#SixOnSaturday celebrating Hardy's!

 The way I choose my six is probably like everyone else, I go into the garden and see what attracts my attention, or it may have been something I have been admiring all week, and think I'll mention for #SOS. This week's choices could have been almost exclusively plants bought at Hardy's Cottage Garden Plants just over a year ago when I went for a post lockdown trip on the 16 July, I bought some cracking plants, all looking really good this year despite the ups and downs of the weather this year. I try and keep a record of plants I have bought since it's great to look back on where and when  I acquired them. I asked for a print out of what I bought at Hardy's which they emailed to me, so I have a tidier record in my notebook than the usual handwritten scribble. The only plant I haven't still got from the list is Scabiosa africana 'Jocelyn' same name as a great friend and a lovely plant, when I looked it up just now, I find it's not frost hardy and I left it outside!! Their website is very good, you can type in the name of any plant they stock and get very helpful cultivation tips and general information.

So as I eagerly await the rain, what are the six today? Coming in at number one partly because of its colour, but mainly because it has attracted a huge number and variety of bees all week, it's Allium sphaerocephalon:

next is a fantastically bright orange Crocosmia, it was here when I arrived, so I'm not sure what it is, as exuberant as 'Lucifer', it's a slightly lighter colour and really stands out in the garden.

This is Kniphofia 'Tawny King', it started by producing two flower stalks and has gone on to produce five more, I'm very impressed

Below is the wonderful Gaura 'Rosy Shimmers' bred by the nursery in 2016, and a truly fabulous plant.

The next choice is caterpillars on nettles as you can see. Thinking plants might be damaged by heavy rain over the weekend, I went out yesterday to do some tidying up in the garden and noticed the nettle patch was spilling over onto the path. I was thinking of cutting them back a bit until I noticed these very lively caterpillars, I've looked them up and think they may be small tortoiseshell caterpillars from looking at this great site.

finally another fabulous plant from the Hardy stable, Phlox masculata 'Natascha' which has sent up several beautiful flower stalks.

So there are my six, I could have chosen some of the other plants I bought at Hardy's that day, including: Geranium 'Rozanne', Geum 'Bell Bank', Monarda 'Jacob Kilne', Nepeta grandiflora 'Bramdean' , Nepta italica, Potentilla thurberi 'Monarch's Velvet' and Veronica longifolia 'Marietta'. 

To find lots of nurseries in one place, Rare Plant Fairs are always a great source of unusual and reliable plants, there's one this Sunday at Highnam Court near Gloucester. Let's see what The Propagator and other six on Saturday gardeners have chosen this week, we have both chosen Crocosmia, along I suspect with many other people.