Last Post 725 days 23 hours ago
31 May 2011 10:00:43
Keego
At the Get-to-gether in Johnstown Keego gave me a small varigated-leafed geranium. (Its origins we will not mention!!). Now it has grown into a nice plant and has this beautiful bloom with such a rich colour! I'm delighted with it and want to say a big thank you to Keego.
It will have the name "Keego" in my house!:)
27 May 2011 22:44:34
Specially for Greenway! (and others)
Just coming into bloom, this lovely bush Lupin made my evening! I just had to go out in the rain to take a picture! I hope to get a better one when it comes into full bloom, think it deserves to be shown off as it managed to survive the storm - if a little bit bent!
A big thank you Greenway for this plant and another which you so kindly gave me last year as small seedlings. I love bush lupin, especially this lovely primrose yellow one, as my grandmother always grew them. Such a pure colour and a lovely perfume.
26 May 2011 10:45:34
As some of you were asking when my garden is OPEN I thought I'd put up a Journal with the dates:
Friday: 17th, Sat. 18th and Monday 20th June 2-6pm.
But if those days or times dont suit just get in touch and if Im at home I'll be delighted to see you!
You have all been a great encouragement!
25 May 2011 22:25:33
...going on!
Its great to have all the coverage of Chelsea Show to inspire us when the weather dampens the spirits! Also thank you all who made encouraging comments on my last journal.
Having got some of the grass tidied earlier this morning I decided to do a little planting this evening. So with coat and wellies on, I planted bright yelllow Hostas in a dark spot under some shrubs. I had divided and potted them up earlier in the springtime.
Remember the new Magnolia, Yellow River, that I bought earlier in the year? That is also now planted in the Shrub border. So feel that inspite of the weather some progress is being made.
Have a group of ladies booked to visit next Thursday so not a time to slack!!
25 May 2011 15:42:56
Before I blow away!
Another wild and wintery day! But before the rain came on in ernest I stopped to admire this Oriental Poppy that I've had in the garden for a number of years now. They dont last long, especially in this awful weather but they really have the WOW factor!
I managed to get some of the grass cut this morning before the rain came and, as always, the garden looks a lot better after the belated cut. ( Bit like ones self after a delayed hair cut!!) But the storm has done a lot of damage to shrubs and trees, also tall perenials - but with a cutting back the perenials will recover.
The fir tree that I used to support the Clematis Montana is almost uprooted and the hole underneath the roots is full of water - a chain-saw job for sure. That dream of a special entrance into the mini woodland has been shattered! A sorbus is also badly shaken but I am going out now to find a stake and see if I can pull it back on its base.
"The best laid schemes of mice and men".....etc!
23 May 2011 16:04:50
In a recent journal I had mentioned Sweet Rocket and how I would like to have a purple one.
Well, last Thursday evening, Myrtle and I went to hear Helen Dillon speak in Derry and at the end of the evening I was approached by a lady who sometimes visits this website. In 2 binbags she handed me a Purple Sweet Rocket!! How wonderfully kind and thoughtful was that? :) It looks a bit droopy in the picture but that will soon improve!
Ann, I want to thank you so very much, not only for the Rocket but for your kindness and thoughtfulness.
18 May 2011 22:45:11
Catching the evening sun!
I'm really pleased with how the Outer Circle is coming on! I took this picture of part of it this evening as it caught the setting sun.
18 May 2011 22:40:33
Peonies in the shrub border.
After very heavy showers this morning, the weather brightened and this evening i was able to cut some more of the hedge. I'm about 3/4 way there!
Can I give those who are creating new gardens the benifit of my mistakes? NEVER plant a herbacious border right up against a hedge. Thats what I did and now suffer for my foolishness. How to get in to cut the side of the hedge next the border? The herbacious plants are now growing strongly, as the hedge is, so I have to try to get in without stepping on them and then there is the problem of gathering up the clippings!
SO the moral of the story?! Leave a clear path between the hedge and the herbacious planting.:)
18 May 2011 11:08:06
Azalea 'Daviesii'
Very heavy downpours here today, so again no gardening! So I'm cheering myself by preparing to go to Hillsborough Show on Friday. But before that planning to go to hear Helen Dillon in Derry tomorrow night! Two gardening treats in one week:)
17 May 2011 22:11:22
A cheery collection!
When my Mum thought things were getting neglected around the place, to shame us into action she used to complain that "you would think nobody lived here"! Well I was beginning to feel like that, as grass hasnt been cut for a while and hedges have not had first cut yet and with all the rain everything is growing like mad.
Today was a showery day but I thought I might get something done this evening but, you guessed it, by the time I got home the thick drizzle was on again!
Anyway, I got the hedge trimmer out and wellies and raingear on and made a start! Have about 1/3 of the hedge cut, but not tidied up, and feel that it at least says that "someone lives here" :)
Tomorrow is a new day!
17 May 2011 10:14:26
Golden showers.
Unlike the continious showers we are having these days, this Golden Showers rose really brightens the day! This is one of the rose bushes that I mentioned in yesterday's journal.
16 May 2011 22:31:12
Rosa Jens Munk
After the misunderstanding that the last journal caused I'll have to be careful what I say here! Herself is a little sensative about the ageing process, ye'll understand!!!
