Month: March 2008

Now that spring is on the way and the grass is beginning to grow in tufts, I look out my window and wonder what to do first. I have lots of plans and would love to have a garden beautiful for the summer, but there is so much to be done.

Sun, hail, rain and snow all on the same day … the same morning in fact! The Ides of March was always tricky .. the Romans knew all about it.. well certainly Caesar did when he ended up on the pointed end of a dagger!

Those hailstones were like needles popping against the skin … but if we are patient all this drama will end in a week or so when March goes out like a lamb and amiable April beckons. But there’s no doubt climate change has made March roar even more loudly!

 

There are some plants that are just too big for a small garden – they are out of scale with their surroundings. The skunk cabbage is one of these. Its leaves range in size between 50 and 100 centimetres. In some cases, when growing in ideal conditions, they can be even larger in size. Clearly, this is not a plant for a small garden.

 

Although it is a perennial flower, and there are shrubs larger, it is the out-size scale of the leaves that make it unsuitable. However, it could be used in a country garden with ease. There are two other reasons why it would look more at home in a country garden. First of all, it is a moisture-lover, a streamside plant, and there is a better chance in a rural garden of having a natural stream to plant it beside. Secondly, the skunk cabbage is unchanged from the wild species and it is a very natural-looking plant. It would be more likely to fit into a natural streamside than an artificial garden pond, where there is no leakage of water through the pond-liner. So, it is a plant that can be recommended to owners of rural gardens.

 

And the skunk cabbage has much to recommend it in a suitable place. Its large leaves cut out most of the light reaching the soil, and because of their sheer size, this plant is well able to cope with the ordinary weeds of gardens. Once established, it will need no attention in regard to weeding, other than the removal of woody weeds such as brambles or willow that might spring up near it, and this would be fairly infrequent.

 

If you have a piece of streamside ground, or a bank leading down to a stream of pond, then consider this plant. It likes moist, rich fertile soil with plenty of organic material. Most streamsides have these requirements naturally. If the area is normally rough and ready with semi-wild vegetation, this plant is ideal. It will add a touch of spectacular decoration but cope with the opposition and, though from far-flung fields, still manage to look remarkably natural.

 

The skunk cabbage, Lysichiton americanus, came originally from the western side of North America where it grows from Alaska through the western states down into Northern California. In its wild state it grows by streamsides and lakes, its seeds spreading down river carried by the flow of water. In fact, it does the same thing here and has been observed downstream from some of the gardens where it was planted – so it must be right at home in our climatic conditions. But it not a weedy plant, or something that is likely to rampage across the countryside.

 

Our garden is to all intents and purposes another ‘room’ in the house.  When the weather is good we spend most of our time outdoors.  We love to have our meals in the garden and over the years the garden has evolved to meet the needs of our family.  We have two teenage girls, so two years ago we decided to deck most of the garden, just leaving a surrounding flower border with a fountain to provide a lush and tranquil background.  We designed and put down the deck ourselves (actually, Sven designed the deck with some input from me regarding the placement of the steps and the flower benches) but I did help him put down over 2,500 screws!  Whew, what a job that was.  But once the deck was finished we were amazed at how much extra space we had, and the children love to invite friends around for barbecues and just to hang out sometimes.  We then decided to build a long, long picnic table to accomodate at least twelve and retained a smaller circular table with four chairs for family meals.  Looking around at the moment, I can see that we have so much to do in the garden this year.  Some plants will have to come out, some will need a severe crewcut and I can’t wait to plant summer bedding which adds so much colour and joy to the garden.  Hopefully the summer will be good enough to encourage the growth of petunias, which I love for their colour and smell.

My great garden is simply great.

Special primrose

The sumptuous Primula ‘Elizabeth Killelay’ is a truly beautiful plant. It is a fairly recent creation, a cross between a single-flowered gold-laced polyanthus and a ruby-red, double primrose. With a result like this, it suddenly becomes very tempting to do a bit of research on the mechanics of cross-breeding plants, in the hope of ‘inventing’ a brand new plant oneself! So who is this Elizabeth Killelay? Some grand old dame of gardening perhaps? She’s a very proud young schoolgirl who is lucky enough to have a grandmother who likes to experiment with primulas!

