Month: February 2013
”These mini Secateurs are the handiest things, now how many cuttings do you want”?
By the Poet Antaine Ó Raifteirí 1784-1835
Anois teacht an Earraigh
beidh an lá dúl chun shíneadh,
Is tar eis na féil Bríde
ardóigh mé mo sheol.
Go Coillte Mach rachad
ní stopfaidh me choíche
Go seasfaidh mé síos
i lár Chondae Mhaigh Eo.”
I gClár Chlainne Mhuiris
A bheas mé an chéad oíche,
Is I mballa taobh thíos de
A thosós mé ag ól
Go Coillte Mách rachad
Go ndéanfad cuairt mhíosa ann
I bhfogas dhá mhíle
Do Bhéal an átha Mhóir.
Translated by Frank O’Connor
Now with the springtime
The days will grow longer
And after St. Bride’s day’
My sail I’ll let go
I put my mind to it,
And I never will linger
Till I find myself back
In the County Mayo.
In Clare of Morris family
I will be the first night
and in the Wall on the side below it
I will begin to drink
to Maghs Woods I shall go
until I shall make a months visit there
two miles close
to the Mouth of the Big Ford.
I’m with Dick – St Bridgets Day is the start of Spring for me! And what a lovely way to welcome the Spring – in Altamont, that most beautiful of Spring gardens in the company of .IER friends! I headed off this morning paying no attention to maps etc because from previous visits Altamont was always well signposted from the Carlow ring road. Oh Dear! they have taken down ALL the brown signs for the gardens on the Carlos Garden Trail from ALL the roundabouts. I vaguely remembered I needed to head towards Tullow so that was what I did but the road didn’t look familiar at all – and I have been there loads of times 🙁 Eventually panic took over so I pulled in and called Fran. As we were trying to talk on a dreadful line I opened the map on the seat beside me and guess what was the first thing I spotted? Yes, Altamont Gardens clearly marked with a pretty flower. That DEFINITELY wasn’t there when I looked at it before …..
Anyway, in the end I actually got there before Fran & Co so didn’t feel quite so stupid.
And wasnt it well worth the trip! I love Altamont at any season but it is particularly pretty in Spring. Strolling around in such congenial company added to my enjoyment and meeting a .IER on his first outing with us was an additional bonus!
My inspiration for my woodland areas comes from Altamont – I’m afraid I still have a long way to go! Still short of some 150-year old trees with moss creeping up their trunks, for example!
Now if I could only have escaped without visiting the Plant Sales …. some hope! i am now the proud owner of a Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’, some pretty Cyclamen Hederifolium and was just congratulating myself on staying within my budget when I spotted the snowdrops “in the green” that I remembered from last year … Ah well, I didn’t buy them last year so I couldn’t be expected to be so good today, now could I?
The last thing Brendan said to me when I set off was “Are you going to buy MORE plants?” – probably because the “plants in waiting ” area is getting full up again! I also was the happy recipient of “goodies” from Clare, Fran and Joan for which I am really grateful, particularly as I had nothing to bring to the feast myself this time!
The visit was made even more enjoyable by the bright spring sunshine although the wind was very cold. Adjourning to the Forge for lunch was just the icing on the cake. Thanks Fran for organising the outing! Looking forward to lots more as the year progresses!
”Dad their funny people”
”No pet, their gardeners, that’s all”
”Oh, that explains it”
”That’s for sure”
… and what kind of snowdrops are these?
You may well ask.
We had a great day at Altamont today. Thanks Fran for driving, Clare for the laughs en route, and Hazel, Brian (Jemo) & Maria, Paul (PaulyG) and his lovely little daughter for the company and chat as we sauntered round the garden. I’ll put up an album later.
Got three Osmanthus Goshiki-I bet Martin would like one- in Glanbia today. They had two forms of the same. One for 14 Euro and one for 11 but if you bought two you got them for 18E. I got three for 27E. so felt I did well. And when I got them home I immediately put them in their place and they were perfect. Except that I need one more to finish the line!
