Month: December 2012
Hi Everyone.
May I wish you all a very Happy New Year and I hope that as many of you as possible will be at Johnstown on Sunday 13th at 1 pm.
There are a couple of things I need to mention –
1. Kris Kindle – please bear in mind the limit of €10 for your gifts. Sometimes people may get bargains that come within the budget which can cause people to feel that the limit has been ignored – and in these hard times we all need to keep to budgets.
2. Parking on the day – Fran has asked me to remind you that if we all park in the left-hand car-park it makes life much easier for plant swaps! That part of the car-park is usually pretty empty.
3. Raffle – anyone get any nice unwanted Christmas presents they might want to donate for the raffle please? You can send me a pm if you prefer.
4. Numbers – I need to give approximate numbers to Johnstown by next weekend so can you let me know how many people will be coming with you before then.
Hi Folks, may i wish you all the best for ’13, and i hope to see ye all polished and shining at the round up in Johnstown. 🙂
Wishing everyone a very happy New Year. I hope all your cuttings strike, all your seeds germinate, all your climbers climb and all your gardens grow and make you happy 🙂
it ‘pissappeared’ as a dear young friend once memorably said of her cat! So briefly- Went over to Arboretum as sale was on and a very dear friend had given me a voucher. I decided as things were all half price that my voucher was worth double. No it wasnt! The value of the voucher remained the same. I went up to the cash desk with my load expecting to pay and extra 12 to 14 euro. When the very kind young lady said 45 Euro I patiently explained that i had bought only the half price plants and she just as patiently explained that i had made a total miscalculation! Sr Josephine would have died on the spot of ‘sheer murtification’.
I decided it was still technically Christmas and i had been very good for the year so I very generously treated myself! I now have a lovely bootload of bargain plants outside in the boot waiting to be unloaded tomorrow.But next time i shall have to be more aware or the house might end up being mortgaged! Still a good note on which to end 2012 and some promise already for 2013!
May we all be wiser in the new year and hopefully happy and fulfilled.
Adding to the many journal entries already, I want to wish you all a very happy new year for 2013, with happiness and good health.
All set – or nearly – for New Year’s Eve meal, and cakes are baked for Sophie’s birthday tomorrow 🙂
Looking back to a year ago, I said that one wish was to add more roses for my garden, and today I have five different varieties, two still in bloom today! And the little white dianthus just because it’s all fresh and lovely and adds its little touch to the garden even in the middle of winter…
Happy New Year to all!
Happy new year to each and every one on Garden.ie
This Dendrobium orchid opened today.
It’s pinker than it has been before as it used to have a green inge on the flowers.
Happy New Year to everyone.
Thanks for all your advice about what I should do with an overgrown evergreen. I considered all your opinions, but as some differed I could not implement them all. Some suggested I cut out the evergreen completely. My wife and a son supported this idea. But I compromised and cut our half the tree. I think it is an improvement and if not I can still cut out the remainder next year.
Now I have another problem, what to do with woody branches. I compost what I can, but over the past year I have kept woody material. Should I try to shred it? The last time I went to the tip I hired a trailer, but I did two trips at 25 EURO each and this with the cost of hiring the trailer was expensive.
Again, any ideas?
just want to wish all of you a very happy and successful new year, thank you for the friendship and the laughter and hope there will be many years to come. might get a bit of clearing done next week to give the bulbs a chance to come up. my walk comes first and then what i get done i get done after walking three miles a day i am full of energy, couldnt go the day without my walk now.
we had torental rain here last night it will take til march for things to dry up, i got a staple set to make new cloches. santa was so good to me bringing me a tablet computer so no more queueing for the computer.
again have a very happy new year and hopefully not too many hangovers
Happy new year to all Garden.ie members and thanks for all the informative and entertaining diaries throughout the year. I hope that 2013 is kind to all of you.
Arrived by post to day. There is great reading in it. I had a look ot Rachel’s article and there is no doubt but this idea of swapping plants is great. Since I joined the club, the amount of plants I have got is super, some I never had before. It is great too to have plants for other people. When I visit my sister Nora in Castlebar, it is a case that Nora has perennial plants for me while I bring her tomato plants and half hardy plants grown from seed. I should be sowing the tomato seeds to day or to morrow while I have some of the seeds like antirrhinums which I got from last years plants and they should be going down this week. If it is fine i should plant the Laurus I got from my niece Joan.
Well we were a bit bold in the sales, but just couldn’t resist the lure of beautiful tools – hopefully we’ll enjoy these for years to come.
The broad beans are relishing this mild weather, and the deep bed is giving them great protection from the gales.
Want to get outside today as the gale has blown out and the sun’s reappeared, but I daren’t risk my back again so it’s off to the beach with Oscar’s new ball chucker. He’s had his nose out of joint a bit with Cathy around so he’ll enjoy a treat.
It is time to say goodbye to 2012. Another year of the recession is over. It is an awful pity that we don’t know exactly how many more years the recession will last but at least we survived this one.
May 2013 be the year of fresh growth, both economically and physically. With any luck, we will not get the same amount of rain as we got in 2012 or worse and that we will be able to get out and do a bit in the garden.
