Last Post 723 days 3 hours ago
31 May 2011 22:55:36
R.Furnivals Daughter
Its nearing the end of the Rhodo flowering season in my garden and this is the second last one to flower.
25 May 2011 22:37:44
Paeonia Bowl of beauty
I bought this Paeonia a couple of years ago and it has been wonderful since.
20 May 2011 13:14:41
A.Glowing Embers.
This really shows how wonderful that deciduous azaleas can
turn out to be, when they get to a decent size. This one is Azalea Glowing
Embers which puts on a marvellous display for me year after year. I don't have
any of them with pink flowers and I must remedy that this year as I have them
in yellow, orange, red and white and they are absolutely priceless.
17 May 2011 10:07:20
A.Golden Sunset
This is the second of the yellow orange deciduous azaleas to flower. In the next few minutes, I will add photos of other rhodos which are flowered at the moment.
13 May 2011 10:01:46
R.Catawbiense Boursault
I took a bit of time to take stock of the casualties among
my Rhodos in the last few days. Both big leaves are gone i.e R.Macabeanum and R.Falconeri
as well as one newly planted Japanese Azalea which didn't get the chance to
settle down. I was also worried about my R.Valentieanum and R.Cilpinense but on
examination both look to be okay. I cut
back the dead wood and gave them a feed to give them a boost but another winter
like the last couple will definitely do for R.Valentieanum so fingers crossed.
As the flowers are fading on the others I'm deadheading as much as is practical
and I must decide which of them I will give a feed to or not. Some of them don't
like fertiliser and sometimes it's a matter of trial and error. Shown is the very hardy hybrid R.Catawbiense Boursault.
11 May 2011 11:51:38
R.Dreamland.
This is one of my yak hybrids, R.Dreamland which flowers well every year. I'll put up a few more yak hybrid photos as well in my photo album today. R.Golden Torch was the next best performer while both R.Sneezy and R.Grumpy flowered fairly poorly. I must get Snow White to give them grief. In my opinion, the parent species R.Yakushimanum is superior to any of the hybrids, its a pity its so hard to come by. I have also put a photo of R.Ponticum Variegatum which is non invasive unlike R.Ponticum itself. It is one of the few variegated Rhodos but my favourite variegated one for flowers is R.President Roosevelt. I came across one a few years back but gave it away as a present but it never thrived and wilted away which was a pity as the flowers are lovely.
10 May 2011 22:29:46
Deutzia.
From little things, one day big things come and boy has it turned out well. My Uncle Joe sent this to me a few years ago and it has turned out to be very impressive.
10 May 2011 22:18:23
A.Golden Flare.
This was the first of my orange deciduous azaleas to flower and I have two more to come.I had hoped they would all come out together but alas that didn't happen. Still, it heralds in the others very impressively.
09 May 2011 12:59:01
Cercis Siliquastrum
I'm forever looking up trees and shrubs in books and on the
net and when one really takes my fancy, the next aim is to try to acquire one.
One such tree was Cercis Siliquastrum and in 2005, I came across one in the
wonderful Dundrum nursery in Tipperary for the paltry sum of €10. Its common
name is the Judas tree supposedly called so as it is reputed to be the tree
that Judas hanged himself on but I prefer the opinion that it's called after
the place Judea. I was aware that it needs a warm summer the previous year for
it to flower well and mine had a few flowers last year. I think Rachel had a photo of one from the Botanical gardens this year clothed in flowers, but I'm afraid my one will be brought up for indecent exposure as it has only a few flowers again but never mind, the heart shaped leaves are lovely anyway and as it matures, the flowering should improve
as well.
09 May 2011 09:52:11
R.Alfred.
It seems to be the time of the year for most of the larger purple hybrids to flower and first for me is the old hybrid R.Alfred.
06 May 2011 13:39:33
Meconopsis Betonicifolia
I am always in awe of people like my mother and my fellow Garden.ie members who have the ability and the patience to grow plants from seed and I love reading members diaries on their latest successes. I'm more like a talent scout who has a good eye for the mature talent when others have all the hard work done. But in the case of the famous/infamous blue poppies, even my mother failed which is a rare occurrence so that's where I came in and last October ordered 4 Meconopsis Betonicifolia from Glendoick, 2 for my Mam and 2 for us and my heart fair leapt with joy today when I saw this magnificent blue flower peering through the leaves of R.Loderi King George. All I can say is that they are as beautiful as I hoped they would be.
