Month: April 2012

I bought the greenhouse in Aldi today and i had it all together with the cover on and then i went to close it up and some of the teeth are broken in one of the zippers and won’t close, really annoyed as i was really looking forward to getting on my plants in there and off the garden table so hopefully i can take back the cover to aldi instead of taking it all apart and get a replacement. Also i hear the weather is getting better from wed on so looking forward to that, this rain is miserable.

Some of you might remember the photo I put up a couple of days ago of my Arisaema. If not, scroll down a few journals and you will see for yourself what it looked like then.

This is what it looks like today. It just gets better and better……. 

Looking at it’s best just now in it’s spring colour. This fades more to a mid green then changes again for years end. 

Of the few acers I have I think this is the  ‘top dog’. 

It will be another week or so before I can get back to gardening, as home decorating and family homecomings and events are taking precedence. 

Just managed to get out with the camera late today to capture the last tulips.  I’m pleased with these which I planted last autumn; there’s a lovely pale yellow green flush on the white petals which the photo doesn’t do justice to.  These tulips are in the front garden; all in the back had their heads whipped off in the gales and rain over the past week!

Hope to be back in proper gardening mode shortly; meanwhile I’m trying to catch up on all your journals and enjoying seeing how you’re getting on.

Another windy, wet day here in Wexford. A quick tour of the garden revealed that the stems on my tree peony were broken clean off, including the three fat flower buds 🙁

I retired to the greenhouse to pot on Ammi and Tagetes. Soon there was no room to move so the dahlias had to be booted out. I put all the advanced, topped dahlias outside.

Then I sowed some Cerinthe and wallflower seeds in trays.

In the afternoon, I looked outside and noticed it had stopped raining. Yippee! So I went to get my poppy seeds and took a tour of the garden, scattering them. I’m a bit late for sowing poppies but better late than never! I sowed nine different types of poppies and Verbascum in situ, chancing my arm a bit with the Verbascum. I sowed some giant Verbascum on the ditch at the side where I would love it to grow but doubt it will. Here’s hoping.

I’ll bet some of you thought this was about the Hosta of the same name. 

No, it’s just that the emerging leaves on this fatsia reminded me of upward-facing hands. Am I losing it, now????? 

Oh dear! Can it really be four days since Thursday. I see everyone has commented on our day in Mt. Congreve and Anne’s garden even down to the detail of the the fizzy coca-cola-bottle sweets that Anne fed to an appreciative Headgardener and Scrubber as we walked along. It has been a hectic weekend with lots of adventures with Shoosh and the grandchildren and a visit on Sunday to Terri and Martins garden outside Hacketstown and a visit today to the rabbit -plagued Wicklow garden that I did earlier this year for my friends. Ill try to do them one at a time…..

Scrubber had been to the Mt Congreve garden on a guided tour led by Gerry Daly and Michael White (Head gardener) a few years ago and had been impressed hugely by them. But this time in the Company of Anne, Mary, Rachel, Paddy, Bill and Martin (A friend of Anne’s who is on garden.ie and was a welcome addition to the gang) he had an absolute ball! Was it because all these people knew their way around the vast area and chose the very best paths for viewing? Was it because he revelled in the fact that  they knew the names of every plant bush and flower that he wanted to know? (It was like having a walking talking RHS Dictionary of Plants beside one but infinitely more fun), Was it because of the banter and good humour and sense of companionship and being with friends and the ever so gentle whiff of brimstone that seems to accompany the remarks of P.T.? One could not ask for pleasanter and more informed people and of course there were those Coca Cola sweets!

But seriously folks. Mt. Congreve is one of the wonders of our country and we are so lucky to have it. Time and time again as I walked around  I could feel a gasp of astonishment, a wham of wonder slamming into my consciousness. The beauty of the place, the grandeur of the design, the splendour of the vision that created it.

Paddy, Mary and Anne brought us first into the walled garden and then past the huge glasshouses into the  next garden. The paeonies were not out but there was so much else to see. There were huge poles along the way which will soon be wreathed with roses. There were glowing acers in all different shades of red, plum, lime green, even orangey tints. There were Rhododendrons and azaleas startlingly contrasted Pink on Reds and pink flushed white throated  lilyscented Lady Alice Fitzwilliam in abundance. And Vistas…one glorious walk facing down to a fine river view was bordered on both sides by Magnolia (Soulangea?) and the three -yard -wide grassy edges on each side were sprinkled with fritillaries and oxslips and cow slips,. Oh and by the way, courtesy of Mary, Scrubber now can differentiate between ordinary and Spanish bluebells!!! Then there were the massive outcrops of rocks with mossy steps clambering up their slopes..to die for. And the quarry, in the centre of which was a circular pool and a Chinese pagoda which brought me straight back to Rupert Bear! Paddy and Mary had us in stitches with the story of  the quarry, the tractor that went over the edge and the broken lunch flask-or was it the sandwiches? (youll have to ask them!)

There were swathes of Skunk Cabbages and legions of Hostas around a big pool at the foot of one of those great rock outcrops. But everything is on a massive scale. Magnolia Campelli according to Paddy, planted by the hundred! Then on the other hand we pushed our way very very carefully in to a thicket to marvel at a Magnolia whose three blossoms were each the size of a soup bowl! There was great naming of names-sometimes helped a little by the small black labels and lots of anecdotes. A friend came by and we learned about the temple where the great man rests alongside his dear wife. I forget the lovely inscription but it was so fitting and the temple itself overlooks a majestic bend in the river.

It was such a lovely day that the weather didn’t matter and Scrubber said to hisself  ‘Enjoy everything, this is very special’ And so it was. We got back to the Yard and made a few purchases. Scrubber bought two Rhododendrons at 10 Euro each as he had the exact place for them in the wall rockery. You see that’s the great thing about Mt. Congreve-you  know it is surpassingly beautiful and beyond comparison and yet you don’t feel despondent but impelled and inspired to continue to create your little piece of beauty as Ambrose Congreve did his.

If ever you get the opportunity, go there and be overwhelmed. Its open every Thursday and there’s no admission fee. Now Scrubber has to go and lie down because there’s part two to follow, what we did AFTER visiting Mount Congreve (The Visit to the Garden of Ladygardener!!!) which Ill hopefully get to tomorrow night and then Terry and Martin’s garden, that visit today to Wicklow and……thank you so much Anne,Paddy, Mary,Rachel,Bill, Martin I know it’s a cliché but you made my day!

Just a gentle reminder to watch Supergarden on tue at 7pm to see my friend Anne Byrnes design, looking forward to hearing what you all think of it as we all have our own opinions as to what works when it comes to garden design!!!

Also if any of you are on facebook go to the supergarden page if you can and please please LIKE Annes garden, Thanks

Thats Anne on the left (in a picture from Terra Nova last August), with Biddy and Lorraine (garden.ie members) and Biddys lovely dad Marty.