Periwinkle's Journal

Sliding Home!

Hello everyone! Im just catching up after the holidays and I see you are all doing your bit to help the birds in this awful weather. Well, awful here anyway! I drove back from Dublin yesterday and main roads ok but once I turned of to the back roads it was a nightmare! Sheets of thick ice! I managed to keep going until I got about half-way up our hilly and bendy lane and got stuck! I had to abandon the car and all in it and walk the rest of the way! Not an easy job! But I am so thankful to God that I got home safely and found house etc. ok. Have been trying to get it warmed up all day today! Thawing today but still cant move the car, it is in the middle of a wet skating rink!!

My sympathy is with people who have to be out in this weather and for farmers who have suffered so much already with rain and floods. Lets hope it will be the forerunner of a great 2010 for the garden!

Its Christmastime in the country!

Winter Wonderland!

Woke up this morning to white! Well not so much snow as hailstones but just enough to make me leave the car at home and walk to church! a very enjoyable 2mile walk! (got a lift back!)

This picture was taken in March 2006 when we had a heavy fall of snow! Makes a nice picture as long as you dont have to travel.

Want to wish you all a Very Safe and  Happy Christmas with friends and family

An untidy lot!!

It must be those blackbirds! First it was the moss off the shed roof all scattered on the ground, then the moss on the lane!! This morning 'took the biscuit' when the soil around my cyclemen in the planters by the door was all scattered on the ground! That really was going too far!!

Then I got to thinking .....that maybe they would get rid of all the moss???????????       No harm in dreaming!

Worth it for this!!!

The breaking of the day!

Who said winter is a dull time? Since late summer the sunrise has been gradually  moving around until now it is directly in front of my house and on a bright and frosty morning this is the scene that greets me! Taken at 8.45 this morning. It is worth having winter just for this! I would love to let you all share it 'in the flesh' but can only give you this poor picture. No camera could quite capture the magic of it! Have a good day everyone!

Amaryllis survives !

Amaryllis!

Managed to get some more sweeping-up done this evening and was just coming in as it got dark when my eye caught sight of a bulb in a pot that was with other plants that were not bad enough to throw out!!! I reconized it as an amaryllis that I had received last year for Christmas and which bloomed beautifully and when spring came I put it outside and forgot about it! I was surprised to see it was still green and bulb quite firm. So I have planted it up in a bigger pot - it had great roots going round in circles! It will be interesting to see if I get a bloom!

For Sharon 1

Lonicera 'Baggensens Gold'

Lonicera, 'Baggensens Gold'

Didnt get any gardening done today but thought I would have another go at putting up the picture of my 'hay cock' !!! For the uninitiated among you (!) a hay- cock was the stack of hay built in the field when the hay was completely dry, it was later brought into the yard and built into a large haystack or put in the hayshed. In some areas they were refered to as hay rucks. So now you know!

By the way, this very small-leafed shrub belongs to the same family as Honeysuckle. It can be kept clipped into shape (mine clearly needs a haircut!) or allowed to grow into a widely branching shrub that also looks very nice. It is evergreen and a lovely golden colour but needs to be in full sun to keep colour.

Sweeping up!!

Granny's Bush!

I had a lovely time this evening doing some sweeping up of leaves, moss and general debris that accumilates around the place when one lives in the open country. But it was such a lovely calm and mild evening it was great to be able to be outside.

Im going to try to put up a picture that I took the other day of the Euonymus that I mentioned in the entry South Facing Border, 'refered to in the family as "Granny's Bush"!!! In front of it is a Watsonia which has now become too close a buddy with a white Cistus so must remember to separate them in the spring. To the left of the picture can just be seen a Lonicera 'Baggensens Gold' that I try to keep clipped into the shape of a 'cock' of hay in honour of what once happened in this area! If you are puzzled by that read the journal entry on South Facing Border!-              Sorry, the Lonicera disappeared off the left of the picture!

Wonderful day!

An evening sky.

