Six on Saturday 16.12.23

Thistles and Kiwis,

Tuesday: one minute, I am sitting outside eating my lunch, the next, the skies have turned almost black, the rain came pouring down and the thunder clapped. Some suburbs had hail, and there was a mini tornado in Lower Hutt, north of the city. To say the weather is unpredictable is putting it mildly – t-shirts one minute, raincoats the next. What a peculiar start to the summer! Anyway, thanks to Jim at Garden Ruminations, for hosting Six on Saturday, whose knowledge of all things plants and gardening makes him an ideal host and move on to what can be see at the moment outside

Today has been a grey day as you can see – picture taken at 08:30 this morning. You can see the low lying mist over the hills. No weeding done again.

At least you get a lovely whiff of perfume from the now identified star jasmine when you go outside and step close to the fence.

I don’t have anything new to report since two weeks ago, but the tarragon is doing so well and I am already using it in the kitchen. I’ll need to pot them on to make sure I get a good harvest to preserve somehow. The Texas tarragon is also doing fine.

Meanwhile, look at this basil. It hardly looks robust or inviting, but I will, of course, use it. I should just admit that me and basil don’t get on…unless you are talking about tomatoes and mozzarella at the same time…

I was a bit stuck for things to include, but here is the lemon verbena again. The chocolate mint has not survived, and the ordinary mint plant looks like it needs a bit of tender loving care. It seems at the moment that every weekend has miserable weather and no opportunity to get out and sort out the pots or weeds.

However, I can give you a hydrangea update. What a glorious spot of colour when the skies are grey or even blue.

As usual, I am looking forward to seeing everyone’s beautiful gardens in other parts of the world. Hope you are all well and enjoying your gardens in whatever the season is with you. I’ll be taking a break from SoS until the new year, when hopefully I might have something new to show you.

Thistles and Kiwis is a Wellington, New Zealand based blog written by Barbara, who likes cats, summer, good food and pretends to garden.

You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram @thistlesandkiwis. If you want to get in touch, email me on thistlesandkiwis@gmail.com or lofgren@thistlesandkiwis.org

Published by Thistles and Kiwis

Loves summer, sunshine and cats. Beginner gardener, likes eating, cooking and reading about food

33 Comments

  8. I have always been amazed by the prehistoric shape of the plant that you presented first, (whose name I don’t know though ) and this week your Six ends in style with the magnificent colours of this hydrangea

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  9. Oh my goodness those hydrangea are beautiful. I love the colors. We just recently added several to some landscaping at work and I can’t wait until next spring to see how well they do. Spring and summer weather can be so unpredictable. I’m sure it will be sunny and warm soon again. It has been really cold here. Well mid 40’s F during the day. That’s pretty chilly for us. Have a a wonderful weekend.

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  11. That Hydrangea is a real beauty, a really great shrub, and very easy to propagate from cuttings if you feel so inclined to add more to the garden,

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  13. I can’t grow Basil either! Outside it gets eaten and in the conservatory it gets whitefly. I have decided it is just plain simpler to by from the supermarket when I need some – though saying that I did manage to keep some supermarket pot grown Basil going for a while last year by splitting it and replanting in several pots.

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  14. Nice to see your Hydrangea, it is beautiful. Have you seen Amazel Basil? It does well here for people who have a hard time with basil, usually fungus problems here. My basil always looks bad because I eat so much.

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  16. Your garden is lovely. There is so much one can do with small spaces, and I think your space is wonderful. I can imagine the scent of the herbs and star jasmin lingering in the air.

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  17. Hi, Barbara – Your hydrangeas look beautiful. Sorry about your chocolate mint plant. Our weather has remained relatively warm for our time of year but are skys have definitely been grey — so much so that are street lamps were on at 2:30 in the afternoon! 😦

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