Six on Saturday – 29/7/2023

Categories six on saturday65 Comments on Six on Saturday – 29/7/2023

Nearly another month down and with plenty of moisture the garden is slipping into its overblown stage where the paths become impassable and it doesn’t seem sensible to try and keep any of it especially neat. Suits me fine. Not having to spend two or three hours a day watering has also added to my available time and that suits me fine too.

Six things happening in your garden on a saturday, specifically this saturday; that’s the brief. A picture or two, add explanation as seems appropriate, post it up somewhere and put a link down below. More details here.

One.
A bit back I was given a leaf of Begonia masoniana ‘Jungle’. I shortened the petiole, snipped through the main veins and lay it on the clay granules in my propagator. It sprouted plantlets here and there and I have now potted several up in individual pots. Then I cut up the leaf and put it back in the propagator. Do I need loads more? Of course not but what has need got to do with it.

Two.
Agapanthus ‘Silver Moon’. Variegation can get some people quite exercised but I think that it sometimes works very well and adds to an otherwise dull plant. Agapanthus are not dull when in flower but they’re not in flower for very long and I’d seen a variegated Aggy at Rosemoor a couple of times and liked the look. So I took the plunge and bought this one from Avon Bulbs. It didn’t flower last year in its first season but has bulked up and produced three stems this year, growing in a pot.

Three.
The last time I put Rhodochiton atrosanguineus was in November last year, when they were still looking pretty good having flowered all summer. This year they are well past the mid point of the obelisk and have three months to eclipse last year’s performance. They are not good at clinging to the steel, I need to tie them in more regularly and a few strings, which they will climb, would make life easier. As soon as it ripens seed I will sow some and get next year’s crop under way.

Four.
Roscoea beesiana ‘Monique’‘s last appearance in a six was two years and two days back. It’s interesting that many plants flower at almost exactly the same time regardless of the season, though it takes a record such as these SoS posts have become, to recognize it. My comment then was that it was the first of my Roscoeas to flower, which is also true this year.

Five.
Another Begonia, this time B. ‘Firecracker’. When I potted this plant into its current pot, I will have shoved the label down the inside of the pot so I didn’t lose it. Now I can’t get anywhere near it without damaging the plant so in truth I’m not 100% confident that this is ‘Firecracker’. I expect it to die right down in the winter so I’ll have another look then. It’s made pretty impressive growth this year, from a plug I received from Dibleys less than a year ago. I very much look forward to seeing what it does in subsequent years. Vine weevil nematodes will be a must I think.

Six.
It is now getting dark on a Friday evening, so too late to take more pictures. The contenders for slot six are a Canna, a Hydrangea, Stachys and three more Begonias. First flower on B. omeiensis, huge leaves on B. ‘Torsa’, and B. sutherlandii. Let’s go with the last one.
Begonia sutherlandii appears to be fully hardy in my garden. None of the ten or so plants that were left in the ground over the winter has failed to reappear. It’s another species that produces bulbils in vast quantities in autumn, so if I need insurance I can keep some of them in a frost free place. Most are growing in full or near full shade, in dry conditions, places where much else would struggle. I watered them a bit in June.

Time to go weevil hunting. I’m still getting around 30 most nights. Have a good week.

Published by Jim Stephens

Gardener, no-dig allotmenteer, camellia enthusiast. I love colour, it cheers me up. Retired nurseryman.

65 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 29/7/2023”

  1. Pingback: Six on Saturday: August’s Promise – Our Forest Garden
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  8. Your Begonia masoniana is a first for me. I have collected Begonias and obsessively shopped for them for years, but haven’t encountered that species or textured leaf. What a kind friend to give you a leaf! Congratulations on getting so many pups from it. I’m sure you’ll pass them on to other Begonia lovers in due time. The B. ‘Firecracker’ is definitely B. boliviensis, and probably ‘Firecracker.’ We can buy them locally but they don’t much appreciate our humidity and periods of excessive rain here. That is certainly a beautifully grown one in your photo. It would look nice near your Agapanthus. I like the variegated leaves of A. ‘Silver Moon.’

    I’m focusing on mostly the progress of our ferns and moss this week. https://woodlandgnome.wordpress.com/2023/07/29/six-on-saturday-amateur/ It has been too hot to do much outside, but I took a few photos early this morning. So happy to hear you are getting plenty of rain, now. We are looking for some this evening and into tomorrow. A break from watering!

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    1. It amazes me that the begonia leaves don’t just go mouldy. I have B. koelzii producing plantlets on its leaves in the garden, B. emeiensis looking like it might do something similar from big swellings where leaf blade connects to petiole. There’s no stopping them.

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  10. Pingback: Six on Saturday:  Amateur – Our Forest Garden

  11. Fabulous begonias, Firecracker is my favorite. The idea of good nematodes still boggles my mind. They are only bad here, root knot nematodes. I have not seen varigated agapanthus before, I like this one and am becoming less inclined to dislike varigated plants. Do you have to keep it in the green house in winter? Here is my post, thank you for hosting. https://theshrubqueen.com/2023/07/29/six-on-saturday-steamy-summer-florals/

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    1. I will put the Agapanthus in my unheated poly-tunnel for winter. Nematodes of various sorts are used as biological controls for a few soil pests. I think in an intact and well balanced soil ecosystem they just have a part to play, neither good nor bad, but gardens are not intact ecosystems and often not even close. Nematodes wiped out my Heleniums and Chrysanths, and make it pointless replacing them.

