Month: March 2013

We saw this planted ‘en masse’ in the Botanic Gardens today. From a distance, I thought they were crocusses. But on closer inspection, I realized of course I was wrong once again. But I haven’t a clue what these are, I have never seen them before. But they looked so ‘at home’ under the trees. 

I know this is awful as I only live about 5 miles away from the Botanic Gardens, but in all the years Ive lived in Dublin, thats ALL my life…..I have never been there, until today.

I was supposed to head to Helen Dillon’s garden with Hazel and Jacinta today. Now as you are all aware by now, Dublin has surrounding counties has been covered in snow and showers for the past few days…so with that in mind it was decided that maybe we should abandon the HD garden and head to the Botanic Gardens instead,as this has greenhouses and a lovely restaurant!

Mind you looking out the window this morning I didnt think we would even get there as it was snowing again and another blanket of snow had arrived overnight.

But as luck would have it the sun came out and the snow disappeared. I met up with Hazel and Jacinta at the gardens. This was my first meeting with any of the .iers and I have to say it was a great day. I really enjoyed meeting them both, lovely ladies….and Hazel was so kind and gave me some plants. I cant tell you what they are as of yet as tomorrow I will have to give them a good inspection. But I was absolutely delighted. So thank you Hazel again 🙂

We walked around for a good hour or more and it wasnt that bad really. It was a bit chilly but we perservered. Then we headed to the restaurant and had some tea and coffee. A welcome treat.

I really enjoyed my day and the company was great too. I hope I can go on many more visits and that I meet up with lots more of the .iers……

Well, I’ve had ENOUGH of sitting indoors just vegetating for the last three weeks. A few of us here had planned an afternoon in Helen Dillon’s garden last week. But as the weather had been so horrific, we decided to re-schedule our visit. 

We had planned on more people joining us today, but life sometimes gets in the way. Hazel, Jackie and myself decided at the last minute to visit the Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin instead of Helens Garden. That way, if the weather turned nasty again, we could avail of the shelter of the glasshouses in the Bots.

As it turned out, it was a beautiful dry, bright day, but quite cold. It was exactly what I needed, as I have to get moving before I head back to work next Monday. First time to meet Jackie, and not the last. At the end of the walk we dropped in to the restaurant for a coffee. And ‘lo and behold I discovered that I had either lost my money out of my jeans pocket in the Ladies, or it was still in my other trousers that I had worn earlier today.

My money is still on my bed. And no, it was NOT planned LOL.  But very relieved that I didn’t lose it. Thanks for the coffee, Hazel. 🙂

Had a very pleasant afternoon. Thank you, Ladies.

or many other things that he might once have imagined he’d attempt before decrepitude stepped in. Nor will he ever have the dream fulfilled of having such a tidy garage that he can fit in a lovely potting bench with a big plastic shelving sort of thing in which he could mix compost and fill little tubs and prick out seedlings. No no and again no! Today was the day that that dream faded for good.

Scrubber had pulled a  chest muscle (NOT BY SHIFTING ROCKS!) Simply reached back in the car and OUCH! So couldnt really work well outside. So -its all very logical- he decided to tidy the garage. Did so and took two short breaks One to transplant a few cowslips from a ‘pretty’ to a ‘natural’ situation and two, to cut down a large bough of an elder that was spoiling the symmetry of Elizabeth’s corner-(actually cut the very large bough with a small husquavarna handsaw-it just sliced through it).

Anyway by six in the sfternoon the garage was tidy but as I looked at it i realised all I had done was to havemoved the junk around and my dream of a potting/pottering place would never be realised. Sometimes with realisation comes resignation—take heed of those wise words you younger crowd and you may be spared much!

Anyway today I have a sore chest but a clean garage and Elizabeths corner is  better looking as well. The same gracious lady recently hoped that I was not ‘prettyfying’ the scrub too much, my word not hers but if she were to see her corner now covered in Forget-me-not plants and dotted with kenneddy primroses and the odd cowslip, Elizabeth would realise that there are lots of places in the scrub still wild and untamed!!! among them her corner even if its looking better minus the bough!

There’s one lovely photo of a robin on top of Cherub Cymbals, at dusk from below in the scrub, that I must put up. The other is one of two arrangements I made for people who had been kind to me recently and the third has to be Elizabeth’s corner.If you look up in the top right you can just about see the slash of white trunk where the bough was sheared off!

And lastly a verse from Hopkins thats so apt, Scrubber thinks at present

‘See how Spring opens with disabling cold

And hunting winds and the long-lying snow.

Is it a wonder if the buds are slow?

