My first six on Saturday for a while, on the off chance that you are wondering what that is all about then head over to The propagator blog for lots more slices of Saturday garden life in six easily digestible pieces.

After a week of darkness and rain it cleared up for the weekend for a change. Of course the sun was combined with some frost, it's the 8th day this autumn that the temperature has dropped below zero.

There is far less surviving colour in the garden last year, I was just looking at pictures from last year, and the autumn flowers lasted right into December, whereas this year there is very little left.

Cyclamen

Every year I get one of the tender Cyclamen and plant it for the splash of colour. This year I decided to keep it in a pot as I thought I could make it …

A first frost this morning, its very calm and sunny, probably more rain tonight though. It has rained every day this month so far.

1. Viola

I got a tray of these earlier and they are still flowering nicely.

2. Salvia Amethyst lips

This is like S. 'Hot lips' but with a dark purple colour. Its possible that the colour is more stable as there are no all-white flowers on this plant, whereas there are on my 'Hot lips'.

3. Alstroemeria 'Summer breeze'

This has been great value this year. It has flowered continuously since I got it, and is still going strong.

4. Cotoneaster leaves and berries

The leaves and berries of this Cotoneaster are almost exactly the same colour. In the background there are the orange berries of the Pyracantha.

5. Winter jasmine

I cut this back a fair amount, hoping that it would put on some new …

Compare with last year.

Weather

The average temperature was 8.3C with a minimum of 0.3C and maximum of 14.4C It rained on 21 days, with a total of 100mm of rain.

Butterfly

Last month was all about the Red admirals, this month there were a few Comma butterflies. One time I saw two at the same time. They were mostly on the Verbena, but also on other flowers such as the Helianthus here.

Sedum

This has much larger flower heads than last year. I've moved chunks of this into the front garden where it will get some more sun and may do better.

Anemone × hybrida 'Honorine Jobert'

This is much taller than the previous two years where the flowers didn't seem to stand up on tall stalks as they are here. It is also starting to spread a bit.

Helenium 'Mardi gras'

This is a great Helenium …

These are supposed to flower in the spring/early summer as far as I know.

When I bought this is was covered in flowers which had mostly gone by the time I decided where to plant it. I made a mini rockery with three stones and planted it in the middle of them, so that it is slightly higher than the surrounding ground. This will hopefully keep it dry enough to survive the winter.

Anyway it has decided to throw up an autumn flower too.

Compare with last year.

Weather

The average temperature was 12.8C with a minimum of 3.2C and maximum of 21.4C It rained on 18 days, with a total of 85mm.

Picture round up

I'm still way behind, so just a set of pictures from the month.

Astrantia 'Moulin Rouge'

New this year and much better than my existing one as it has a bit of colour to it.

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Butterflies

This month it is the Red Admirals that have dominated, never more than one or two at a time, but still a frequent visitor.

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Actaea simplex 'Brunette'

This is a slow growing plant and I can't say that it is particularly larger this year than last, but there are more flowers at least.

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Lobelia 'Bee's flame'

Also a patch of Rudbeckia.

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Rudbeckia, Alstroemeria and Gladioli

There is also a white Phlox here which has done well as the only …

Compare with last year.

Weather

The average temperature was 16.2C with a minimum of 8.4C and maximum of 26.3C It rained on 17 days, with a total 115mm

Picture round up

I'm late finishing this so just a quick look through some pictures this month.

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Roscoea purpurea 'Spice Island'

New this year. Looks exotic but supposedly hardy - we shall see.

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Butterflies

It has been a great year for butterflies, with all the Verbena that there is this year. There have been a lot of Painted Lady butterflies - I've seen up to 15 at the same time. In spite of the numbers it seemed to be difficult to get a photo of several together.

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Poppy

This appeared out of nowhere, grew quite tall and had a fair number of flowers. I guess I will have them for ever more now.

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Phlox paniculata 'Laura'

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Lobelia cardinalis 'Bees' Flame'

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Liatris …

Weather

The average temperature was 17.1C with a minimum of 6.7C and maximum of 29.4C It rained on 18 days, with a total 82mm

Picture round up

I'm late finishing this so just a quick look through some pictures this month.

Campanula medium

I grew these from seed last year, most of them turned out to be blue, but you can also see a pink one at the back. Strangely the blue ones had a very pyramidal shape, whereas the other colours were more like towers. They are an impressive mass of flowers, so I am glad I tried them. Will probably not be growing them again though.

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Potentilla

This came with the garden growing at the side where even the weeds won't grow. It didn't flower the first year so I moved it to a sunnier place, where it promptly got swamped by a Sidalcea and …

Today was very mixed, it rained and then was sunny and then rained again and so on, managed to get these pictures during a sunny spell.

It is now over two years since my very first Six on Saturday. Interestingly the lavender was much more advanced in that year than it is now. I no longer have any Crocosmia.

For more up to date sixes visit our host The propagator for this weeks slices of six around the world.

1. Mallow

I think that this (the pink flower) is the musk mallow Malva moschata. It grows wild around here and I've also seen it for sale.

There has always been the odd plant in the garden, but this year lots of seeds have grown and there is a good display. It was entirely unplanned but I think it looks quite good with the yellow of the Lysimachia punctata 'Alexander'.

The …