6 on Saturday – 08JUN2024

Chris Mousseau

Summer is on our doorstep, just three months until autumn…time enough to enjoy the bounty of our kitchen gardens and the beauty of the ornamentals. Time right now for Six on Saturday – six things in the garden, a blog-o-verse meme hosted by Jim in England, on Garden Ruminations.

Peony season has started here in Ontario; in my garden it starts with this unknown, luscious but fragrant-free double red. It has thick strong stems but the flower itself is so heavy I’ll find them bent to the ground after a rain.

It’s been a great year for Iris of all types, including my small patch of Iris pallida aureo variagata. I really need to move them a bit, and perhaps divide them to produce more, and give more room to show off their green and cream leaves.

A lovely surprise, the ‘annual’ that never dies, the unexpected guest at the table for another year are these snapdragons, Antirrhinum. Honestly, they’re supposed to die off in the fall here, it’s supposed to be too cold for them to last the winter. However. As Dolly says, here you come again.

Two shrubs next. I’ve had both for many years but one has been a lot more successful than the others; it’s Cotoneaster dammeri – the spreading, ground cover-sh evergreen species. It’s tough, covered in pretty white flowers this time of year which are followed by pretty red berries in late summer. If it has a drawback, it’s that it’s too hardy – I find myself having to cut it back every year, just like so many upright hedging shrubs. Here it is in my kitchen garden, now having totally covered a rather clunky limestone ledge behind the asparagus/rhubarb bed.

Through no fault of its own, this dwarf Weigela florida ‘Minuet’ has never grown more than eight or 10 inches (20 – 25 cm) high, when it should be at least three times that size by now. It keeps getting nibbled away by rabbits in the winter, leaving only a few small branches come spring. None the less it gives us a few flowers every year, like these. Yes, I’ll definitely remember to protect it with chicken wire or buckthorn branches this fall…

Number six this week is also small – on purpose. I planted this little perennial four or five years ago and it’s just now coming into its own: Cambridge Cranesbill Geranium. Have a lovely weekend everyone!

27 Comments

  1. That is a beautiful peony. Antirrhinums are gorgeous in the borders and I’d love to be able to have them survive the winter. If you discover the secret of their success I hope you’ll let us all know! 😁 Best put a note in your diary to add that chicken wire – your Weigela ‘Minuet’ is too good looking to feed to the rabbits.

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  3. The snapdragons are great! My husband loves them and I should plant some so he can enjoy. I love the peonies also, but never liked the flopping all over that they do when it rains. Lucky for me, lots of people have them in their gardens so I can enjoy the flowers and ignore the flopping. I don’t have many bunnies this year. I think between the feral cats in the neighborhood and the hawks, their numbers are kept in check.

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    1. We have no feral cats in the neighbourhood, likely thanks to coyotes, which also help keep rabbits under some sort of control…but not entirely! I agree about the flopping peonies; I’d never want to spend the time or effort to stake or cage them, but if left to flop they take up twice as much garden space – so I’m happy most of mine have strong stems. And nice for you to have others you can ‘borrow’ !

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  4. The paler leaves on the light violet-y Iris are very becoming. Weigela so pretty…I have the ‘Wine and Roses’ variety. What fun to have the Snapdragons returning. My 2 6 packs of Dianthus ‘Fire and Ice,’ planted in various pots, all returned…beautiful freebies. Pretty color on the Cranesbill. You sure have a lot to admire!

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    1. LOL! While many parts of the works seem to be sweltering this year we’ve been quite fortunate with regards to temperature but you’re right…no more talk of seasons to come for a while!

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  7. A great six at this wondrous time of year! Rodents can be sooo annoying. A vole overnight snipped all my hardy glads and blue Barlow aquilegia, just left them on the ground… what the hell? 🤬

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  10. Are your snapdragons a cultivar, or are there different species of snapdragon. Yours don’t seem to look at all like the ones used here in so much landscaping. That red peony is a stunner. I’ve only been aware of pink, rose, and white — I’d grow that one in a minute.

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    1. The snapdragons came from a mixed cell pack a few years ago – ‘Rocket’ is the name, because they grow very tall. Yesterday they had reached about two and a half feet… Should I try for some seeds of the red peony?

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  11. Common (unvariegated) Iris pallida is still my favorite iris. It was my first. I got it from my great grandmother’s garden before I was in kindergarten. I grow several fancier bearded iris, and I enjoy all of them, even the ugly pale white feral bearded iris, but my great grandmother’s Iris pallida is still my favorite.

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  12. A very pretty Geranium, gorgeous peony, and I love that iris. In fact I have had it on my wish list for a year now and have been unable to source one… I must look harder as the leaves are so striking. My snapdragons came up again this year too and it is always like a bonus. I never dare expect them to return, but they do. Often in different shades to the previous year which is weird!

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