Month: September 2012

This Dahlia “Vancover” came from Myrtle, now I know why she said she didnt have room for it!:)

It has such large flowers! I cant describe them as pretty but it certainly makes a statement!

Whether we want to hear it or not, it’s coming.

Pleased with the close up of this Echinacea.

It’s one of those flowers I’m a little unsure as to if, I really like it or not.

Have also added a close up of Lillium Triumphator, that I do like, alot.

Its great to see season changes – colours, scents reminds us that the autumn is here… But the sun and warm weather just makes all the colours brighter. Taking easy on gardening and enjoying lovely days….

happy Gardening to you all.

I started cutting back , moving and planting as there is so much to do. Because the Butterfllies have made their welcome appearance I will need to leave those flowers on which they are feeding, it is so good to see swarms of them on the Sedum. The Bees too are having a great feed.  Crocosmias are making a great contribution to keeping colour in the garden. I hope we get a few more fine days as it is so good to get some work done. Bulbs ordered but a visit to BQ will take place to pick up some more. David Howard my favourite Dahlia is flowering though I got it recently and it is still in it’s pot.

spend the day disinfecting and cleaning the tunnel before stuff comes in for winter, wrecked but very happy with it. 

i am hoping fingers crossed to get working cleaning pots on monday knowing my luck it will be raining if it is i will have to do it in the tunnel over a barrel we’ll see.

my poor long suffering husband helped me to clean the tunnel, he done the high bits and the outside while i got on with putting the stuff back in, thankfully there wasnt too much to put in, another job ticked off the list. he talked him into moving the barrels to the other side as the other side of the floor is smoother for the racks he did it for peace sake as he knew i would go at it and put my back out.

In work early this morning for the stocktake. But got back home earlier than expected. Cleaned up the honeysuckle and jasmine from yesterday, and spent a good bit of time cutting back and bagging. Noticed my gorgeous blue hibiscus about to flower. Oooh, can’t wait for that. Didn’t think it was going to come back.

Weeded the gravel under the pergola, and the gravel area in front of the greenhouse. Emptied baskets and planters of summer bedding. Tidied up the yard area. When Steve had the cave in the middle of the garden, I had less places to put these pots so they all ended up in the yard and I had to pick my way very gingerly to the outside tap. All sorted now. During the week I had neglected watering stuff outside, so I gave everything a good soak finally. Hazel’s willow was looking a bit on the dry side, but having left the hose on it for 5 full minutes, it made a miraculous comeback. 

I only put this Canna out yesterday. But the wind is starting now so it’s back in. Won’t get out to the garden at all tomorrow as I’m on a 13hr shift.

Michelle, the picture you put up in your journal is of a leaf bud rather than seeds. I have put up a couple of photos of what the seed would look like after the flowers have faded. They are similar to ivy seed heads only bigger. 

Hope this helps 🙂

I know this is something I grew from seed and it’s either Gazania, Rudbeckia, Coreopsis or Helichrysm. the second photo is the foliage, sorry about funny angle, but it’s in a container with and among other things, basically where I stuck in the last few things!

I have been fiddling around with my sons new camera with his permission….. I took this Dahlia yesterday as it is the last one to open.

I was upstairs and  Greg shouted up to me to tell me there was a Squirrel on the wall so I got my sons camera and took a few photos of the cheeky guy who was on the ivy by the time I was ready so I took a few photos very quickley and when I uploaded them and had a look this was one of the shots …. of course it made me laugh as my camera would not have got such a shot.

Yes it is for twas he who got us interested in Ferns. I mean who could resist such enthusiasm?  So I had a Fern area, quite good I thought  either side of my ”””river””’ but it was full so what to do with the 12 Ferns waiting to get in the soil  as personally I don’t think they look right in pots. Maybe I will keep Victoriae in a pot as I love it and want to see it all the time.  So a site was chosen of course it was packed full of Ash tree roots and rocks but it was shaded and seemed a good choice.  Before Ferns are added I had planted some Candleabra primulas which seem to have been irradiated as they are huge. Also Astilbe , and some other Woodland plants . But today the hole digging began in earnest and it was a definite  pick axe job stone after stone most  of them securely fixed under roots but I managed get them out. Now to get Gee up , bags of it  and add to the rather dry earth and eventually in will go the waiting 12. So tonight as I nurse my aching back and shoulders I am thinking of Martin; maybe some time I will thank him!!

I like the photo of the fern top caught in the setting sun.

