Month: December 2012
i have placed a swingseat very near a neighbours boundary wall, which is of fencing. the back of which is bare, bar one small rose tree (didnt look too healthy by the end of summer) otherwise no privacy at all.
making a pergola over this, i was hoping to train some of the roses and another one from next door over the top and i have planted clematis and also climbing roses and ivy this past autumn but at the back i can see everything and they me, they are about three feet highter too! i want a screen – cheap or free or to make or grow here, also to block out a barking dog,
tall order.
all ideas gratefully received.
got three van loads of yellow brick for 20e yesterday, wonderful crop!
thats for paving and some creative brick planters maybe?????
am back on a gardening designing rollllllllll!
Very little flowering in the garden but there is one Penstemon left over from the Summer, Cyclamen coum which is usually in flower around now, and Muscari which I would expect later on.
I have a dream.
I want a super duper shed well more than a shed . It would have an entry area with a tiled floor , electric sockets and water. I would have a basin low down with a tap under which a watering can would fit and of course a kettle for my cuppas. There would be a small book case for some of my gardening books , shelving for a few mugs and thingies, a couple of strong wooden tables so I could leave some of my projects for when I have time to go ahead with them. Of course a few chairs one very comfy for me to sit and read. I would need a counter and some presses and a good heater.
That is only the start. The front of this would be all glass with double glazing . It would have a tiled roof like my cottage and be painted the same yellow. No wood this would have block walls with super insulation. At the end of the room a door would lead into a glass house so as I could get access from the room but I suppose I would need another door to the glass house where I could bring in compost and dirty stuff. Probably be better if the rooms were reversed with the glasshouse leading into the work room. Yes that would be best. So in fact it would be a long structure all glass in front, the work area with tile roof, glasshouse with glass roof. What else will I need in my dream ‘shed’ any suggestions please.
This photo was taken, not in June or July but in December. I took it in my sister’s garden, near Clonee, on the Dublin Meath border. The date was 27 December.
This is a present I got from my niece Joan. I hope to plant it within the next few days.
These violas ae in a pot under the branches of a standard weeping willow and protected from the elements. I found them when doing a bit of tidying up. Mrs. Sruthain must have planted them unbeknown to me.
Some more pictures for my December album,
https://www.garden.ie/albumUpdate.aspx?idalbum=19550
I hope I haven’t lost count but I think this is my eighth orchid to open.
I’ve had this hybrid for a few years now and it is a reliable and easy flowerer, flowering about twice a year.
It looks like it has Oncidium and Zygopetalum in its genes but I don’t have any better id for it.
This is the one where a slug bit half way through the stem a month ago yet the plant has managed to flower regardless.
On this one I was originally attracted by the dark flowers but the curvy buds also add interest, long before they open.
This is a photo of my Melianthus major taken the other day.
Gracedieu Lass did advise me to leave the growth on the plant till the spring and then cut it back. But it is hard to cut such a great looking plant.
The plant is still growing and producing new growth due to the mild weather.
I was thinking of leaving the main stem in place and cutting the side shoots back. This should allow the main stem to keep growing and next years new stems would conceal the main stem which is slightly bare of leaves.
Am I right or wrong?
All comments most welcome as ever.
…is just about to flower. I’m checking on it every day and keeping it in as safe a place as possible – i.e. not on the window sill any more (but it has to be visible also to be enjoyed!). It only has one stalk but I counted 7 flower buds this evening, so not bad. It is supposed to be pink, let’s see!
Garden in the countryside, lucky to have mature trees.
Hello Rachel, What do you think of this photo? I got back from Dublin to day and one of the first things I did was to take a photo of the Cymbidium.
We all love Christmas crackers – the glittery paper on the dinner table, the exciting snap, the silly hat and even the lame joke.
But who ever got any kind of useful trinket in one?
Well, I did! These little butterfly clips are great for tying orchids!
And look how the colour matches my newly opened orchid!
Had a wander round the garden this morning between drizzly showers and was delighted by the daffs all popping up. And a snowdrop in bud, too, along with lots of crocuses on the way. It’s going to be a picture this spring. We did some work yesterday, I weeded and Alan earthed up the brassica bed with soil and compost and started on the last three deep beds. The garlic I planted in October is just beginning to come up. Never had much luck with garlic so here’s hoping.
I was ok working but now have a very stiff and painful back so today’s trip to the sales has been cancelled – probably just as well! So I’ll be doing the garden plan and finishing Cathy’s birthday cardigan, and reading my book on allotments and cottage gardens while listening to a bit of James Taylor. There’s worse fates! 🙂
Tomorrow on the way to dinner with friends in Galway we’ll have a foray into B&Q to have a mooch at the sale and replace the useless spade and fork which didn’t survive the hedge-planting – and they were less than 2 years old and not the cheapest, either!