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      1. Interesting, so you have bad nematodes as well. It is recommended here to add compost and plant marigolds – neither work well. I was surprised the nematodes got into my potted herbs, worst rosemary ever! My garden is definitely not the usual ecosystem here.

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      1. Too true – unless you are in a large field with a kite, the best thing about windy conditions it that mosquitos are deterred. Otherwise, strong winds just blow down trees and other plants, spread wildfires and make it hard to take good garden pictures!

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  13. Pingback: July 27, 2023 Six on Saturday – Gardening in the Prairie

  14. I have Silver Moon, bought it in a container back in 2015 in flower. Moved here and it didn’t flower the following two years so I planted it in the ground. Every couple of years I get one or two spikes – just the one this year, but is known not to be a prolific flowerer. I actually love the silver and green leaves which never get nibbled on so it ‘s like a substitute hosta!

    Six on Saturday | Looking at Shapes

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    1. I lifted a couple of Rhodochitons last autumn and they survived the winter but were slow to get going. Summer raised seedlings overwintered in 9cm pots have been the most successful.

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  17. Not a great fan of variegated foliage, especially “Golden” = anaemic yellow, ie short of chlorophyll, but do quite like some subtle “silver” and that Agapanthus is interesting. I do like and grow Camellias “Benten Kaguta” and sasanqua “Variegata”. Have you heard any more about C. “1001 Nights Jasmine” and able to give us an update. All Best, Everard

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    1. I think Caroline learned a bit more about 1001SNJ when she was at the Congress, but nothing very substantial. Virus “variegation” in Camellias is deeply suspect, though it can be very striking.

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    1. So did the Botanic Garden find what they were looking for? You’d think there would be a sterile variety or two around by now. Though I suppose unless it was NZ raised it would never be allowed in.

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  27. I seem to remember admiring the rhodochiton once before, it does look good. Roscoea are constantly on my wish list but where to put them?? I am making a note though. Here’s my link six-on-saturday-rethinking-yet-again

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    1. I planted Roscoea to grow through a patch of wood anemones, they don’t come up until June or July and die down by September, so they don’t warrant space all to themselves.

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  28. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Rethinking yet again | n20gardener

  30. Also a fan of the variegated Agapanthus. I lost both of my (non-variegated) Agapanthus last winter. I did manage to overwinter the roots of three Rhodochiton plants and have them in a large pot in the glasshouse where they grew very happily last year. Not so this year and I’m not very happy with them – even less so seeing your lovely display.

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  31. Pingback: Six on Saturday: 29 July 2023 – My Tiny Welsh Garden

  33. I had a variegated Agapanthus once, but didn’t realise that they aren’t as hardy as the others. Yours is beautiful and how sensible to put it in a pot! Like your begonias, lovely splash of colour but don’t think I could succeed with leaving them in the ground over winter, they won’t like my winter wet.
    My six are here………….https://www.leadupthegardenpath.com

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  34. What a Cracker..yes the begonia bearing the name Fire Cracker is super. Last week when you mentioned Vine Weevils I have nightmares imagining them munching on the roots of plants. Several inspections on plants in pots where possible were carried out. None found, but that does not mean they are not in the larger pots. I have found evidence on leaves on Euonymus growing in the ground in the front garden. Do these nematodes work for you? Here is my post: https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2023/07/six-on-saturday-end-of-july-2023.html

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    1. The nematodes work, and are probably the best treatment available for amateur gardeners, provided the timing is right, that the soil is kept fairly evenly moist for a couple of weeks after application, that there aren’t still adults around to lay eggs and hatch another lot after the nematodes have gone, that the grubs haven’t burrowed deep into succulent stems or leaves. At least when I step on an adult beetle I know it’s dead, and a lot are still quite soft, so fairly recently emerged, hopefully pre-egg laying stage. If you see fresh notching on the edges of leaves, there is a beetle somewhere near. Under pots or the rims of plastic pots are favourites. Euonymus is very popular with them, I haven’t failed to find one or more on ‘Emerald Gaiety’ in three weeks of nightly foraging.

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  38. Pingback: Six on Saturday | Looking at Shapes – Cornwall in Colours

  39. Variegated lily of the Nile do not work well for us because if they get enough sun exposure to bloom well, their foliage gets roasted or discolored. My colleague here likes variegated foliage because so much of the vegetation here is simple dark green. Variegated cultivars are more popular on the coast than farther inland, probably because their foliage is less likely to get roasted there. Three of my Six featured our lily of the Nile because they are so late this year, and because I wanted to show off the first white bloom here. (I have grown it since the early 1990s, but not here.) Anyway, here they are.

    Six on Saturday: Better Late Than Never

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