I was out for a walk the other day and spotted this garden, in the making, just down the road from us so back l went with the camera to-day. The Dry River is made with blue chippings sunk in cement and is very effective. 

This grass was looking great to day in the sunshine.

Given to me last year by Bill (Headgardener) as a baby, it is over 2m high and still growing.

Five healty new shoots have appeared over the last few weeks, so all is looking well for this grass clumping up in no time at all.

you tend to forget what an area looked like only a few months back.

I was looking for an old photo last evening, when I came across this ome and it stopped me in my tracks, totally.

Here it is finally. Every year the snails ravage the flowers just as they are coming up. I managed to put the copper tape around the stems of two of them before that happened. But the stems come up stealthily over night and before you know it, they’ve been eaten. Found three stems that had been sheared off on the ground when taking this photo. I think this may be moved to a pot for next year, where I can keep a better eye on them.

We were slow to get started this morning as I was having a rare lie-in. But when we did, we overcame a major step.

Steve bored holes into the two outside garden walls, and behind the back of the cave. These were for the purpose of inserting tie-rods, or anchors to stabilize and secure the cave. He drilled into the wall a couple of inches and filled with Hilti Hy 170, which is a chemical cement. The rod had to go through the cave wall to the other side and into the boundary wall. This was allowed to set, at all three points of the cave. When it was set, Steve was only then able to tighten the nuts to make it all hard and fast. Tomorrow will see the first load of soil being placed over the cave for planting. And Steve can continue to apply further layers of fibreglass underneath, to give added strength. True to his word, “It will be completed by the end of September” ie. tomorrow!!!!!!

I had to pass the rods through the back of the cave so Steve could guide them into the bored holes. The dark shadow in the photo is Steve’s backside overhead, sitting on the outside of the fibreglass cave!  🙂  

And the ‘Eye in the Sky’ hovered above, just in case there was an emergency air-lift needed.

Today I went back to Heywood – this time with my visitng son Gerard. We again strolled in the lovely woodland created in the 17th century taking a different route to the one I explored with Elizabeth a week or so ago. Gerard spotted these strange trees where branches seem to be growing in to their neighbouring trunks. Does anyone have an explanation why this happens? Is the the hand of man intervening or do they just do this by themselves?

I’m really getting great enjoyment from visiting my local garden spots this year and appreciating their beauty.

 Went to Straffan yesterday afternoon

(Pardon the pun but….) Splashed out on a water butt.

Maybe its appearance was the main selling point.

Maybe ability to place pots on top

But the smell from it definitely helped swing it

That said, the reused water tanks in the gardens at Straffan would be hard to beat

I was away for a few weeks on holiday, I know… my life is a holiday. I thought I would do some catching up and trim the edges of the beds today they are in a state, looked out and ..no not today..Why not you say…water is for washing or swimming and rain is for the flowers. Will watch the match and cheer on Wexford. By the way the Hibiscus is looking good this year.

by the thoughtfulness and generosity of people on this site.

Earlier this week I went to hear Deborah speak at a local garden club.  No sooner was I in the door when Martin popped up out of his chair and said ‘Hosta, I have a fern for you’ . Never one to refuse plants I was delighted to get it and Martin told me it was one of only four from a batch of spores he had germinated himself. 

Now, any of you who have been lucky enough to hear Deborah speak will be aware that you have to pay attention in order to win one of her prizes on offer. She always has a little quiz and as she says herself ‘you snooze, you lose’

I was able to answer one of the questions and got a lovely little parcel.  This turned out to be a very useful pair of gloves.  They will be put to good use I’m sure.

The talk and slide show were excellent as always, both insightful and light humoured.

It was lovely to see you both again and a big ‘thank you’ for the goodies 🙂

i love the flavour of these alpine strawberries, the trick is to get them before the birds!

this photo was taken today on my phone, the plant is producing a second flush of

strawberries as you can see at the bottom of the pic, well done that plant.

I didn’t manage to get anything done this evening. But Steve was home from work early and got more of yesterdays work done. Every little helps. Wow, I picked FIVE ripe tomatoes today. Things are looking up. 🙂 A bit of a nip in the air today.

This evenings sunset was really nice.

I grew this Geranium from seed last year and put it in the front garden. No sign of it there this year, but one has popped up in the back. The red herbaceous Potentilla I have in the back for years and now it has also appeared in the front!

Not Ferns again I can hear you say.

But Martin and myself are on a mission here  LOL

This I think is my favorite (to date)  ;-))