A very quick Six On Saturday from me this week. Spring is definitely here now – we’ve had a lovely dry week (just a few showers overnight) and the garden is really responding.
Please join us for Six on Saturday, if you’d like to share six things from your own garden. The participant guide is here and our host Jim’s blog is here. Enjoy!
I love lupins – we first got them in 2020 and they come back better every year. The original plant has now been divided several times and all are flourishing.
My husband’s beloved Acer just getting its first flush of leaves. Still wearing its winter protection against frost around the pot.
First of the early tulips – gorgeous colour.
This planter had petunias in it last year but I decided to fill it early on this year – it has these lovely viola in most of the “pockets” and vinca (see next photo) in the top.
I love these vinca – I have about five different varieties around the garden. I first had them last year and they spread beautifully around the planters I put them in so I’ve added them to this one too, hopefully I can keep them in check so they don’t take over the whole thing and I can plant annuals in with them to complement the colours. There’s a tiny little spurge cutting in there too that I’m hoping will take.
This tree is the bane of my life for most of the year – it keeps the raised beds in shade when I’d rather they had full sun, its roots are pushing up the paving flags in certain parts of the garden, it’s easily climbable so the local cats use it to stalk the birds, I could go on. But at this time of year, when it begins to put on its Spring display – I truly love it. It only lasts about six weeks then we go back to war.
The Garrett Garden 
Lovely tulip – do you know the variety? The color looks similar to my Bleu Aimable. I have a dwarf weeping cherry with single flowers in my front yard – had hoped for pink, but could only find double like yours, but we wanted single to make it easier on the bees. In my area, the native bees are not yet awake when it is in bloom, buds swelling, exciting! A lot of people use Vinca around here but it is considered terribly invasive, so many discourage using it, though keeping it ported is an idea. It is a cute flower.
I will have violas on my front steps when it is a tad warmer. My lovely turquoise pot is in storage to protect it from freeze/thaw damage. I am going to use dark purple with white and purple alyssum. I tried last year but the spring was so wet and they never thrived. Happy Spring!
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I’ll see if I can find out the variety. I’m sure I’ve got it written down somewhere!
Yeah all my vinca is in pots or planters.
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Hi – I think it’s called Darwin – I bought a mixed bag of Darwin last year, it seems to come in several different colours. Only purple ones have come up in this pot so far. I bought some other more distinctive varieties, plus other “mixed” bags but Darwin is my best guess.
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Thanks! I do love tulips! So excited to have more of them. I should plant the entire stretch alongside the back of the house. It would be a lovely sight.
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How lovely to see a tulip already, I tried Lupins last year and fingers crossed they will reappear this year.
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I love them so much – I hope they come back for you.
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Lots of lovely colour. I love lupins, too, but sadly in my garden it’s the slugs and snails who appreciate them most!
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Weirdly the lupins have always seemed to withstand the slugs – I lost most of my veg crops to slugs last year 😦
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That’s really disheartening as it means a lot of time and money wasted. Jim did a feature on anti-slug measures a couple of weeks ago which might help: https://gardenruminations.co.uk/2025/03/10/slug-control/
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Those purple and orange Violas are stunning! All your potted plants look happy and healthy. 🙂
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Thank you x
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