Or where is strength to make the leaf unfold?’       Indeed!

But I confess not by me!  I feel awful I can’t recall who posted about these but thank you.

Today was the first day I spent actually gardening. Dressed in three layer of leg coverings and furry boots and gloves, not furry, I headed forth not knowing where to start.  I cut down my giant Melianthus as it had got too sprawly all over the place. Still have to get rid of the branches.  Loads of bramble cutting as ever, weeding and transplanting.  Have Sweet pea ready to go out when the weather gets better but must get peas and scarlet runners for the new raised beds. Seedlings are doing ok I got some of a plant I grew some years ago. It is the Texas Bluebonnet   quite like a Lupin and the state flower of Texas. Sowed them much too late so though the seedlings are fine it may be too much to expect flowers. Worth a try. So delighted to have got going at last. Sorry for those of you under snow , may it vanish soon.

Well I bought my Lidl greenhouse and on getting down to the task of assembling it, I realised that it’s really quite BIG!  There is no discreet corner that it will fit into so I have to rethink things rapidly.

I need the growing space, urgently.  I’m not, however, prepared to plonk a huge plastic thing in the middle of my small garden that is already marred by the trampoline.  So I’m rethinking the former veg bed, which had been earmarked for flowers and plants as I cannot get the cat to do his business elsewhere, and therefore can’t eat anything I grow in it.

I’ve decided to dig a new island bed in the lawn, something I’ve been threatening for a while but not had the guts to do – this has forced my hand.  I will use as much of the topsoil as I can from the well-manured (by my chicken compost, as well as the cat) former veg area and relocate the few plants in there to the new bed.  Then I can put down weed control sheeting on the cleared bed and put my greenhouse on that, with a few paving slabs down the middle to stand on.

It means that you can have an unobstructed view of the cherry trees and the rest of the garden, and I won’t have to tramp over my grass all winter to get to the greenhouse, as it’s at the end of the path in front of the house.  I’m not investing in a proper house until the trampoline is gone, so this should suffice in the medium term.  It’s also right beside the shed.

I had a relaxing weekend planned…not any more!

We’d a speck of snow that arrived last thursday night accompanied by gale force winds, tearing down electric poles and building up huge drifts in places, up to the first floor windows of some houses only a mile or so from me. One nearby shed full of lambing sheep collapsed under the weight of the snow that had built up. 
The diggers were out over the weekend and early this week clearing roads, we were out digging out our cars and the poor farmers are still trying to locate their buried sheep.
Our power went at three thirty AM Thurday morning (signalled by the screeching of the smoke alarms) and didn’t come on again until Saturday evening. We had some fun getting out the candles, gas camping stove and toasting bread in front of a roaring fire, but by Saturday the lack of internet and phone access was starting to wear thin. 😉
While we missed the ‘leccy badly, I really felt for the NI Electricity staff out trying to get the power going again in such awful conditions. When attempting to walk Callum to school on Friday morning (to find it was of course closed) the icy snow was like shards of metal filings hitting the skin of the face at high speed, not a pleasant experience I can assure you.
We were lucky, having only being snowed in until Saturday but for others it was Tuesday before the higher roads were cleared and they had their electric again.
The depth of the snow in the pic is nothing compared to areas close by!

This time last year we were basking in a (almost) heatwave….

March has been a bit of a mixed month weather wise, but I think we have got off pretty lightly in relation to the rest of the country. Never the less a few ‘early developers’ have been badly burnt by frost, and we have lost all of the flower heads on some of our large magnolias (for the second year running).

The weather did improve in time for the traditional start of our tourist season, Saint Patrick’s week, and the good weather brought a lot of visitors to Blarney. Let’s hope it’s a sign of things to come.

On the negative side, we were recently victims of vandalism here in the grounds. Our newly renovated toilet block had several windows smashed and some spot lights were also damaged. There have been a number of smaller incidents in the recent past, but this was a blatant and ignorant act. The garda are investigating.

National Tree Week, which is organised by the Tree Council of Ireland and supported by Coillte, took place this year from 3 – 9 March 2013. The theme was ‘A Feast of Trees’, to remind people of the role of trees in providing food for humans, birds, bees and other wildlife. We donated trees to Blarney Tidy Towns to be planted around the village and in the grounds of the schools. We are also continuing to plant native trees back into our woodlands around the estate.

The new riverbank walk is now officially open and runs from below the castle by the badgers cave all the way to the back drive where it links up with the woodland walk. It’s a lovely peaceful area which you get to share with the estates wildlife.

