Last Post 447 days 20 hours ago
29 February 2012 18:39:03
Yes and I am pleased whatever the outcome. I have decided to just plant every plant I have in waiting,perennials, bulbs, dahlias, begonias. They are all going into the ground and staying there come hail rain or snow in future years!! I will take some care with where I plant them and no doubt there will be moving around to do next year. But no more bringing plants in and digging up Dahlias, those days are over!! No more seeds either except perhaps Cerinthe major. and Cosmos. I feel great about this decision. In future my time will go on weeding, which I enjoy and the tons of general maintenance needed to keep the garden in reasonable and enjoyable condition. So any new plants no hanging around straight into the earth. I aim to have an empty, well nearly, sort of greenhouse (cos it is not a real one) this time next year.
28 February 2012 17:10:10
Have written this already but it vanished so herewith a briefer version.
I was wondering about the most enjoyable garden visits we all have made. Now I think we should exclude visits to ie members gardens. So would you please name the two gardens top of your visiting list? They can be large, small private or public but what interests me most is why we like particular gardens; is it the plants , the welcome, the situation or all three. The gardens I really like to visit are those where the owner is there and one can ask questions without feeling an eejit, one is inspired by certain ideas or plants, and if a cuppa is available all the better!! Oh some seating is an essential.
My two are;
Cois Cuain, Kilcrohane, near Durrus.
Mary and Bob Walsh made this garden and it has appeared on almost all the TV programmes and in the Garden magazines. Sadly Bob who describes himself as the hole digger and stone mover , died last year. Mary continues to garden on this amazing site at the Ocean's edge. She is a very special Lady so warm and welcoming not to mention knowledgeable. Large selection of plants both usual and unusual , herbaceous and exotic. Had a great website but not available at present.
Aultnagreagh cottage garden near Dunmanway , Co.Cork.
The owners started with a blank canvas and have made an amazing garden in quite a short time. Having the same sort of blank canvas I have been inspired by this garden. Hard to beat as a Cottage garden but a lot more with big Veggie area, Woodland, Pond, Formal, Rose Rock garden and a well hidden Secret garden. My type of garden if I could achieve even half of what they have would be a very happy bunny!! They have two large borders with wonderful planting. They have a website if you want a look just Google Aultnagreagh.
28 February 2012 01:31:54
I have a Fern area and really love them Now I have a new quite large area where I also want to plant ferns and woodland plants. I read that it is 'easy' to divide them but want to check out that I really can dig them up now and divide.? I hope someone who knows ferns will visit my garden and name the ones I have as the labels are lost and I want to identify them. Please come!! Oh the area where I want to plant is not exactly lovely soil in fact it is quite stoney but should retain moisture well. Any comments gratefully accepted.
27 February 2012 15:49:02
Today despite saying yesterday that I would forget it I started to clean the dreaded Strawberry bed. Having ripped out some noxious weeds I had to go and get a secateurs and on my way decided to dig a hole for a clematis. This done I continued but spotted a place I wanted to plant Liatris so stopped off and prepared the ground for them. So three jobs started and unfinished. Wish I could just stick with one job and get it done. On the other hand it was progress of sorts.
26 February 2012 19:09:35
I had read that Lidl were stocking 'tracks' for the garden on Monday and wanted to try them to cover the path Meg dog has made which is now churned up mud. So off to Lidl this morning . I was surprised to see so many Bulbs and bought loads of them though had not noticed them listed. Then up and down and even down and up the aisles looking for the tracks. No luck and by a miracle happened to find a Lidl lady and asked her where they were. Funny look from her and she said 'oh they will be in tomorrow' . How odd thinks me that they are now having specials on a Tuesday. Noise of penny dropping , ok so it is Sunday . Anyone else muddle up days?? Please lie and say yes!!
26 February 2012 16:49:45
Post vanished.
When I was young or even middle aged that I was destined to be a garden addict I would have done a Carpentry course. No I am not doing one now!!
I would love to make raised beds , arches, cold frames etc but the making plus the getting home of materials is too much of a challenge.
Would love to find someone who at a reasonable rate would build me a few raised beds, put up a couple of simple arches like two planks with one across , and make a cold frame. But such people are hard to locate.
This is not a moan , I am very lucky to be able to do so much and appreciate that fact.