My time is taken over with Family ….one leaving tomorrow ..and the next on Saturday and the last to leave is on the 3rd Jan… but enjoying every moment of it .
I went out to put some clothes on the line yesterday and noticed this Azelia flowering it is a small one in the ground am amazed to see it out so early but last year the big one in a pot was also flowering and did so until June …lets hope it is a sign of a good few months to come
Here’s that picture I wanted to put up before.
It shows the flowering Aeonium in the bathroom.
It’s kind of taking over!
The first is a thrush but is it a Mistle or a Song thrush ? I think Song but not sure.
The other two I feel sure about but am open to correction.
See Bird Album update
https://www.garden.ie/albumUpdate.aspx?idalbum=19658
Ventured out this morning for a few hours it was beautiful sun shining and lovely and Mild. I cut back the old leaves off the Helebores and did another bit of cutting away in the Woodland Bed. The bulbs are all peeping up through the leaf mulch the only problem with doing anything in this bed is that you feel a crunch underfoot when you step on some bulbs so kept the work to a minimum.
Santy’s excelled himself! Two wonderful books for rainy days – after the garden plan’s done and seeds are ordered, of course – and a lovely new garden diary, plus gloves and secateurs, and funky veg seeds from Daggi in Germany along with ‘flower bombs’ – balls of dried soil and seed that you just chuck in a waste spot. Just my thing!
And Yvette, my fellow granny, arrived back from Lanzarote last night with a tiny bougainvillea in a pot. Lovely, I’ve always wanted one, but more than a bit scary. Can it possibly survive the wet and chilly west of Ireland? We have a south-facing house, so the plan so far is to pot it up in a gravelly John Innes and summer it outside but winter it indoors. It’ll have to be kept clipped back so it’s transportable! I kept a plumbago that I snipped as a cutting in southern Spain for many years in the conservatory, until the frosts of 2010 saw it off. So there is hope. Any advice or experience would be very welcome!
Incidentally, Cathy’s favourite bit of Christmas dinner was unquestionably the sprouts. Long may it last!
While family and visitors slept on yesterday morning, Fran was out in the garden, even managed a little time this morning ;-))
It was so quite it was nearly eerie, but it was lovely and mild.
Did a lot of cutting back of dead growth etc etc. Lots of signs of new growth showing already, not only bulbs but on lots on plants also.
I know it was late but got some bulbs in as well. A great way to spend a Stephens’ morning.
Due to family issues and back to work, my next day in the garden will be in 2013.
Well we had a lovely Christmas and I was fortunate and got some rather lovely gifts.
Amongst them is a Wild bird Clock; this has 12 different birds one of which makes it’s sound on each hour. well not quite true , it shuts down from 9pm to 6am. Trouble is i set it up incorrectly so now it is tweeting every hour, must try and fix that tomorrow. Also the birds are not making the correct calls so that must be put right. I copied a picture from the web which may appear.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that we all have a good 2013.
I must have been a very bad girl this year because Santa didn’t bring me ANYTHING off my list – no Moon Window, no Beautiful Lady statue … and as for that Mature Herbaceous Border – not a chance 🙁
However, thankfully other kind people were very good to me – the Chaenomeles has a few flowers on it in the greenhouse, and I now have some of those lovely solar lights that I’ve admired in other gardens for ages.
After that, it is some cash to splash at Johnstown in January and a really funny almost-garden-related book called Fifty Sheds of Grey not to be confused with the racy book with a similar name!I’ve been chuckling away all evening!
I also got The Curious Gardener’s Almanac – another whimsical book of bits and pieces of garden wisdom and some amusing garden quotes.
I wonder are my family trying to tell me something? Maybe – not to take the gardening so seriously? Naw! No chance! LOL
Yes, I got a Roche’s wheelbarrow for Christmas, as requested. So I’m a happy bunny.
And a book, with a nice bit on Disa orchids, and a flowery trowel and a cup that says “I garden therefore I am”.
The best Christmas surprise came from my son who, caught up by the Christmas spirit, said that I don’t have too many orchids 🙂
I had a nice photo to put up but all batteries have been seconded here so I can’t! I hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas.
I bought a few roses from Aldi in the early summer. One died and the other just produce leaves.
Today I spotted this bloom, it was hidden amongst the growth a Passiflora. The lable said it was a ‘red climber’……….
Might be a climber, but not red ;-))
Hope you all had a great day yesterday.
Welcome to my Garden
Sending special good wishes for a very Happy Christmas to everyone at Garden.ie What a lovely site this is!!! A beautiful morning here – hope it’s the same where you are.