06 May 2011 12:38:58
Azalea Homebush
This is the very lovely upright growing deciduous A.Homebush. I will put a close up of the flowers in my photo album.
05 May 2011 11:24:37
A.Quinquefolium.
Its deciduous azalea time and thank God for that as they are a wonderful addition to any garden who has the soil to grow them and over the next few weeks I will be putting up photos of the ones that I have but I'll start with a photo of my most recent addition which is the species A.Quinquefolium otherwise known as the cork azalea. It is still very small and probably will be a few years before it flowers but I got it for the foliage as much as for the flowers. I love the reddish-brown markings on the leaves and I have it placed beside the yellow flowered A.Anneke and the white flowered A.Persil of which I will put up a photo of in the next few minutes in my rhodo album.
05 May 2011 09:45:22
R.Aberconwayi his Lordship
This is another of last years photos and this is the species R.Aberconwayi his Lordship, also I have put a photo of the magnificent blooms of the hybrid 'Point Defiance' in the Rhodo flowers album which also took a rest from flowering this year.
05 May 2011 09:37:56
Help please- Calling all Camellia experts.
We came across a memory card with loads of photos from the last couple of years and this is a photo of what was supposed to be Camellia Sasanqua Bonanza. It is nothing like what Bonanza is supposed to look like so if anyone can help I'd be delighted as I like to know the names of all the plants.It didnt flower last year at all, that photo is from September 2009.
04 May 2011 23:01:55
R.Dichroanthum subsp Syphoacalyx
It is so seldom you come across species rhodos in mainstream nurseries etc but I picked up this rhodo last year in 'Atlantic' and I think they deserve praise for stocking it.I hope more nurseries etc take a few risks in what they stock in the future.I have also added a couple of other Japanese azalea photos to my album.
04 May 2011 22:49:16
Most of us have been out and about lately removing the dead shrubs that last winter's weather left us with and last week I took out Pieris ‘Little Heath' and R.Lady Alice Fitzwilliam. I haven't had the heart to take out R.Macabeanum or the Daphne Bhloua I wrote about a few days ago in the hope that they will prove me wrong. Next on my list was my Crinodendron which I have had for a good few years and which is now over 6ft high and as those of you who know it, is a truly beautiful shrub with its dark narrow leaves and red lantern flowers, but which was stripped bare and totally dead looking for the last few months. On my stroll around the garden yesterday, I was debating to myself what to replace it with; when I noticed that it has sprouted from the base and also that there are new leaves appearing up the branches as well. Talk of being happy. I know it has a long way to go,but where there's life there's hope.
04 May 2011 14:02:59
Azalea Geisha Orange.
When in flower and in particular when they reach a good size, the evergreen azaleas are very impressive and this one is the biggest one that I have. The others that I have are younger and smaller but are still nice in flower, but of all the Rhododendron genus,l I find them the least interesting. I'll do a diary on the deciduous azaleas in the next few days, an example of which can be seen in the front of the photo and of which i am a big fan.
02 May 2011 22:54:14
R.Yakushimanum.
This is the species Rhodo Yakushimanum which is the parent species of many of the popular hybrids such as R.Percy Wiseman and all the other Yak hybrids. Its a lovely rhodo,very hardy and it stays a tidy enough size.
02 May 2011 22:30:37
Embothrium.
I wrote last year of how I fell in love with the wonderful Embothrium Coccineum and despite the awful winter I'm glad to say that mine is doing fine and as can be seen has flowered fairly okay. It has the reputation of being difficult but I don't let these things put me off and feel that sometimes you just have to take a chance. I have mine near the yellow Paeonia Lutea var Ludlowi which I featured a few days ago and in front of them I have the species Rhodo Dichroanthum ssp Scyphocalyx which I thought would be orange coloured but is actually more reddish. Still they are looking well together.