For my Six on Saturday this weekend I’m sharing what’s growing in my flower beds on the allotment. Last year I started a little garden area on the allotment and it’s slowly establishing itself and becoming my tranquil bit of heaven.
1. Allotment garden
The roses are very happy, but this week I spied black spot so I’ll keep an eye on that, carefully picking up any fallen leaves from the soil, a job I find quite a tedious. The Day Lilies are struggling a bit but there is no shelter on the allotment and with a cross wind blowing up from the estuary, everything dries out so quickly.
My dahlias were a bit late going in this year, however they all have buds so not long before this bed becomes very colourful. Sadly not many of my dahlias got through the winter so I bought 6 small ‘Diablo’ dahlias to fill in the gaps.
I hadn’t realised so many flowers in the garden are shades of violet/blue until I started to take photographs for Six on Saturday, so they are my main contribution this week.
2. Verbena Bonariensis
Verbena Bonariensis was inherited from the previous owner. It is quite rampant and it’s hard to get rid of so I make the most of bonariensis for height and color. It doesn’t take up space in the border, making it easy to underplant.
3. Verbena Rigida
I bought this as a tiny plant last year and although I know it doesn’t grow anywhere as tall as it’s cousin bonariensis, it’s not grown as much as I would have liked. The vibrancy of the purple really stands out and I found it hidden under the Day Lilies so I think it needs to be moved in the autumn.
4. Nepeta ‘Walkers Low’
There are only a few flowers on this pretty nepeta, but it has lots of buds so will look like a pretty pale blue cushion very soon. I much prefer Walker’s Low to the large Six Hills Giant, it is not as unruly.
5. Salvia ‘New Dimension Blue’
This salvia is a compact bushy perennial which will flower well into late summer. Salvias are brilliant plants for summer borders. I love the strong smell of sage when you prune them.
6. Veronicastrum ‘Fascination’
Another plant bought last year for the garden bed. I wrote it off after a few months because it did nothing and looked as though it had died. Being someone who never likes to pull anything up until it’s been properly dead for a year, it had a stay of execution, which was clearly a wise thing to do. This is not the best of photos and the plant only has 2 flower stems, but it’s a start and with a bit of luck it will settle in and be bigger and better next year.
Six on Saturday is a weekly meme hosted by The Propagator . Lots of people contribute to it so please hop over to his blog and take a look at what is growing in his garden and other gardens around the country and even abroad.