Well, to gardening...........
Today was another thoroughly miserable, drizzly day! No day for doing anything in a garden but by 5pm I just HAD to get out, at least to the shed! Potted on some white Cosmos and some lavender. Then remembered my white Lupin so got the raingear and wellies on and planted it in the border. Also planted in a Golden Showers rose that I had grown from a cutting. I have at least 5 now all grown from cuttings, as you can guess, I really love this rose - for its beautiful blooms but most of all for its perfume. Its coming into flower now as are many of the roses.
14 May 2011 22:37:54
Candles! almost as many as on my Birthdaycake!
..,the garden keeps growing, grass and weeds as well as flowers! But then, the rain falls on the just and the unjust!!:)
Cant believe that its a whole week since I put up a journal entry and since I did any real gardening! Life has been hectic and the weather rather wet! But I did go for a walk around this evening and am amazed at the growth - some welcome, some less so!!
Many of the roses are coming into bloom: Old Blush China, Golden Showers, Wild Edric, Jens Munk, Rosa rugosa Alba and that lovely semi-wild deep pink/red and beautifully scented old rose whose name I dont know!
Hope next week brings warmer and dryer weather, so I can get some cutting done!
07 May 2011 22:42:23
I have just put up a few pictures taken this evening and one of them is a picture of The Outer Circle which some of you may remember is a new area created over the autumn/ winter. Im quite pleased with how it is doing and it should get better as plants grow.
07 May 2011 22:02:18
That view again!
I have spared you all a sight of
that view for a long time now! But this evening the Donegal Water Bus did an evening trip right past here and looked so beautiful in the evening sun that I just had to try a picture. It is a little distant but somehow speaks of summer!
06 May 2011 20:07:54
Azalea 'Glowing Embers'
This is another one! Looks red before the flower opens fully but then really like glowing embers!
06 May 2011 19:44:06
Azalea Mollis
Took this picture this morning of this Azalea Mollis, a dicidious azalea that I planted in the shrub border 3-4 years ago. It has a lovely perfume and covered in bloom. I really like these dicidious azaleas for both their spring colour and autumn foliage. And there are many different colours but not all have a perfume.
06 May 2011 10:55:59
Soon to be two!
I have come to the conclusion that designer gardens are rather sad! Let me explain before ye all leap to the defence of garden designers!:)
A year or two ago I got the idea of planting a Clematis Montana to grow up one of my ugly old fir trees. I was just admiring it the other day and suddenly I noticed a possibility! There is another fir tree about 8-10 feet away and somhow a path has developed, through use, between these two trees into a very-mini woodland area with bluebells and Lilly-of-the-Valley.
Idea! Plant another Montana to grow up this tree and maybe in time the two will meet in the overhead branches (!!). I'm so excited!! Cant wait to plant!
Now a designer would have planned all that on paper from the beginning and it would all be blooming now,BUT Oh, the thrill off a new Idea!! Thats what gardening is about, me thinks!
05 May 2011 14:58:07
Peony
We had some rain yesterday evening and again today but really quite light. Just damped the leaves but the ground is still very dry. Slugs are busy so pellets had to go round the tender shoots on dahlias coming through the soil. I reason that if the dahlias struggled to survive all that frost they deserve to be looked after!!
Things have come on at such a rate I need to re-pot all my Sweet Williams for the second time! A job for a damp afternoon. They are all ready to bloom! So may have come and gone before the plant sale!
This is one of my many species Peonies that have been here since I was a child. The blooms dont last too long but they are magnificent! Again they usually bloom end of May/ early June!! A strange year!
04 May 2011 18:06:38
Viburnum plic. 'Mariesii'
Since the changes were made to this web page I have had lots of problems which Craig is still trying to sort, so it is a bit of a struggle to write a journal entry hence the lack of involvement!
Anyway, the rain has just arrived here and many plants will be glad of a good drink! I was in the garden early this morning as I had a few jobs that I really needed to get done before the rain came.
I planted in a Magnolia Stellata that had been sitting around since I bought it cheaply in Lidl and also a little varigated Peris that a neighbour gave me at the weekend. Both these were planted in the Lower Garden where I spent ages digging the holes as it is on the left-hand-side where the fir trees are and have roots everywhere, but with saw and loopers I eventually got good holes dug so they have been give a good start!
I took a few pictures before the rain arrived and this is one of my Viburnum Mariesii which is just lovely at the moment.
02 May 2011 21:25:24
Michelia 'Gail's Favourite'
I expect like me many of you spent today in the garden, and I hope you enjoyed it it as much as I did!
Its hard to keep up with all the growth and bloom. We are about a month ahead. I am very concious of this as each year I note what will be in bloom for my Open Garden weekend - 3rd weekend in June. Now Im trying to keep from worrying that all will have gone over!! But nature will sort its self out eventually so I just have to trust!
When walking round the garden yesterday morning I was delighted to see this flower on my Michelia "Gail's Favourite". I bought this little shrub at Hillsborough Show last year and was so pleased that it had survived the winter. Seeing a bloom on it was an extra bonus.