Didnt get much time to garden this evening just emptied the wheelbarrow of yesterday's clean-up and filled the bird feeders and of course had a good walk around the garden! (No day complete without that!) Took some pictures of the evening sky, just wonderful! Felt so privileged to be able to enjoy it. What a beautiful world we have been given to freely enjoy, Thank God.       Then it was indoors to put up the Christmas Tree in the porch, a very enjoyable job that always takes one down memory lane! Anyway, my little porch is very Christmasy now and hopefully gives a warm welcome to any visitors.

South-Facing Border.

While the dinner cooks I'll report on the day's work! Managed an hour in the garden this evening and got stuck into the South-facing border and cleared most of the remaining dead stalks and stems. I dont go along with the school of thought that says to leave them untill Spring as they look good! I say do as much as possible when the opportunity arises! Its another job done and out of the way before the rush of Spring work. When one has a fairly big garden and only one pair of hands every minute is precious!

This South facing border is much longer than the Front Border which I described in a previous Journal entry and which was first planted by my grandmother. South-facing border is almost completely my own creation ( apart from a variety of Euonymus planted by grandmother and known in the family as Granny's Bush!). A low stone wall separates this border from the front border and originally separated it from the yard where the hay stacks were built, in the days before bales and silage.

To start with I had never intended having a border there but simply planted a few things 'behind' the wall! However, the adiction took hold and I planted more !! As there was no natural soil (it is built on the rocks and stones of the yard) I had to create some,! I bought a small amount of top-soil and added farmyard manure and peat and also some seaweed. This has made a compost that is on the acidic side but most plants do well in it. The downside of this mixture is that it encourages moss and I noticed a lot of that today while clearing the border- the wet year would also have contributed to this problem.  

When I realized that this was going to be a proper border(!) I edged it with large stones to contain the'soil'. It is now, in effect, a very long raised bed! This means that it is very free-draining and in a dry spell (what is that you ask!) it needs daily watering. But because it is on a south-facing slope and sheltered from the cold north by the wall it is the best border that I have for tender plants.  

 Running out of space and dinner is cooked so more tomorrow!                             

Whispering Hope!

Roses in December!

just in from a lovely couple of hours outdoors- mainly washing the car! But also planted up some more nerines that I bought at our Garden Society Meeting on Monday Night. SO good to be back in the garden!      I have taken some pictures of what, at first sight, may appear to be dead or dying trees or shrubs but if you look closely you will see that the buds are already there for new life in the Springtime! Also fat flower buds on Rhododendrons, Camalias and Magnolias. No wonder we all enjoy gardening when there is so much to look forward. No point in dragging ourselves down by listening to the budget!

This is a picture of some blooms still on grandmother's rose that I spoke about in a previous entry. "Roses in December" what more can you ask for!!!

Cyclamen in planters.

Cheery welcome!

In response to demand from Myrtle!

Cyclamen in planters.

Well the painting is finished! Phew!! What a relief! No longer need to feel guilty while enjoying myself gardening!  Ah well, we all have our weaknesses!

Anyway I just managed to plant up two containers by the door with cheery cyclamen today. It took about 5 minutes to do, cost €10 and just makes such a difference to a grey day! A very cheery welcome at the door!

David Austin Catalogue.

David Austin Roses

Nothing done in the garden since the beginning of the week. Needed to get some interior decorating done! Nothing more exciting than painting the kitchen I may add! I always say I will do jobs like that when the weather is too wet to garden, but there always seems to be some job that can be done outside no matter what the weather. Anyway it is nearly finished now so I can get back to the garden tomorrow!!!

But tonight I will enjoy a little 'armchair gardening'! My copy of David Austin Handbook of Roses has arrived and Im looking forward to selecting a rose or two to grow near my new entrance in that new space. I know, I know(!) I always say I wont buy any more roses as they are hard work but there is something irresistable about them!!! And nothing has the WOW factor like them in June and early July. Would be interested in hearing what some of your favourite roses are? The one I have that is my favourite is a yellow rose with a great perfume but grown from a cutting I dont have a name for it! the best named one that I have is Compassion.