The title for this week’s Six on Saturday is inspired by a small Bloomsday gathering I was invited to this week by an Irish friend/neighbour. The idea is to commemorate and celebrate the life of Irish writer James Joyce, whose famous novel Ulysses features the protagonist Leopold Bloom. Bloomsday takes place on 16 June, the same day the action takes place in the novel in 1904. The dress code for this high-brow evening was Edwardian, so I gathered the floppy peonies and scented roses in my garden to create an Edwardian hat:
The hat went down well, and the readings were fun and unusual: the language in that novel is rich and quirky, and unlike anything else I’ve ever read. Apparently some hard-core James Joyce aficionados hold marathon readings of the entire novel, lasting as long as 36 hours. So to turn to the gardening Odyssey that is Six on Saturday, hosted by chief protagonist The Propagator, I promise to be more concise: 36 hours is a lot of gardening time, and things are getting unruly out there:
1 Yellow roses. The roses are having a glorious year, but I have been a bit slack at tying them in and staking. This unknown climbing rose was knocked about by a heavy rainstorm on Thursday night, which had the unintended consequence of pushing one of the main flowering stems horizontally against the wall, luckily it didn’t break. This now looks better as one can appreciate the flowers at eye level.
The same cannot be said for the Pilgrim shrub rose, which is now weighed down to the ground with the weight of its flowers. Oh dear. Today I need make some belated wooden stakes.
2 Rose ‘Ballerina’. Luckily this hybrid musk, a variety that goes all the way back to 1937, bought as a bare root last autumn, needs no staking and so the gardener gets away with doing nothing. It is a cheerful little thing, appreciated by all manner of bugs and bees.
3 Unknown weed. More lax gardening now, but I am quite taken with this weed growing by the front gate, next to the Ballerina rose. With those little tufted hairs, it looks rather natty, and has a nice way of swaying in the breeze. Anyone know what it is?
4 Allium ‘Eros’. A new allium for me, this one has mixed well in the front path border with its neighbouring geraniums and Erysimum ‘Bowls Mauve’, its violet-pink blooms poking through at just the right height – about 40 cm – above and around them. It’s going over, with a nice papery effect.
5 Nasturtiums with Geranium ‘Brookside’. This narrow little bed was supposed to be the ‘pollinator border’, with a colourful mix of annuals sown from seed in the early spring. The weather and the slugs had other plans, and in our cold spring almost nothing came up, apart from nasturtium ‘Alaska’ which I grew in plugs and planted out here. So it didn’t end up being just a bed of nasturtiums, I added a couple of young Geranium ‘Brookside’ that I had in pots.
6 Lilium ‘Must See’. Growing in a pot on the terrace, this is taking up the gauntlet now that the Dutch iris are over. It’s got that lovely oily sheen that some lilies have.
So now I need to go out there with secateurs, stakes and string, and have a good tidy up, before more roses flop over and chaos reigns. The grapevine also needs a good prune, so I should do what my mother does so well with the leaves and make ‘dolma’ – vine leaves stuffed with rice, herbs, onion and spices – which is definitely a slow food dish that takes hours to make but is one of those things that tastes heavenly when homemade. But, to loop back to Bloomsday, it will be quicker than reciting Ulysses in a 36-hour reading marathon.
Your hat is magnificent, no wonder your friends were impressed, sounds like an interesting occasion! Wonderful roses and I love that allium, not one I have heard of before. I love dolma, I have never made them but am very good at eating them. 😀
Dolma are extremely more-ish I find 😉
This yellow rose is amazing! SO beautiful….Have a great weekend Sel.
Thanks Fred! You too, bon weekend!
Your unknown weed is a ribwort plantain…my favourite wild plant!
Thanks so much for the ID, it really does look good, like an ornamental grass!
A fab, fab hat! No idea about the weed and we share ‘Brookside’ a lovely geranium. We had very heavy rain here and all the roses are drooping here too. Just looked at the grapevine here and thought the same – time to prune!