Uncovering all of our tree ferns in the fern garden is always a difficult decision. They are protected from heavy frosts over the winter with a layer of polystyrene wrapped in horticultural fleece. I took the decision to remove it all before Saint Patrick’s weekend. They look a lot happier to be free of it. The waterfall really does add a whole new dimension to the area and the ferns set it off nicely.

The new jungle border will be planted up in the late spring after the danger of frosts has passed. I am getting extremely impatient to get on with it, but as a lot of the plants are being shipped from more sunny shores, I simply have to wait for the appropriate weather.

April is usually a very active month in the gardens, and there are a lot of jobs to plan out. These include feeding the lawns, seed sowing including sweet corn, runner beans and outdoor salad crops, carrots, parsnips and beetroot. Plant out onions, shallots and potatoes if you haven’t already. Repot houseplants, plant indoor tomatoes, check for pests such as aphids in the glasshouse, start to spray roses for black spot and weed through beds.

I look forward to seeing you in the gardens. Adam

Last night I went to the Wexford Garden Club talk in Enniscorthy where James Alexander Sinclair was talking and as always bumped into two garden.iers!  It was good to see you Paddy and Mary last night.

I thought the talk was very amusing, he is a real character and had me smiling the whole time.  Not sure I learnt anything though as I could not catch most of the names of the plants he mentioned!  One he did mention was Persicaria Polymorpha which I had only written down two weeks ago on my wish list as Jimi Blake had also mentioned it as one of his favourites.  Do any of you have it, it is yellowy in colour and very very tall!  Another I liked was a Perennial Digitalis Parviflora.

The last picture on the screen he showed was a Penguin!  Glad I went and when I got home, guess what more snow had fallen even though there was not a drop in Enniscorthy!

Delighted to be so far ahead in this area, as I have to finish up now for the day.

Topsoil is spread, well matured manure has been spread, area is ready for planting and the bark mulch for the path to be spread tomorrow.

Happy days to be in this position, already.

Nothing as cold as I expected, but been well wrapped up and good hard work kept the cold well away.

The weather has been busy again overnight. Still coming down. 

Anyone who HAS to be on the roads in and around Dublin today, drive safely and keep warm.

Well the latest plant to grace us with it’s happy face is Coelogyne viscosa.

Found in lowland forest and primary rain forest at altitudes from 600 metres to 1100 metres in Sikkim, China and through peninsular Malaysia. It is found growing as a cool species (10c at night in winter) to intermediate temperature ranges (12c – 13c).

I found this flower while on one of my dark, night time slug forays. Nope, I don’t eat the slugs, but with the heating on in the greenhouse they are attracted to the heat, especially now with this snow and freezing temps, they get in and head straight for the flower spikes. Usually I’m in time to snatch them from a flower spike before they munch through it. As I was searching around with the torch it seemed to light up in the beam, I hadn’t noticed it in the day time.

These species like shade and gentle air movement, lots of water during the growing season and spray gently during the rest from November until the new growth appears with the flower spike in it’s centre. In addition to pretty flowers, the flowers are also very sweetly fragrant.

It’s funny, but normally I have lots of blue tits and great tits here throughout the whole winter.

I now have two regular back caps, which I had never had before, but no tits……until today. Hmmm, that got me wondering if the two species are incompatible. Except when the bad weather leaves them no choice but to get on. 

Tits are sooo difficult to capture on camera. As soon as you reach for the camera, they’re GONE!!! I got lucky today.

Well despite the snow I’m not complaining today. Anything would be better than what I faced last week. My poor plants have been through such a hard time this year!

I woke up last week to find my garden totally flooded yet again but this time it was  submerged for almost three days and up to eight inches deep. Each evening I ran to check if the water had subsided but to no avail so after a couple of days there was nothing for it but to brave the rain and head out to buy a pump. Soaking wet and freezing I hooked up the pump to a long hose and drained it into a manhole. Two days later and it was still pumping.

I have now been told i have a natural spring in the garden and I need to submerge the pump and run a drain to prevent this happening again. Anyone ever heard of a spring suddenly appearing or am I being conned? Garden has held water in recent years  but never anything like this!

Give me snow anytime!!!! 

In the papers today and on the news this evening there was comparisons made between this time last march and this year there was a difference of 20 degrees in tempetures.

Out of interest I looked back a last years albums from this time of the month.

Take a look at your own photos, you will be surprised.