And further more don't I have two new walls and who can have everything!!
24 February 2012 17:57:51
Well I am absolutely delighted with it. the standard of the work is just wonderful . You really need to see it in the 'flesh'. It is impossible ,unless you know, to find where the really old wall ends and the new part starts. the stones at the back of the bank are just put there to keep the soil from falling off the other side because the stone on that side is in a very bad state.
23 February 2012 11:46:25
It is just amazing the amount of stone they need, three tons to do one side of a length of 5 metres. Equally amazing and scary is that they have managed to find it all in my garden most of which I have dug up since I came here! And there is an awful lot remaining. Anyhow I will show pictures of before , preparation and finish when it is done. Their preparation is meticulous all stones and soil gathered , bank dug out . It is so good to see how craftsmen work. No need to reply just excited here !!
21 February 2012 20:09:09
I am in a quandry a sore place to be.
You see I am having an outbreak of wanting plants and as the finances don't match the desires decisions must be made.
My main problem is not knowing whether I want lots of different plants or lots of a particular plant. For example due to you lot I now want loads of Hellebores , doubles, singles and all colours!! Then there is this nagging desire to have tons of unusual Primulas. Next thing is I am looking through the Crug catalogue picking out stuff for them to bring me in April. Then a certain good friend is tempting me with lovely plants she finds in garden centres (thank you friend!) I have no resistance . Is there some medication I wonder to quell these temptations?? I mean did I really need the Colocasia I am waiting to arrive? HEEEEEEELLLLPPPP!!!!!!
20 February 2012 20:36:42
This evening my friends I come amongst you to appeal on behalf of that wondrous perennial the Penstemon. Since I saw the light last April and came among you little has been said about this versatile and beautiful plant. It fills me with sorrow dear friends that such a garden addition should not be lauded. Here we have a plant that presents itself in an abundance of colours , mostly a strong grower that stands proud amid any border or bed. It is said this plant is short lived but I have seen them flower over a 10 year period and anyway propagation is so simple and rarely fails. Forsooth only a few weeks ago I cutteth back some of my Penstemons and inserted cuttings around the plant and behold and lo they have already rooted. My humble sort of glass house hath many cuttings growing away happily. So dear friends with your permission I would like to nominate the year 2012 as the year of the Penstemon and entreat everyone who has not already graced their garden with this plant to go forth and rectify this omission. I thank you for your patience in listening to my appeal.
Hope I don't trip coming down from this Pulpit!
20 February 2012 14:04:37
So today my seeds arrived, twenty of them. So half will go to, Bruno, if he wants them so I will have 10 to deal with. What is the best way to get them to germinate? Do I soak them? What about heat? Should I stagger the sowing and leave a few until later in the year? So advice requested from those who have the secret. Thank you
18 February 2012 20:20:54
Interesting couple of days here next week. I have a dry stone bank separating the two main areas of my garden. It is very old and the stones are built vertically which can be unusual. One side of the wall is beyond repair but the other side is good except for a length of about 5metres. I managed to contact a dry stone wall site and long story short two men who are expert at restoring are coming next Thursday and Friday to repair the wall. I feel I have to maintain this wall as it is an integral part of the property ( property sound very grand LOL) It will be so interesting to watch how they go about the task which even for a fairly small area will take about 3 ton of stone. Luckily they can use stone I have dug up over the years or was already here so I don't have the added expense of providing that. I will take pictures of before and after.
13 February 2012 15:32:40
In praise of Camellias; a poem
I wrote this many years ago as I discovered the beauty and qualities of the Camellia. I hope you like it.
In praise of Camellias.
Garden bare in winter deep where many plants retire to sleep
But one staunch friend stands tall and proud with shiny leaves proclaiming loud
Its love of seasons all the year, this wondrous plant knows not of fear.
It chooses winter dark and cold its buds of promise to unfold,
And tantalize us until spring when they perform a beauteous thing
And burst to flower, what a sight, the blooms of red, pink, cream or white.
But when in time these flowers fall our plant feels no regret at all
Standing proud in bed or pot, the glossy leaves provide a lot
Of background for its summer friends, its contribution never ends.
Come autumn, time for leaves to fall, it still stands upright green and tall.
Look close and one can easily see more buds are born, perpetuity.
12 February 2012 21:51:44
Whatsit?