Then I got back to tarpaulins of leaves again. You have no idea of the multitude of leaves this year and I want to get them out of the way before Spring is sprung.
Then decided to brush the Carraig Mor as I was walking across it and there were wet leaves in abundance and noticed the large rock nestling under the big fern and going unnoticed so I decided to make it the bottom step in the line down to the Carraig Mor. Alas having dislodged it and dragged it over, it just wouldn’t fit as the shape was wrong. I nearly despaired but a Cherubic voice suggested to just ‘inch’ it into the side and it would look well. ‘-it into the side, yes indeed-it into the side ‘ gabbled Esmerelda in the background. Now inching is hardly the word as it was a major rock but using crowbar I have got it almost right and will be out early tomorrow morning to finish the job! ‘ish the Job, -ish the Job’ Oh Esmerelda I love you but do shut up!
The sun shone for a short time yesterday and I got the camera and took these photos. I love the snowdrops and the little crocus are so cheery, the primula looks nicer in real life!
Had a brilliant day thanks Fran again for the safe journey …..did you think these were snowdrops ha ha !.
Thought Id share this with you.
This was a GIGANTIC Sunflower seed which was sown last year in a pot. It went on to grow to 8ft tall. Amazing. I had three of them at the time but this was the largest. The other two grew to about 6ft…….Got the seeds from Lidl.
Spotted this beauty at Altamont today………….
What were you expecting……………….
Snowdrops?
Well Friday is my day off so after a horrible morning it brightened up and turned into a very breezy but dry day. At the moment for me in the garden it is all about trying to tidy up after the Winter. We spent the time cutting back all the perennials that we had left over the Winter for the wildlife ( Ligularia, Helenium, Asters, Astibles, Anemone) We then cut back a lot of the grasses I must confess to finding this hard to do so some of them escaped that were still looking good. We also got a good bit of weeding done although some of the beds are very wet. I also spent a little bit of time in the tunnell potting on some plants that were pot bound. It is so good to get out there to finally start the big tidy up – a nice start but loads more to do. I have some IER’S coming to visit On Sunday so I would love if it was all looking a bit neater and that there was more to see but i suppose it is only the end of January.
Does anyone know if you can split Aurea Bowles Golden Sedge and if so can I do it this time of the year.
I have no pictures as I am having some technical problema with my camera
Found a site with great photos for secret gardens and all things to do with homes. www.houzz.com , well worth a look if you are planning or dreaming of a secret garden.
Right….Im picking your brains again….
Can anyone tell me please what these are in picture 1…..they were dug up while we were having a new path put in. Now I know they are not potatoes…..:) so has anyone any idea…..thanks
I popped into Tesco today to get a few bits and what did I spot only the lovely Camelia’s in picture 2…well you do dont you ;)….Camelia ‘Debbie’ and Camelia ‘White Swan’ ….gorgeous… Now I just have to get out and start planting. Thing is Im still struggling as to where to put things. I havent done any planting yet. Im awake at night trying to plan and then when I go out to the garden in the morning I think….oh no wait…maybe not there….so its going to be long and tedious trying to find out where is the best place. But gosh am I looking forward to it all. If only the weather would hurry up and get a bit better.
After looking at photos of my old garden…..I posted that yesterday…..my garden was SO small and compact. So it didnt take much to fill it. But here….well thats a different story. I have no problem going and getting plants etc…..but its a daunting prospect to have it the way I want it…because I want it NOW and Im not a very patient person. Plus I worry that I wont get it right either.
So Im looking at all the lovely gardens on here and getting lots of inspiration too. Im so glad I came back here because Im just addicted now. I even got back out all my fabulous gardening books and have started looking up the name of all the plants and Im definitely going to really take heed from now on.
Thank you all , you are a great bunch and happy gardening
Jackie 🙂
D’ont forget there are 2 gardening programmes on BBC 2 this evening :
Carol Klein at 8.30
Monty Don’s new programmes on French gardens at 9pm
Happy viewing 🙂
Arrived home from work today expecting the usual delivery of bills and junk mail . What a great surprise to find a treat instead! Fran had kindly sent his promised seeds of Salonam ‘laciniatum’ or Kangaroo Apple. Thanks so much Fran. Perfect timing.
