Last Post 1424 days 9 hours ago
28 June 2009 22:25:05
Salty and Suilleabhain
Call in the troops
both looking at Suili's photo online.
28 June 2009 19:04:16
Suilleabhain
Suilleabhain (suil amhain) letting me know he's had enough of garden.ie
Posted photos of some orchids specially for Michael. most are not in bloom at present Cymbidium are late winter/early spring bloomers. others are in the process of propogation and are quite ugly plants without the exotic flowers
27 June 2009 21:44:33
lucky there is no water meter outside my door or I would be stony broke. As well as 67 orchids (most of which got watered today) I counted containers as I watered outdoors this evening. 209 at present!! no wonder the garden is too small. Some have dormant spring bulbs but still need water. Please rain at night!!
27 June 2009 13:51:57
strange orchid
taking a short break from orchid care. This chore usually takes about 2 days as all 67 plants need about 30 mins plunged in water. Am feeding today as they were rather neglected while I was away. Luckily orchids prefer to be too dry rather than too wet so it does not come round too often. " chore" sounds like its not enjoyable... in a strange way it is tho its tiring when one is not too young!! you young ones can do the major weeding and outdoor work.
This one has a strange growth habit but produces masses of flowers for ever so long
27 June 2009 11:21:35
Robbie Burns house, now a museum
posted some photos from Scotland and some of my own thrown in for good measure. The Scottish ones are not gardens mostly as weather was not good and we were tracing ancestors as this was the object of the visit. We were staying near Maughline where Robbie Burns lived and fathered 9 children most of whom died. His twins were born the day he died himself when only in his 30's. Robbie Burns is the Scottish equivalent of our Irish Joyce and as such is made much of in scottish tourism
On this genealogy hunt round Scotland and Ireland it is very saddening to see the number of babies and children who did not survive. When one sees the efforts to save premature babies now it makes one glad not to have been born in the 1800's. Lots of women died in childbirth too, must have been very scary to be pregnant then.
In Spite of bad weather (which improved the day we were leaving) Scotland is a beautiful place and we got to see more than was planned when the ferry was cancelled at Troon and we had to drive to Cairnryan along the coast.
Our search for Scottish branch of the family unearthed some facts better left in the cupboard!! What a hard life they had..
26 June 2009 19:46:04
Black Lace???
Was just the driver on this trip but going through a small village called Catrine, the corner of my eye (cos being the driver I was supposed to be looking at the road!!) I glimpsed what looked like a wonderful shrub. The glimpse was so slight i could not identify it. It bothered me for two days and niggled to see it again. Then I got the opportunity to slightly " lose the way" and travel towards that Village again. Took this photo and think it is Susan's Black Lace. Am I correct Susan? It was just beautiful. Went on my wish list straight away.
Weather in Scotland was even worse than here, rain drizzle, cold. Never saw the sun til we got back to ireland, and that was another story. cancelled ferry 2 hour drive for a later one. almost missed a family reunion in Dublin as a result but all ended well and i got my lovely photo of black Lace.
16 June 2009 20:37:05
epiphyllum
This pale cream coloured epiphyllum is about to burst into bloom. Will post pictures when they open if I am here to witness it. Am off on ferry to Scotland on the genealogy trail of long dead ancestors. Will be mooching round cemeteries and hoping I do not miss these exquisite flowers and equally exquisite perfume.
10 June 2009 19:15:48
Hope
I seem to be obsessed with Streptocarpus but could not resist posting photo of this one called "Hope"
10 June 2009 19:13:12
Fuchsia 'peggy'
Susan and her friend Marion came to visit today and afterwards we all three went to Sally's on the Leenane rd. What a wonderful garden she has. Its huge and so full of plants all doing wonderfully. She has made fabulous use of the large boulders dug out of the site and used to terrace her garden. She gets great help from husband Peter who is just as interested and does all the construction and heavy work. As I have come to expect both sally and Susan knew the name of everything growing. Marion was very knowledgeable too and I felt a wee bit of a novice as Garden plant names are beyond me. Sally gave me a fushia called 'peggy'. I purchased a similar one the day after my mother was buried in 2003 and looked after it since. but this year in Spring it appeared to be dead and I was upset. Then three tiny shoots crept up from the root and I have been watching for them to get big enough to take cuttings. Lo and behold sally had bought one and very generously gave it to me so now I do not have to take the cuttings and can leave them to develop. Thank you so much Sally. We really enjoyed our day which flew so rapidly it was 5.30 and poor Peter had had no dinner. hope it was worth waiting for peter.. Enjoyed your company too Susan and hope to meet again soon.
07 June 2009 20:26:46
Alissa
the only yellow streptocarpus 'Alissa'. Named for the daughter of Rex Dibley, breeder of streptocarpus
06 June 2009 11:44:16
out of season clivia
this photo of clivia was taken not five minutes ago! its totally out of season showing the confusion among plants as to correct time to bloom. there is another bud in background. If plants are confused what chance have we poor humans got!..
05 June 2009 18:17:28
Who? Me? never. it was somebody else
Sally Sarah and I had a very enjoyable visit to Susan's garden at Castlebar. The only non pleasant part was the wind and cold. What a change from previous days. Susan was kind enough to supply both of us with jackets and that made it more bearable Needless to say we came away laden with plants from her 'nursery' Thank you Susan. Have wanted Tropaeolum for years. now have to find the ideal place for it. Its fussy! What a paradise she has made from a granite hillside. wonderful.
Photo shows 'Who? me?' as named by Therese (tessie new to site, welcome Therese) I did not wash off his 'green wellies' as he likes to think he is helping in the garden.
posted two or three new photos.