Happy New Year everyone. May 2013 bring to all health, happiness and be worry free.
So as the year closes, I’m wondering what peoples gardening plans/wishes are for 2013.
My main one is to complete the front corner. This is nearly there, one final push an all will be well. There are a couple of other plans afoot, extra arches, another seating area, these will all come in time.
Two main visits are also on the list, Caher Bridge Garden and Blarney Castle.
Complete the second part of the Plants persons course.
And finally, needless to say, more garden visits amongst ourselves ;-))
So what plans and wishes have fellow members got for 2013? In some cultures it is believed that when a wish or dream is written down, it helps that wish or dream come true.
So lets be hearing from you all.
Did you all enjoy the programme on the weather. It was great to see Met people like Paddy McHugh who was involved in giving the forecast in the early days of Telefís. Gerry Fleming, who told us the story of the work done by same was a great favourite. Now will somebody tell me why despite the expert accounts by the weather people that we are sure of more mild weather, Avonmore will tell you that we are to have a white Christmas, which has come but not gone and no sign of snow DG and the postman in Donegal seems to agree with Avonmore. Also is it good for the young girl who eats one of these cream buns so often. Also if we are to have it mild for the rest of the Christmas period, Jean Byrne’s dresses are appropriate:)
Wishing you all the very best for the coming year.
May all dreams, hopes and wishes come good for you and yours.
a little pensively and thinking of all the excitement last year with the installation of Cherubs Lute and Cymbals. Dont get me wrong I had a lovely Christmas! Among the pressies was a brother Plant Labeller which I had thought of a month before and mentioned and Lo! Santa brought it. I also got two garden vouchers. One for Glanbia and the other for the Arboretum where there is a sale this week and all herbaceous are half price mmmm Heuchera in abundance or a prunus, that one with the lovely bark???
Because of the Artichoke Drains Scrubber must walk and walk and he does! Twice a day three to four miles each time! No wonder the pounds are falling off him! I should be able to dig and delve and swim again around the end of january so thats not too bad.Meantime Im devouring all the dec. January editions of my garden mags and getting lots of ideas.
The crows have unearthed lots of my bulbs so it will be interesting to see if it makes a big difference to the display. The snowdrops are coming and seem relatively unharmed. We are on the cusp of a new year so Cherub, Buddha, Statue Scrubber, Micilin Dee,Cherubs Lute and Cymbals and all the denizens of the Scrub and Mr. Scrubber hisself wish you all a very happy fulfilled and floriferous New Year and many thanks for being the lovely people you all are throughout 2012!
I visited Woodies yesterday (Saturday) to get bird seed. While I was there I noticed some Phals which were reduced from €6.95 to €2. I took one which was in the lot but in very good condition. When I gave it in at the check out there was even more discount €0.40. Bird seed and nuts were €12.98.
This orchid was in the home of my sister Joan while I was there for Christmas. There are about 20 flowers on it. It was given to her by my late niece Josefa.
It has been windy and it has been wet but mostly it’s just been mild.
I sent my felco off for its annual service and I occasionally open up the greenhouse but that’s it for gardening. I had the heater on out there last night for the first time in ages.
Fran, here’s a photo of my Melianthus major for comparison. It’s got big too, thanks to two mild winters.
On the orchid front, minor disappointment as it would seem that Cymbidium Colonel Mustard is not going to flower after all , despite indications to the contrary. His days are numbered! Reduced light in the kitchen (mostly due to the Xmas tree) mean that the phals (lowest in the orchid pecking order and therefore least deserving of light) aren’t getting enough light and I have had some bud drop. I can live with that. More orchids to flower soon.
Gotta go. The Christmas jigsaw won’t make itself!
I got a new camera from all the family ….so my son set the camera up for me outside the back door and I had to go in and out as soon as I saw the birds having a few seeds I did not know realy how I did this but I just kept clicking and clicking and this is one of them.
They seem to like the seeds of V. bonariensis even though it was swinging up and down as they landed on it. Apologies for photo quality!
A sad sight awaited when I checked for eggs in the hen mobile. Henny Penny had died in the coop on her nest.
She was about 8 years old and apart from laying eggs she has given pleasure to young and old all this time.
Visited children woul always ask could they check for eggs and there was great excitement when they found them and delight at being able to take them home for their breakfast.
One granny who brought the grandchildren regularly would also bring eggs just in case there were none and put them in the nest when the kids weren’t looking.
One day when Henny was strutting around the garden a dad walking in the lane saw the hen and called his child to have a look. Henny thought it was a call for food and ran towards them. The dad picked up the child and ran frightened down the lane with Henny in pursuit.
In 2006 I put some eggs under her to hatch as she was broody and she delivered. There’s a nice series of pictures here:
I just went outside to take this photo of my Miscanthus and it is just so cold and I think now it looks like snow ….so back inside to the heat will wait and see what the week ahead brings as I do need to do a bit of tidying.
This has to be a real example of just how mild the winter has been so far this year.
This wild strawberry plant has flowers and fruits on it in December.