I had tried lots of garden centres for this plant with no luck.
I will plant the seeds tomorrow so any tips or advice welcome….unheated glass house or windowsill?…..perlite in compost?…dont want Fran’s kindness to be in vain!
Will hopefullly have photos as proof of the pudding in the coming months.
What a treat this morning to see a bird not seen before. I didn’t recognise it and couldn’t find it in my bird book. I posted them on the web site www.ispyabird.co.uk and got two replies in agreement.
I hpe they stay.
Meanwhile the siskin family have passed the food word around and they are becoming more common now as well as the dunnock.
Last night, I assembled the bird table. To day I treated it with Protim Green, wood preservative. It is now erected on one of the ash trees at the back. Although the name suggests to the contrary, there is no green on the table and the natural colours have come out. It was intended mainly for birds like robins which find it difficult to get at the cylinders, the first of the birds to make use of it were the blue tits. Any time I put out food for the small birds, the pheasants (there are four there now) watch to see if anything falls to the ground, hard to get rid of them. To day it is quite cold but no rain. I heard on the radio that January was well above normal for cloud cover.
Was in Lidl this morning and saw that they had hellebores for sale at 3.99. I bought one and when I came home I googled it. Looks gorgeous. The colour range is from white through pink to dark red. I’m hoping mine will be one of the pinks or red!!!!
Photo is of hardy cyclamen blooming away despite the awful gales and rain we have had here. Lean-to greenhouse is taking a bashing again!!!!!
We have just taken delivery of 26 varieties of Primrose from Fitzgerald Nurseries. These are from the Kennedy Irish Primrose collection and 17 of these are exclusive to Blarney Castle Gardens!!! We will be trialing them in various areas around the estate.
To day, St. Brigid, and Spring is here according to the Celtic tradition. Look how bright it is, sun rising earlier and setting later, so more hours for the garden. To day, i planted the primroses I bought in Woodies yesterday. Some plants were removed from the fern I got from Martin a year ago and it has come on a lot. By the way Martin’s birthday is on the way. Despite the length of the days it is cold here to day so i had to curtail some work but should be at it later. I hope Fran & Co enjoy altamont to day. I hope to get along there maybe in the middle of the month when it should be a bit milder, in two week’s time. That is the big week in Altamont. It is not too far from me. These crosses were made by the children in Askea schools and blessed at Mass this morning.
My garden is just the usual suburban back and front. When we extended the house, we got it professionally planted, so my main gardening is tending to the shrubs and herbaceous plants. I have also added stuf and revamped parts of the garden.
I’m also very interested in growing my own veg. I have a little veg patch and a tiny greenhouse. I try to grow a few of lots of different things rather than large quantities. We usually only get one or two meals out of any one vegetable! I love fruit too and have raspberries, blueberries, red currants, gooseberries and pears. I’m hoping for an allotment. I’ve been on the list for 2 years now, fingers crossed.
I put up an album of photographs which we took on our last visit to the garden in May 2011 to conicide with the programme which is running on BBC4 on Wednesday evenings at 8pm.
Mary
On Sunday we’ll be trekking up to Cavan to visit my dear friend Sheila in her new home, taking lots of cuttings and slips for her new garden. I’m so glad she’s living in Ireland near her daughter now – best of all we can take her to be introduced to the lovely Mary Keego so that she’ll make a new gardening friend. She doesn’t do computers too happily, alas, though she’s signed up for a course at the local senior’s centre, so hopefully she’ll soon be joining garden.ie and meeting all you other lovelies!
One thing about this time of year is the lovely light that is created with the low sunshine.
I love the effect this low sun creates on the tile feature in the Japanese corner. The shodows are that of Bamboo, of course ;-))
Just to the left of the first photo is the Passiflora that Liga gave me a few years back. It has come on great last year and I am expecting great things from it this year.