My current garden is actually my fourth in a series (I tend to have itchy feet). Each of those gardens was noteworthy for what did well growing in them… and what didn’t. For example, in our present garden I’ve been able to grow all manner of ladyslipper orchids, hardy cyclamens, Japanese maples, and other plants that are unusual in gardens here in Iowa, but I can’t grow plain old aquilegias worth a hoot.

In previous gardens, I’d just scatter their seed about and have them by the dozens that would each fill a bushel basket. Here, columbines usually sulk about for a year or two, then just disappear. I know it’s a bit shady for them in our present garden, but there’s something more to it than that, for even in relatively sunny spots they flop. Perhaps they feel slighted, being a rather common plant amongst all the hoity-toitys imported at great expense from specialty nurseries. I’ve never thought of myself as being one of those insufferable garden snobs, though I do confess to making a brief, half-hearted attempt when we first moved here to label our property "Cedar Point"… or was it "Cedar Pointe"? Unfortunately our friends just kept calling it "lizndon’s place" like they always had, so that went by the wayside.

Whatever the reason; whether it’s something in the sun, the soil, the water, or the attitude, I’ve just about given up on aquilegias… and let’s not even talk about daisies!

My current garden is actually my fourth in a series (I tend to have itchy feet). Each of those gardens was noteworthy for what did well growing in them… and what didn’t. For example, in our present garden I’ve been able to grow all manner of lady slipper orchids, hardy cyclamens, Japanese maples, and other plants that are unusual in gardens here in Iowa, but I can’t grow plain old aquilegias worth a hoot.

In previous gardens, I’d just scatter their seed about and have them by the dozens that would each fill a bushel basket. Here, columbines usually sulk about for a year or two, then just disappear. I know it’s a bit shady for them in our present garden, but there’s something more to it than that, for even in relatively sunny spots they flop. Perhaps they feel slighted, being a rather common plant amongst all the hoity-toitys imported at great expense from specialty nurseries. I’ve never thought of myself as being one of those insufferable garden snobs, though I do confess to making a brief, half-hearted attempt when we first moved here to label our property “Cedar Point”… or was it “Cedar Pointe”? Unfortunately our friends just kept calling it “lizndon’s place” like they always had, so that went by the wayside.

Whatever the reason; whether it’s something in the sun, the soil, the water, or the attitude, I’ve just about given up on aquilegias… and let’s not even talk about daisies!

 

We started gardening in Foynes over 30 years ago. The garden is one acre in size, on an elevated site, overlooking the River Shannon. We have mild winters and get very little frost, however we are exposed to salt ladden winds that come up the Shannon estuary. Designed for year round colour, the garden is divided into a number of informal rooms which provide a micro-climate for the many tender plants, from the Southern Hemisphere, that grow here.

Almost two acres stretching alongside the Shannon River.  There had been a cultivated garden on this site but years of neglect had left a tangle of briars, nettles and old man’s beard.  Only from the upstairs windows of the house was it possible to see the river, and my first priority was to make it visible from the garden.  As we chopped and burned we discovered terraces and steps, a small pond with a large weeping willow growing through the concrete, old rose bushes and in the spring, drifts of daffodils.

Just a coulple of before and after pics, as you can see I tend to go for the chaos of colours rather than anything formal.

Just spent all morning trying to finish turning the soil out back and of course, as you would know a real irish morning one min its raining and the next you are blowin out of it….But in saying that I got a good bit of it turned…..Steve says i should just hire a rotavater but whats the point…The builders leave the gardens with so much ruble you would end up buring the engine out of it and then i would have to pay for a new one and i would rather spend it on the garden…….I had for got the term back breaking work….And i have found out over the last two days…..I picked up some cherry blossoms yesterday I know they are very old fashioned but there is something homely about having a cherry blossom in the garden…..So maybe i will go out and finish the painting of the fences which I might have to say doing things by hand is alot easier as i got that ronseal sprayer which is our second one….The first one we had to return as it kept clogging up and when we returned it to the store they said we used the wrong paint….So we got another one and got the right paint this time and the bloody thing still clogs up so i dumped it……..So it is easier in the long run to do things buy hand……Please god tomorrow is a better day and no rain or i will just have to do in the rain….

Just a coulple of old before and after pics, as you can see I tend to go for the chaos of colours rather than anything formal.