It is not a Cyclamen or an Asarum as the variegation seems confined to the veins. The leaf stalk is pink as are the under surface of the leaves. It has shallow roots and seems to self seed readily. I have it for a while but can't recall a flower. Any ideas please?
12 February 2012 19:25:55
Good day here sun actually appeared. Attacked brambles, ivy etc on wall, then surveyed the quite large area still to do. These are bad areas but the Ugly , two of them, are the area behind the new wall and the latest Rat excavation in the wall. Good were the Daffodils , Primulas and Anenomes by the stile .the Camellia and the mixture of Hellebores and new Snowdrops. Very daunting all there is to do.
11 February 2012 16:41:55
From Scrubber and Gracedieu thank you for showing them. The Scrub looks even more magical while it is so interesting to appreciate the variation in marking of Paddy/Mary's.
10 February 2012 23:59:59
They have segments of plastic type fencing for borders. I got something similiar last year and found that instead of linking them together they worked very well individually as plant supports. The ones I got previously were shorter but flexible so you could bend them into a semi-circle around the plant. Just a suggestion:)
10 February 2012 00:45:30
I was looking at Gertrude Jekyll's book 'The wood and garden' and read this; I hope you like it .
"
And a garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful
watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all, it teaches
entire trust. "Paul planteth and Apollos watereth, but God giveth the
increase." The good gardener knows with absolute certainty that if he
does his part, if he gives the labour, the love, and every aid that his
knowledge of his craft, experience of the conditions of his place, and
exercise of his personal wit can work together to suggest, that so
surely as he does this diligently and faithfully, so surely will God
give the increase. Then with the honestly-earned success comes the
consciousness of encouragement to renewed effort, and, as it were, an
echo of the gracious words, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
09 February 2012 15:49:32
Photo of variegated leaf.
With blue/black markings.
09 February 2012 15:48:22
? Skunk
Growing at the perimeter of the field next door. Abundant on one ditch and scattered over another. I think it is Skunk cabbage but no smell from leaves and not a sign of a Spathe. What has me very intrigued about it is that just one clump has black/dark blue markings on the leaves. Any ideas?
08 February 2012 15:48:50
There were some plants I never wanted in my garden but now have changed my mind.
Has this happened to you?
I used to really dislike Hydrangeas but now see their value in a big way.
Hellebores too, never disliked them but did not appreciate them fully until recently.
Alchemilla mollis, still dislike it because of the self seeding but am thinking of putting it in my new blue bed as it may not be able to seed in the grass.
Heuchera, tolerated them but now like them a lot and they do so well in low temperatures.
Ferns never had room before but now love them.
Orange flowers used to avoid them , now totally converted if in right place.
Delphiniums, was always very scared of these but am trying them this year.
07 February 2012 16:25:34
Why oh why do we have that dreadful 'word' identification on the contact menu?
I don't think anybody has had problems with the way it was?
I now understand a previous post relating to this and I for one will not be going through 14 attempts to decipher the code ;so to all iers while that remains I hope I am friends with you all but shall not be adding to my list via 'contact'.
06 February 2012 14:45:15
Scrubber and Anna. Yes indeed they came by on a flying visit as they were in the neighbourhood, well almost! Scrubber had read about my Snowdrops vanishing and brought me a huge box of them, singles and doubles, magic. With those Hosta so kindly gave me I should have a great show next year. There are so many I will be planting most of tomorrow and loving it. Once again I marvel at the generosity of my ie friends. Thank you so much. There was only time for Scrubber to have a quick look around my rather lack lustre garden but so good to have them come to visit.
02 February 2012 11:08:27
Can anybody remember if any of the stores, Aldi, Lidl , Woodies etc did a deal on Hydrangeas last year? I now have an area behind the new wall and think they would look well there. But I need about 5 good size ones not babies. I would wait if I felt a bargain might come along. I would love the wine coloured one but think that is very expensive.
01 February 2012 14:37:45
My wall
~Well the wall is up and scudded and will be plastered tomorrow. It is a bit of a shock and I think I should have had it one course lower but when plastered and painted hopefully will be as imagined. I had asked to have a few sort of 1ft square planters built with blocks behind the wall and have trailing plants coming over the top to soften it but he forgot about that!!! Maybe ~I can get planters that would go on brackets or somefing.