I’m a fair-weather sixer. This is my first contribution for 2025.
I posted a six about this time last year and the photos suggest this year is lagging behind, or maybe last year was early. Who knows.
Here are my six from the back garden, in no particular order.
1. Sarcophagus bed – the climbing rose Scent from Heaven is in its second year, with the floribunda Champagne about to celebrate its third birthday.
2. Clematis – This is Hyde Hall in its second year, doing as I’d hoped and climbing through the pittisporum.
3. Persicaria – in the north border and seems to be on the move.
4. North border – Additions are the white pulmonaria and erythronium overwintered in greenhouse and planted out stealthily to not alert the mollusc community.
5. Trellis – installed to shield the garden from neighbours’ windows and maybe to shield the neighbours from seeing me faffing about in the garden. It also supports the climbing rose Strawberry Hill. I installed it single-handed – not bad for an old bird with dodgy shoulders. It took forever to paint, and now graffitied by the local pigeon community.
6. Intertwined – the old quince with the new clematis armandii appleblossom.
That’s my first six for 2025. You can join the rest of the hardier sixers over at Jim’s.
Allotment Life 
Well done, it certainly is easier in the fairer days to find a six to post. I’ve been quite slack myself over winter.
Nice trellis! I have a plot to plant vines to climb my laundry poles and across the lines that I never installed because I don’t hang my wash outside. Never got into the habit, living in an apartment, I used a drying rack and still do. The non gardener suggested removing the poles, but that seems like a lot of work. Non gardener is not on board…yet.
I like the idea – arbours strung with rope supporting climbing roses or vines is very trendy and hugely expensive.
I hadn’t thought of clematis through a pittosporum, what a great idea. Well done with the trellis, never underestimate what an old bird can do, we usually get there in the end! Have a great week
The quince and clematis combination is attractive. I like the idea of encouraging climbers to use shrubs as supports. Need to referee those arrangements, though.
I’ve a similar pairing with a pittisporum and clematis. My logic is the shrubs are hard pruned late winter at about the time the clematis need pruning – two for one. Hopefully it will just need referring rather than mediation!
The Quince and Clematis are lovely together. Your garden is very much ahead of mine here in the Midwest U.S., but soon we will be warming fast and catching up. It’s a beautiful time of year, isn’t it?
Yes everything seems to catch up or slow down to its own pace
Nice job on the trellis, Sharon. Structures like that really add impact to spaces. You’ve made me think where I could add something similar.