08 August 2012 11:38:00
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I wouldn't usually be tempted by such brashness :-) but I couldn't resist this Geranium back in May. It has proved to be a very strong grower and I'm now quite fond of these firework-like leaves.......
17 July 2012 18:13:52
Its a Silver-Gilt!
And the Champagne is flowing over there!!
16 July 2012 16:43:01
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Well, I'm not sure where to start as I haven't been here for a while, but believe it or not, I'm just back from helping to plant a Showgarden at the Tatton Flower show near Manchester. How did I get here? Well a stroke of luck really.
A couple of months ago a little plant shop opened up nearby here in Skerries. It is owned by garden designer Stephen Dennis (anyone remember the garden with the huge glass cube at Bloom a couple of years ago?) and his wife Camille and of course I became a regular visitor and got to know them. They were going to the Chelsea flower show and needed someone to help out at the shop so I gladly got involved. So then seeing as I am mad about plants I was asked if I would like to help with the garden at Tatton. At first it didn' look like it was going to work out but at the last minute I decided to go and I'm so glad I did. What a great experience.
The theme of the garden is a derelict barn or stable that has been given a new lease of life as a garden. The first photo shows how the garden looked when I arrived just before the planting began on Saturday morning. All the hard landscaping had been done and the pool with a fabulous living wall (made up of Ajuga, Sedum and Santolina) behind it had been finished. The patio is a beautiful stone called travertine. Over the seating area is a large pergola-type structure and then there is lots of space for planting inspired by meadow plants but with a contemporary interpretation. The list of plants is long but a few of them in the second picture are Lychnis 'Jenny', Foxgloves, four different types of Penstemons in beautiful colours - 'Strawberries and Cream', 'Amelia Jane', 'Czar' and 'Plum Jerkin', Campanula 'Pritchard's variety', a few different Salvias, Achilleas, Agastache, Scabiosa, dark purple Heuchera and Sambucus, Veronica 'Red Fox', a very unusual Lily called 'White Crane', Astilbes, and of course Ponytail grass in keeping with the horsey/stable theme.
In all, about 2000 plants have gone into the garden and the effect is brilliant, I think. I can't wait to put up a photo of the finished garden to see what you all think. They are probably working flat-out today to get it all finished off and then it will be judged tomorrow. We won't know until Wednesday how it did, but I hope it does well. Fingers crossed everybody please!
21 May 2012 10:01:22
She's back!
Welcome back Miss Barlow. Or is it Mrs??
29 April 2012 11:52:26
Two green flowers
I've been after Primula Francisca for a while now after seeing it on a couple of journals. Yesterday I got it at the Alpine show along with another green flowered primula -
Primula aurilcula 'Sword'. I have a bit of a thing for green flowers now but I'm not sure if this one is a beauty or a beast. Although I love it, it is described in the catalogue as a 'love or hate' plant!
29 April 2012 11:47:37
Leucogenes leontopodium and Leontipodium alpinum
It was lovely to get to the Alpine Show and see some friendly faces! The displays were a restrained riot of colour, pristine and perfect and there were lots of new things to discover. I got this Edelweiss for my Mam as we lived in Switzerland when I was a kid and it reminds me of the Swiss alps. I got another little silver leaved alpine, Leucogenes leontopodium as I have a large dish I was planning to make into an alpine planter and this was just what I was after. When I looked it up I discoverd it is called New Zealand Edelweiss, so I got two Edelweisses(?) without even knowing it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFHujvkacNY
25 April 2012 22:32:09
Jemima Puddleduck
although even this one doesn't look impressed!
16 April 2012 17:20:58
Lonicera henryi
Does anyone grow this Lonicera - I picked it up over the weekend and on the label it says it is scented but anything I've read online says that it is not, or only very faintly, so I think I may be exchanging it, unless someone can tell me different!
28 March 2012 11:38:23
Miniature Rose
Picked up a pot of Miniature roses at the florist this morning for €1! When I looked closely I saw that it was actually 4 separate cuttings so I think I'll try splittling them up and putting them around the base of a shrub. Now just have to decide which one.....