Six on Saturday as June Unfurls

So what’s been happening your garden this week? Isn’t June a fabulous month as everything is looking lush and healthy in the garden? Here are my pick from the garden this week for #SixonSaturday as June unfurls!

Let’s start with the magnificent Hostas! Regular readers will know that they are in my top six favourite plants and I love them in the borders! I did a quick count last night for no good reason to find I have eight Hostas although some of the bigger ones could do with being split next Spring so I’m already planning where I can fit in a few more Hostas! Lots of people don’t like to have Hostas in their garden as they can be a slug magnet but thankfully, these beauties are untouched this year! I keep saying eggshells work for me as a slug deterrent, even though the RHS don’t agree but I’ll keep saving those eggshells if they in turn keep saving my majestic Hostas.

I started a project two years ago to green up a boring, back corner of the garden which I’d just been randomly planting in and this Clematis has surprisingly romped away to cover the arch! I say surprising because it hadn’t been doing much in another spot in the garden and I moved it, not expecting too much and in this new spot, it has not only made its way up and over half the arch, it is flowering profusely! I think it might be Clematis Cartmanii Avalanche but I stopped paying attention to it as it wasn’t doing anything previously. It just proves again that right plant, right place always works. I’m so excited to see how far it gets year on year and all I’ve really been doing is helping to guide it though the lattice so it has some support.

Another great climber in the garden is Hydrangea petiolaris. It prefers a shady spot and I have four of them, climbing up fence panels and while their lush, green growth hides a boring fence, the delicate, white, lacecap flowers are just lovely when they make their gentle appearance. They are so useful in the garden to hide a shady fence but the other wonderful thing about them is that they are self-supporting so they are virtually maintenance free.

The low-growing but beautiful Osteospermums are plants I always forget about in the border until their pink flowers ping open in the sunshine. Part of the daisy family, I know them as African Daisies and they add such a pop of colour low down where you might have gaps in the border.

I can’t get enough of Chives in the garden as they look so pretty; my husband can’t get enough of them as he chops away at the stems and uses them like spring onions and apparently, the bees can’t get enough of them either: all week, the Chives have been party central for the bees! I’ve had one clump of fabulous Chives in the same spot for years and last Spring I dug up the clump and divided it into smaller clumps which I replanted in different places and now I have four clumps of Chives absolutely swarming with bees!

On a similar note, I left the grass uncut this week and last, as we’ve sown some grass seed in the bald patches. The uncut grass is providing a party pad for the bees. This one and his pals were luxuriating on the daisies. I’ve never had a neatly cut swathe of perfectly, manicured lawn and I don’t feel the need to be that pristine with the grass. I have to share the lawn with footballs, paddling pools, trampolines and hula hoops and I’m happy to share that with the flying insects too if it gives them a soft place to rest.

Do feel free to me leave a comment on these six and let me know what you’ve been up to this week as blooming, lovely June unfurls!

You can enjoy reading other #SixonSaturday blogs for information and inspiration. #SixonSaturday is hosted by The Propagator, a gardening blog you should most certainly check out. You’ll find lots of links on Twitter on the #SixonSaturday hashtag and you can find The Pink Wheelbarrow on Twitter at @PinkWheelbarrow.