Weed has been identified as a Plantain. The vine just suddenly seems to go for it, doesn’t it? Hope you get some good grapes this year, last year we had a great harvest here.
I love your hat! It must have been an interesting event indeed! Your roses are spectacular and loaded with blooms! I like the mix of nasturtium and geranium in the narrow border. Unfortunately I have no idea what the weed is.
Seems that the weed is a Plantain. Bloomsday was indeed interesting and it’s always nice to have an excuse to dress up!
The alliums are very special and not only because the variaty is called “eros” 😉
Thanks Rudi 😉
The weed looks like a plantain – maybe one of these https://www.google.com/search?q=Plantaginaceae+(Plantain+family)&rlz=1C1GIGM_enGB651GB651&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiY3IKQ46PxAhXNilwKHbn5DdIQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1280&bih=913
That must be it, the leaves match the photos. Great weed!
Lots of blousy, old fashioned plants this week…….very nice.
Your roses put mine to shame! They are soooo floriferous! And I love the hat. Hope you have managed to get your staking / tying in done. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Thanks – I made some progress with the Pilgrim, but also ended up cutting loads of flowering stems to stick in a bucket – seemed easier!
The Allium is very nice – the bi-coloured flowers are quite unusual. The Roses look fantastic, whether they’re falling over or not!
I attempted Ulysses some years ago, but never made it all the way through. I’ll have to have another go.
I get the impression that most people don’t read it cover-to-cover, perhaps apart from overly enthusiastic Bloomsday participants!
The roses are looking wonderful, even after the showers! I love the hat covered in peonies. I’ve only read Ulysses once – it seems I’m a bit of a literary lightweight.
Did you read the whole thing? If so, you’re no lightweight! I may have given the misleading impression that I’ve read it…really only sections here and there!
That allium is rather lovely indeed. I’ll have to look out for it. I love yellow roses and that first one is a beauty. Great hat!
Your roses are gorgeous! 👏
Thanks Lisa!
You did James Joyce proud! He would have enjoyed your garden.
What a wonderful way to decorate a hat! I also love that pretty allium. I can also confirm that weed is plaintain. We have billions in the grass here and were only wondering yesterday if we could produce plaintain beer, schnaps or some amazing health pills out of it to secure our retirement fund! LOL!
Sounds like a good plan 😆Apparently it’s also very good for sheep, so you could also get one to munch them all 🐑
Sounds like fun and the hat was a great idea. I’m growing nasturtium Alaska too, for the first time, but I haven’t any flowers yet. I’ve noted allium ‘Eros’, to buy for next year. Your roses are lovely and I didn’t even think that I liked yellow ones! Isn’t staking always retrospective?
Yes 😆staking is always retrospective, thank you for making me feel less of a bad gardener!
Great hat! And fabulous roses. I wish my nasturtiums would hurry up and start blooming like yours. Also, the bicolor Allium is very cool – have never seen that one.
Thanks Jason. We have easy access to the Dutch growers here so bulb shopping is a pleasure and there’s lots of choice. Perhaps too much!
Your unknown weed reminds me of liatris after flowering is finished. The spikes are very interesting for many weeks after.
The Ballerina looks just perfect. Many of my roses are top heavy, so something like this would be a good addition.
Tried reading Ulysses many years ago. Joyce was a genius but I was unable to finish it.
Even my Dad was unable to finish Ulysses, so I very much doubt I will! Ballerina is super, for once an easy rose, but so charming too.
I love the hat. Your roses are fabulous, we had the heavy rain too,, just what you don’t need when all the roses are in bloom. I make the same mistake every year. There is no excuse, I know exactly which plants need staking but I keep putting it off and then I feel outraged that all my alstroemerias are lying with their faces in the mud.
I know, somehow each time I think this year will be different but it’s tricky to stake the big shrub roses, unless you are v organised and make a framework really early in spring (note to self: maybe next year!)