if it stays mild. It’s the strong winds they don’t like and soon become tatty. I have acquired two more varieties this year, the pure white ‘Snow Maiden’ and ‘Pink Princess’ which I am hoping will flower this year.
This shrubby Salvia is one of my favourites and has been going strong for many years in the well drained sunny border. It is cut back hard each spring and responds with 18″ of new growth and months of pale cream petals from pink blushed buds and a dark, sometimes almost black calyx.
No, not mustard and cress, but thousands of white Foxglove seedlings in the ground beneath the mother plant. This has happened all over the garden this year but, sadly, they will have to be reduced considerably leaving just a few to mature. For some odd reason which I cannot fathom, white Foxgloves do better here than pink ones and although some do hybridise, I always have patches of pure white ones.
This purple Honesty was given to me by a friend this year as I wanted to establish some in the wilder parts of the front garden near the road. It was spectacular in flower and is now hopefully seeding itself around to give me lots more in the future.
This Nine Bark is rewarding me with more lovely new red growth despite having been moved twice this year! It went from small pot to big pot to garden but didn’t lose its stride. A good ‘doer’ as they say.
One more for luck. This Dahlia has been an absolute bee magnet since early July and shows no sign of slowing down. Moist rich soil has produced six feet of growth and dead-heading produces non-stop flowering.
That’s all for this week. I hope you enjoyed my Six this Saturday. I will enjoy reading what others are up to.
Good gardening
David
Davids Garden Diary 
I’m enjoying your updates. Here in the Canadian Rockies we are expecting -2 this Monday- it’s +30 today. Gardening here is an adventure!
Hi Isabel. That is an incredible temperature swing! How do you and your plants cope with those kind of changes in just a few days! I guess we are really lucky in the south of the UK, we don’t get extremes. We used to get weeks or months of snow but not anymore. Now it’s just drab and dreary winters with rain and what we call ‘mizzle’ which is the worst thing for plants and it doesn’t kill off the slugs and snails!
The thousands of foxglove seeds are astounding! I’m a fan of erysimums that keep going and going — I’ll remember your variety, although it might not be available here. Looking good!
Thanks for stopping by my blog. Apricot Twist is more orange than apricot so is a bit awkward to place with other flowers but I have it with orange geums and yellow crocosmias.
Honesty is the most giving plant, don’t you think? I have purple and white varieties and then when comes seedhead time, the plant is so elegant!
I totally agree Prue and I just wish it had found its way into my garden by natural means but, although it’s in the hedgerow just a few feet away from my driveway, it has never seeded itself here. However, hopefully I will now have it forever if it decides to stay put!
Wish honesty would grow in my garden, had some last year but has gone now & only seedling has appeared in a pot & very stunted – not going to flower. I have good old Essex clay I might add !
Hi Pat. I have the same problem but on Cotswold clay! However, I keep seeing Honesty in the hedgerows and in very poor soil around and about so I have placed it in the worst soil in my garden so we will see!
I think I may have a packet of seed somewhere will try sprinkling in a bit of barren earth if I can find a bit ha ha !
I always love your six on Saturday, even if it’s sometimes Sunday when I get to see them!
My experiment with a rose stem stuck in a potato is showing the first green shoots. Helen planted a pip from her mother’s apple tree which had been lying around for years, it is on a window sill and a shoot is peaking through. The lemon pip from a shop bought lemon is showing similar success!
Thanks for the inspiration!
Glad to hear your gardening efforts are paying off! I have heard about the rose in a potato trick before, glad to know it worked for you.