My six this week are the few interesting things left to show you without having to describe how dreary and dead most things have become. It really has been wet!
The very last flower of Tulbaghia violacea enjoying the relative warmth of the greenhouse. Unfortunately, the confined space causes the garlicky onion smell to hit me as I open the door!
Clematis ‘Rouge Cardinal’ struggling to open its last flower of the year. A most impressive performance as it has been going strong since early May.
The bronzed foliage of Trachelospermum jasminoides caused by the cold weather, Evergreen it might be, but it does struggle to hold on to its leaves over winter.
Something about this picture unsettles me. It is probably nothing to worry about but uninvited and unexplained fungi is something I have never been comfortable with!
Signs of new and better life to come. I still get excited about new growth on old friends.
This little forest of self sown Cerinthe major purpurascens is totally hardy despite its glaucus foliage and is perfect for pollinators. Big Bumbles particularly love it.
This is an extraordinary plant. Given by a friend, I thought it would die in my sticky clay but it thrives and hacking it back only invigorates it. Pretty white flowers in May and June, nice!
Have a great weekend
David
Davids Garden Diary 
Thank you for another interesting display!
Nice to know you are still looking at the blog. Are you doing the quiz? A bit of a stretch I know, but it was supposed to be a bit of a learning exercise too!
Hope that fungus isn’t the same as the one I’ve been plagued with for decades – and shall not be named in polite company!
Really enjoyed the quiz and, like many, did better after the cryptic clues….
Thanks Ian. I just don’t like fungi. Ever since I was a kid I have been afraid of eating poisonous toadstools instead of mushrooms! Glad you are enjoying the quiz.
Tulbaghia violacea does have a scent that I find gives me migraines, it is a shame as it is such a beauty. I had the variegated form but decided to leave that in my garden, where it was quite hardy.
Yes, such a ghastly smell from such a beautiful plant! I decided to put mine in a pot and sink it in the ground outside over summer but lift the pot and place in the greenhouse over winter…just in case! I think a lot of advice is several years out of date nowadays as we don’t tend to get the harsh winters of my youth when the ground was frozen for weeks at a time. That is why dahlias survive outside and bulbs flower earlier.
You’re right the Senecio is a fabulous plant. I’ve got a seed tray full of cuttings which are looking really healthy.
Gosh I’m loving that senecio! I like it when plants give us a last flower at the end of the season, just to remind us what they are capable of. 🙂
Tulbaghia self-seed so very generously (blasted weeds!) that we have finally got rid of them from the garden after many years of picking out their seedlings. One thing I always enjoyed about them, apart from their beautiful colour when in flower, was that they gave off that gentle garlic smell in the middle of winter when there was no sign of them at all. It often puzzled people where this garlic smell was coming from. I wonder if this might have been a reason to give them the name “Society Garlic” – one was well gone before the garlic smell was noticed so no blame could attach!
I don’t mind if they seed themselves around (a bit!), I have other wild alliums which I am always pulling up too. Regarding the term Society Garlic, this is the official version: “In South Africa it is used to treat fevers, colds, asthma and tuberculosis. Its common names – ‘society garlic’ and ‘sweet garlic’ – originate from the belief that, in spite of T violacea’s garlic-like flavour, the consumption of this plant is not accompanied by the development of bad breath.”. Not sure I fancy eating it though!