Month: July 2010

In and out of the garden all day between the showers. Got a bit of weeding and dead heading done. Dont feel like doing anymore today – taking it easy.

My grandson took the tops off the lilies. When I asked why he did it he said the bees were hungry and he wanted to feed them.!!!!

Did you all see our write up in the main part of the Irish Times, under ‘Secret Gardens’. It means we might get one mega load of garden visitors tomorrow and I am all alone to get everything ship shape for them.

My husband took these photos today wandering around the back garden.  I always seem to get to a point in the summer where I find that the garden is on the verge of turning and this is about as good as it gets… I have that feeling today!

Entertaining tonight. Rather than my guests seeing the new Greenhouse Border half empty, I decided to dot around all my plants in waiting into the gaps. AND at least they have a better chance of being watered regularly too. Happy with this mix, as I wanted good HOT colours in this border. It works, FOR NOW!

It was supposed to be a barbecue, but unfortunately it has been very showery and blustery all day. SO indoors it shall be. They can still look out at the garden which will be all lit up for their benefit.

Our 4 courgette plants are producing a huge crop of Fruits, we must be picking nearly  15/16 fruits per week! most of these go into courgette and dill soup which is delicious and freezes really well! Maggie has been busy today making up a second batch for the freezer! 

Liga and Jurga already wrote about yesterday visits and what fun we had, so I want to continue the story….  When I got home after such beautiful day on Friday, I made tea and the early ours of Saturday morning was approaching. It was 3 am to be precise, I was still on my laptop, and found on pepermint farm and garden webside the add, that there is the Market and Plant fair in Tankardstown house in Slane. Inspired by yesterdays legal sniffings (ha ha ha) … in Ligas amazing garden… of all kind of mints, sages, basils and just flowers…  me and my boyfriend Tony went to see if there will be any nice scented plants at the fair…

Ah… you cant imagine, how happy i came home! Beside my lemon basil, borage (fresh cucumber scent), pinapple sage (I adore it!) few types of mints… which I got from Liga and Jurga…  now I got more….

1. Lemon verbena (aloysia tryphylla) smells gorgeous! 

2. Savory Winter (Satureja montana) the flavour is hot and peppery

3. Bergamot (Monarda didyma) smells good and flowers bright red

4. Green cotton Lavender (Santolina viridis) evergreen, black olive scented foliage, yellow button like flowers all summer

5. Achilea millefolium "Red velvet" You see the beauty in the picture!

   The most expensive was the Achilea e 7.90. The rest plants were from e 2- e 3 each.  So not very bad…  

I am starting my new project! I want to create a special corner for  scented edible plants.  So, my friends!- the next plant sniffing session will be in my garden!  All welcome!  :-)))

This hydrangea has made such a good recovery after the winter. It is not my usual sturdy one, the stems are fine and more lax, and it really suffered in the frost, but the flower heads are now enormous. The label says it is ‘Vanille-Fraise’ but I have a feeling that may not be correct as it is supposed to turn from white to pink but we will see. But as you can see the pebble dashed shed is not the best background for it! It may have to be moved.

Visitors went yesterday and as hubby is off this weekend, we decided to take it easy. We went to Kilruddery House and Gardens which, although quite near me, I had never been to before. Beautiful house surrounded by lovely grounds. The weather was a bit changeable but we managed to walk round most of it. Not enough flowers for me but some beautiful trees. Then we went to Avoca in Kilmacanogue for lunch and a good walk round the garden centre. I bought a white hydrangea and a deep pink lobelia, now the joy of deciding where to put them, so I am a happy bunny!

Went out today to take a few photos and this was the first thing I saw–I hope it’s not one of the nasty ones that I read somewhere have arrived here. I’ll put some of the other photos in an album, 31 July.

Although these were not moving in the breeze, they still seemed to be dancing to me.

Due to the number of private emails I was receiving, asking me to please let people have a sneak preview of the pond, Eircom asked me, to please let people see something as they were sure it would take a lot of the pressure off the system.

Not one to cause others any problems, I have decided to let people people have a look. even though the the surround is not finished, here goes………

This is one of the Gingers that I like

This is another of the range of Black tomatoes we are growing this year, this one weighed in at just under 1lb……………

I spoke to Jimi Blake today, sadly he is not available for the Saturday 14th of August, and is busy with courses and visit for the next while. So if people are interested, we can go ahead and visit the garden anyway. There will be no talk or guided tour but we can still have a great time, and maybe if people want to bring a picnic and make a decent day out.

What does 1.00 pm sound like to meet there at?

This was grown by sowing perennial mix last year but I’d like to know it’s name.

  Waiting so long for flowering,and there is it,,at last.Today it open 3th bud.Did you know at begin it is green,and then slowlly change colour.And when full open it look like on picture.

   I think i will order gloriosa lutea too,they have to look good together.

Muscadet lilies on the deck a few moments ago. Some are so near to opening that they are just teasing me!!!

Spent the afternoon in the garden, tedious job deadheading the red standard rose and the climbing rose at the back door, removed spent Blue Thycoon and some of the candytuft from the NW bed. Watered everything in the polytunnel and then it was on to more tidying and weed removal in beds along front of the house more deadheading roses. Finished the terrace bed and then removed any remaining self seeded poppies as they had become very tatty, more deadheading and weeding along the south bed. Finally decided that the lupins needed drastic treatment in this bed as they really had suffered from aphids and the white budlehia has really spread out so now all that is left are new shoots emerging. This bed is going to have a few plants moved around once the summer is over, the yellow lily is too far forward but it must be twice as high this year than last, the yellow achellia is also going to move further bach and the lupins will move forward but that’s another days work in the autumn. Have dahlia Vancouver nearly open and Queen Victoria Lobelia rising in the bed along the front of the house. With any luck tomorrow will be another reasonable day for gardening plan to lift some self seeded plants rather than weeding them out.

Today I managed to do a bit of planting between the raindrops.

I planted the two big Yuccas that Dick kindly gave me yesterday and I am very pleased with them. Thank you, Dick.

I was really surprised at how enormous they are – I was expecting something much smaller and am so pleasantly surprised!

The spaces in my new border are rapidly filling.

I did some weeding and dead-heading today.

I also did a bit of rescuing as my two Russian Sages, Perovskia altriplicifolia ‘Blue Spire’, had disappeared from view completely.

I found them under the branches of my spreading Sea Kale, Crambe maritima, and cut off a few branches to let light in.

But oh, the scent of the lilies!

Boarder in back looking good, really pleased  the way it is looking, need to move a few things later in the year. And add some late spring or early summer colour.

Koralie Norton took some photos which I have uploaded.  I think she did a great job.

Mary and I went to visit Huntingbrook Gardens, Blessington, Co. Wicklow today. This is the garden of Jimi Blake. 

I have put up a photo album of shots taken today, a selection showing views of the garden as we walked about and a selection of the flowers which caught my eye today.

Afterwards, we went to visit June Blake’s garden and I will try to post photographs from there tomorrow. 

Hope you enjoy the photographs.

Paddy