Hi all, it was a bit chillier yesterday evening after flurries of snow all evening but I still went to bed pretty confident that the weather was improving (at least it had stopped raining for more than 5 mins)so imagine my surprise on waking to a white world this morning. Even though I SAY I don’t like the snow I still feel much more in form for cooking, cleaning and looking after everyone when it snows, I don’t understand it but I always feel like having the house bright and warm and welcoming and giving them all warm, comforting food, lots of hot water for baths/showers, to thaw out in and stacks of warm fluffy towels, am I stark raving mad or does anyone else experience this when the ground is white. Then (even though I dont like the snow, supposedly), I feel a bit deflated when it disappears quickly, as if I haven’t had the chance to prove that I’m equal to dealing with it(looking back at this I think I might need my head read) but I have long wondered if this is something even sensible people feel?

Anyway Mother Nature seems to be on a rant at the moment, so who knows she might throw a bit of sunshine our way soon, heres hoping:-)

Snow,

whatcha talkin bout Willis?

Virgin snow covered the entire area around here overnight and it looked so beautiful until my footsteps ruined it all. There was no way I was able to do anything outside apart from take a few pretty snaps.  

But I laughed to myself when I was looking at the Oak fender on the Island of the greenhouse pond. It looked like Witchypoo had her hat decorated for Christmas. She’s either a bit late, or probably like me and way too early. Either way, the garden looked magical this morning. Thank God I’m not back to work yet.

If possible, I try to have a few different varieties of each shrub and I have nice few Viburnums which I rate hugely as a genus. First shown is what is either V.x burkwoodii or V.x juddii, and the flowers have what is my favourite scent in the garden which is saying something as I have a good selection of excellent scented plants. Next shown is V.carlesii ‘aurora’, which also has a great scent and the buds are a wonderful colour as well. Thirdly there is a full shot of the evergreen V.tinus ‘eve price’, another stalwart performer, but not as sweet a scent. I also have V.bodnantense ‘dawn’, which is flowering away and is a wonderful winter shrub and I also have V.davidii and V.eskimo.  I think they are marvellous shrubs and are essential in any garden in my opinion.

After some more snow overnight and today it was getting harder to identify the plants in the garden….they were just covered in snow.

And NOW its all gone…nothing not a bit to be seen anywhere…But Im hoping that doesnt mean that if we have some overnight that it will be the same again tomorrow, otherwise we wont see any plants in Helen Dillon garden!

Yesterday I braved the weather and spent some time in the greenhouse, but even with the heater it wasn’t pleasant so today I decided to garden indoors instead!

It took quite a few trips to the greenhouse and shed before I was ready to start work, but what  fun I had!

The little propagators were nearly all empty having been potted on so they got a good wash, and then it was time for planting!

I haven’t really got the patiece for seed growing – I just take a notion every now and again to plant up some seeds and am then thrilled if anything somes up!

First I went through the tin of seed packets – putting back the ones that need sowing directly, or that need planting in Autumn (I’m not totally hopeless!)

Half a packet of Sweet Pea were put to soak, then they and the half pack of Cosmos ‘Purity’ were planted in the big seed propagator. I like this one because it has lots of height in the lid so plants have room to grow a bit.

A packet of Nicotiana Sylvestris that came free with a magazine were next. I already have some Nicotiana Alata that have germinated – they came free with another magazine 🙂

I had one lonely seed pod from my Ricinus that Bill gave me that has been sitting in a dish on my worktop for months so I split it open and there was a nice healthy-looking seed inside – now planted and in a plastic bag! Not looking or much – 100% germination LOL.

The Solanum that also came from Bill has struggled through the winter in the greenhouse, and I collected a few fruits from it. They were chock full of seeds so I spread them on paper and dried them in the sun. When they had dried out They were popped in to another of the little propagator trays.

Liga gave me some seeds at Johnstown – Chelone Oblique, and my Kris Kindle included Lychnis Chalcedonica so they were both planted. Googled both these plants and they look great – really hope they come up!

Also did some potting on of house-plants and labelling plants for tomorrows trip.

At the moment all the seed trays are along the south-facing window of the living room but this room is probably far too hot for them so I would like to put them in the cooler bedrooms instead – but which would be best – East facing or West facing?  

Well, I’m nearly off to Limerick!

And maybe I’ll see some of you tomorrow night (28th) at the Southcourt Hotel at 8pm for my talk on Exciting Annuals.

Looking forward to it and to catching up with Deborah and Martin 🙂

I had plans this morning to scarify the moss out of one of the lawns but they were abandoned.

Looking on indismay I got these birds pixs.

The pigeons are huddled together for warmth and have put off their nest hunting plans. They were a long way off so the photo clarity is not as hoped for.

The cock pheasant is a rare but welcome visitor.

The pecking order between the tits has been ignored in the need to get as many beakfuls as possible.