Month: March 2012

I sometimes think I get as much out of the design phase of a garden project. For the past couple of weeks I’ve been mulling over ideas for the "Wind Plaza" letting my imagination have full reign. 

Several ideas got to the drawing stage, and some even got to the costing. I had more or less settled on one and had even started the basic construction but when I went to source some of the materials I ralised it was way out of my budget. This was a big blow – but not to be defeated we went back to the drawing phase …. and came up with a completely new idea – well within budget and even better than the previous one!

 

It was great fun – particularly modelling it with the kiddies blocks ……..

I decided to get my mum a plant for Mother’s Day and picked one out yesterday in a store. I usually don’t buy plants without knowing their name. I have seen this plant before. There was care instructions on it but there was no name?

Awaiting a delivery of 3 tonnes of gravel this afternoon for the front garden. And as a goodwill gesture, the man at the quarry is throwing in about 10 boulders/rocks. Now, I sincerely hope they’re not what a ‘man’ would consider a boulder or we won’t be able to move them off the driveway. And depending on the size, 10 may be way too many for the front so we’ll have to carry them through the house to the back.

Rain here since I got up this morning at 5.30. So I got a few bits done on the home front, hoping to get out afterwards. That didn’t really happen though. The rain hasn’t stopped all day. Not complaining though as it has been a long time since we had a good spell of rain. The quarry man arrived with the gravel. I was mistaken though. Steve only ordered 2 tonnes. When he dumped it out on the driveway I thought there was no way it was going to be enough. But your man assured me it would be plenty. And the boulders weren’t boulders, thank God. Just nice big chunks of Quartz, to blend in with the gravel. 

Phase 2 begins tomorrow.

I’m getting a bit excited!!! 

after a bad night sleep, was up all night with toothache, i got the tooth out this morning so  i was told to take it easy so i confined myself to the house but got loads sown.cornflowers, aster varieties,pink pampas grass, white pampas grass,pelargonium,phornium tenax purpurea,carex praire fire,agapanthus, geum bradshaw and lady stradtheden,salvia victoria blue, and rose queen,amd rudbeckia and a selection of cosmos, echinacea paradox,verbena bonariensis,carnation trailing mix,gazinia mix, lobelia mix. still have marigolds and some more stuff to sow in the tunnel tomorrow. 

got these yesturday in lidl for the two mums hope they like them

I had a lovely day today visiting Jurgita’s garden near Avoca (profile : Hoeys).

The amount of work that has been done since my last visit in 2010 is enormous. In fact, I came away exhausted just thinking about it all. 

I love the way Jurgita has incorporated the stream into her garden and the new raised Primula beds are just beautiful. There was lots of rustic seating ad features too.

We were mostly lucky with the weather and, although we had no sunshine, it is a testament to Jurga’s garden how well it looked even without sun. I put a few photos in an album.

Of course we had a great old chat and loads of tasty things to eat. To tell the truth, I had been feeling a bit down the last while but Jurga’s cheery character and enthusiasm really buoyed me up. I can’t wait to see how the new projects pan out!

Some of my cannas and bananas have grown really tall over the winter but they are in desperate need of more light.

Today a lot of them got man-handled out to the greenhouse to harden up.

The problem with growing things indoors is that they grow too soft. One 6ft Canna (I kid you not) keeled over when it was moved. It is now staked up but I may have to cut that spike back.

Hopefully they will all harden up nicely now in preparation for planting out in June.

The makeover for the front garden is going to be really unique (in my opinion, anyway). However, I am leaving a few shrubs and trees there for the backbone. One of these that I am happy to leave be is Spirea ‘Snowmound’ which is up at the front door. It is now starting to burst open with its snow white flowers. When this shrub is in full flower, the branches just droop with the weight of them. I love it. It just gets better and better.

I also think that, really our front gardens are not our own. We owe it to the neighbours to give them something nice to look at. And believe me, I have been very slow in providing them with something a bit different. Hopefully the wait will have been worth it!!

Hi Everyone, I’ve updated the list of garden.ie members who hope to attend the Blarney meet-up. We will meet in the main car parking area. Adam will arrange free entry and a tour with a couple of the gardeners. The tour will probably take a couple of hours. If people are interested, we can stop for refreshments or a light snack afterward and then have a bit of a plant swap.

For an idea of what to expect, you can take a look at: The Gardens at Blarney Castle

We have 21 people interested so far. Let me know if you’d like to add your name to the list. 

1 Milliemouse1234

1 Hosta

1 Mary123

1 Joann

1 Elizabeth7

2 Kate & Graham

2 Gracedieu Lass

1 BrunoCork

2 The H(Hazel) (+ Elizabeth)

1 Fraoch

2 Myrtle (+ Ron)

1 McDonald

1 DaisyJane

1 Periwinkle

3 MaryJoe (+2)

Was excited all week, because I Knew  Rachel was coming for the visit. Its great to spend time with a real garden lover, we talked and talked. Designs, ideas, plans and dreams… so much to discuss and so little time.

Rachel best luck with your ideas and special jar…and i do hope Sammy will have a lovely breakfast from the goose egg..

thanks for the visit, your time and lovely plants.  

 We have the perfect sky for star gazing here in Roscommon tonight … we  put the coats and hats on and spent about an hour outside..  According to the experts Mars  is very visible this month .. we have  good binoculars, but I think a telescope is the only thing if we are going to see anything… might be on the birthday wish list 🙂