Rachel's Journal

The Hill & Bloom

22 May 2013 23:27:50

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Spent a few hours weeding the Persicaria hill today.

It's not my favourite job but it has to be done.

I noticed the Typhonium leaves looking particularly lovely today.

I wonder is anyone going to Bloom on the Friday?

Mutant

22 May 2013 23:04:18

Cymbidium Miss Scarlet

Strangely the flowers on the second spike of this Cymbidium are deformed.

The first spike was normal and is still present but the second spike has weird conjoined flowers.

See how the flowers have an extra petal below and two lips each.

Every flower on the second spike is like this. Strange!

Paeonia delavayi

21 May 2013 19:53:10

Paeonia delavayi

What a glorious day it was. It was wonderful to be able to eat outdoors and enjoy the garden for a change.

I took all the gingers out of the greenhouse and tidied them up then I took them over to the West Garden where they are to be planted. There are 10-12 large pots of it.

My daughter put them in position and seemed very happy to be asked to do that but I didn't quite get around to planting them. Look at the lovely tree peony that's in flower at the back of that border!

I've been enjoying the Chelsea coverage. But isn't it a shame not to have a Dermot Gavin garden to gripe about for a change ;-)

Sarracenia

21 May 2013 19:39:33

Sarracenia

I spent a long time outdoors today but I'm not quite sure what I was doing :P

Did you all get your hands on those lovely large clay pots in Aldi for €6? They are great value and I've done a bit of potting up using them.

Following my trip to Liga's on Sunday, I took a leaf out of her book and went a bit mad with the secateurs, cutting pieces off a lot of Aeonium and Brugmansia and potting them up separately.

And following my visit to Bill's I filled some buckets with water and left them around the greenhouse to raise the humidity. It was an eye opener to feel the difference in humidity and air circulation in Bill's greenhouses, compared to mine.

Orchid Paradise

19 May 2013 22:47:11

Dendrobium anosmum var. album

Today Liga and myself visited Orchid Paradise. It's in County Meath, don't you know?

We went to the home of Bill Hunter, founder of the species specific orchid site, orchid importer, seller and member of garden.ie. Bill, and his lovely family, were most welcoming to us and soon we were chatting away like old friends.

Bill has been growing orchids for many years and has perhaps 2000 plants in his greenhouses. I can tell you, we didn't know where to look next. There were so many different types and many genus that I'd never even heard of. Bill is an encyclopaedia of knowledge and helpfulness on orchids.

So a great big thank you to Bill and his family for such wonderful hospitality and Liga for being, as always, such great company. What a wonderful day!

Unfortunately, I had no camera so the photo was taken when I got home. Look at this monster Dendrobium that stowed away with me somehow! Isn't it like something from the film 'Alien'?

Garden Views

18 May 2013 10:30:54

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A few garden shots in yesterday's sunshine.

Anticipation

18 May 2013 10:18:47

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I can't wait for the hardy orchids to open.

The picture shows Cypripedium in bud in the Hardy Orchid bed I made last spring.

They should open any day now. So excited.

I have three and know the names but not their positions so unfortunately I won't know which is which until they open.

Arum 'Crimea'

17 May 2013 18:06:21

Arum 'Crimea'

Arum has opened.

Eek

17 May 2013 17:58:43

Eek

I was delighted to pick up these two little cast iron mice today and put them together with an ornamental bird cage that was headed for the bin.

Here We Go!

16 May 2013 16:55:20

Here We Go!

I started the first stage of the carnivorous bog today.

I removed strips of grass from beside our table area. The two borders beside the table are now linked and there is just one border going almost all the way round the table.

I will put my two planters in this area, roughly as pictured, and build two dry stone walls around them to hide the ugly plastic. The remaining ground will be planted.

The area pictured, with the two planters, is at a higher level than the paving that the table is on. So, because at a higher level and the fact that the planters are higher again, I hope to be able to look my Sarracenia in the eye when eating dinner!

King Protea

15 May 2013 23:34:56

King Protea

This is King Protea.

It was bought as a seedling at a plant fair in 2010.

Well, I didn't fancy all that mucking about, blowing smoke on the seeds to help them germinate!

The plant grows bigger and bigger every year and is now in a big pot but no sign of flowers yet.

It keeps trying to trick me because the new leaves unfurl at the stem tips and look very like a bud before they do.

Another strange thing is that if you manually unfurl the leaves, they kind of spring open. Normally plants just get damaged from that kind of messing!

And, this will not be the year for it to flower either. I saw its brothers in full flower already in the Botanic Gardens last week. Maybe next year...

Clianthus

15 May 2013 13:39:00

Clianthus

I was very pleased to come across this sight in the garden this morning (excuse the dreadful picture). It is Clianthus and it is going to flower!!!

I was given three small plants by Deborah in 2011 and they grew into small, healthy bushes. Then, after all that, THIS SPRING two of them seem to have died. So you can imagine how pleased I was to come across buds on the final one. The lesson here is to always plant in threes!

I did some mulching this morning (nearly finished now) but was driven in by the wind.

The I remembered the fresh Hepatica seeds that had been sent to me in the post so I scurried out to sow them and ended up potting on a few more seedlings.

Hey, anyone got a copy of the latest Gardeners World magazine?
I'm looking for the garden entrance card, 2 for the price of 1, if you're not using it please!