Month: April 2013

Steve has had a really stressful two days in work, being called in on an emergency job that took him till all hours. They were dependent on tides. So I didn’t demand any meaningful tasks for him in the garden today. But one thing that I was delighted with was finally planting my Magnolia ‘Stellata’ out. It has ended up being planted next to the greenhouse pond to provide a bit of a focal interest between the patio doors and the end of the garden. In years to come I hope to create a kind of screen in this area so that I won’t be able to see the whole garden in a glance from the dining room.

Planting the magnolia was a two person job. I held the big pot while he pulled. Mind you, when he pulled my rhododendron from its pot last year, it ended up being a ‘standard’. But all is fine. And while he was pulling this from its pot, he plonked a shovel ful of soil over my head. I guess he was releasing the stresses of the last few days in work. So of course, I had to retaliate, and fill a pot of compost and pour it down the back of his t-shirt. LOL

A great day, after a coldish start. Not much done except enjoy each others company and laugh a lot.

a few more, want a red and orane and any other colour combination 

i have made three atempts to upload photos of my primulas so i am going to do it this way

i let out a yelp in woodies on thursday when i spotted the primula auriculas i thougt i died and went to heaven. i came home with ten of them @ 2.50 each they were a bargain. im so happy with them. i also got 3 hebes for 20.00 so i was thrilled and almost broke but sooooo worth it.  i have a few more to collect.

on friday morning i potted them up in teracotta pots with plenty of perlite and grit on top they are looking fairly happy, the only down side is some of them have bent stems i think from falling over a few times on the way home but i can easily rectify that with some pea sticks or very thin bamboo sticks.

spent the day today potting on stuff, i got loads of stuff done so i am very happy one more day potting up and then i can top dress the bigger stuff in the tunnel then by next friday  i can tackle that horrible area shown in a previous journal.

tomorrow i am off to the ennis flower show so happy days might pick up some more primulas to add to my collection. i got hebe red rum, hebe black beauty and hebe strawberries and cream.

My eldest daughter, Kim, is in Art College but taking a year out. Just showing you what her talent produces just with doodling with simple colouring pencils. Can you imagine what she could produce with watercolours or oils? She’s also planning on sketching garden plants. So that should be most interesting.

Whatever about Wordsworth

Patrick Kavanagh wrote about Dandelions  “showing their unloved hearts to everyone”..

These ones were hiding among daffodils. They had their photograph taken and a bit of poetry quoted to them before they were  slaughtered..

Fran kindly gave me this gorgeous little invasive plant – Celandine. I was smitten with it from the first time I set eyes on it, foliage AND flowers. I was so happy to accept it at the time, and against all the sound advice everyone gave me, I went ahead and introduced it to my garden. Love it when it is in flower. But this year I discovered that seeds had blown across the garden and settled in the soil over the cave.

Now, once this bloody cave is done, I won’t be getting up there too often to weed, and I certainly have no intentions of keeping on top of the celandine’s offspring.

Tina, I potted up some of this for you last week. But at the rate it is travelling, I will post it to you on Wednesday. It’s not staying here a moment longer.

Thanks, folks, for warning me. I suppose I’m a bit slow on the up-take. But lesson learnt. And thanks again, Fran. It was lovely while it lasted. )

Plain and simple,

but aren’t the just the best.

Found this plant growing in the bark mulch path a few weeks ago. The leaves then looked like a Cyclemen and as the was a parent plant nearby I thought I had a selfseeder, so I planted elsewhere.

The more I looked at it recently, the more I though ”don’t think so”.

The flower stem appeared,

then it opened,

Celadine …………… yes?

Got my domestic stuff out of the way as quickly as possible this morning as it was lovely and sunny and there was rain promised for later.

Climbed into all the gardening gear and opened the door – and the rain came down! Grr! Sat down (in the gardening gear) and started reading the Irish Garden that had arrived this morning – only got to page 15 when the sun came out again! Out I went without further ado and got stuck in to weeding the second side of the driveway.

That was the story for the rest of the day – Sun, rain, and all the time a nasty north wind! 

Eventually had to give in and go put on the Ski-gear again as it was perishing! I really thought I was finished with them for this year, but as I said, two steps forward (starting to harden off seedlings and dahlias) one step back (back to the Ski-gear in April!)

While the sun was out I spotted the pretty flowers on the Comfrey (thank you Scrubber) and also that little violet that has been blooming all winter long and seems to have gotten its second wind the last few days!

Well, with all the ins and outs of the weather, I was really pleased to get the second side of the drive all nice and respectable. Of course it did result in an overflowing wheelbarrow of 99.9% celandine LOL

One by one, they were all becoming shades,

Better pass boldly into that other world, 

in the full glory of some passion,

than fade and wither dismally with age.

Coupled with the fact that I observed a weather forecast quoting lows of 3 deg tonight and the excitement of receiving lots of limestone today (easily excited these days) I decided to chicken out of planting out the sweet peas until early next week and instead to go ahead and build my herb garden structure.

As you can see from the late evening pics it is modest enough in size – approx 1.75m in diameter and only rises to roughly 0.4m in height. It is located right outside the kitchen window which will hopefully tempt us out to cut some herbs everyday and has its open end facing South. You can see the pink granite chippings spread around the stone structure – this allows the ride-on mower to be useful in a corner for a change. You may also notice that I have placed it on polythene, this will be cut out between the spirals in a few weeks time when I know the grass (and dandelions) underneath have had it. The stones themselves will look ten times better next week after a few washes by the rain.

As for planting it up, here is a link to a webpage which provided the inspiration behind the project https://garden.menoyot.com/?p=49

It explains the benefits of using a spiral structure as well as suggesting a planting scheme. Unfortunately for me that will be a few weeks away but it does give me time to pick up a few starter plants and bring them on in the tunnel before nestling them into their new home.

I was completely smitten when I saw this plant in Mount Venus a couple of years ago. It got planted into the Island in the greenhouse pond. And later in the summer it produced the most amazing big, fat, juicy black berries.

However, as gardens have a habit of evolving, it had to be taken up. Last year Steve acquired beautiful oak fenders from the River Liffey which I have used as focal points for the garden. One, which is now in that very area.

But I’d hate to see this going to waste. It’s here for the taking. Hazel was brave enough to accept some. 🙂

Atropa Belladonna – Deadly Nightshade.

The new shoots of Paeonia ‘Karl Rosenfield’ are looking like fingers of fire at the moment in the garden.

Bought this in Limerick last year, it has bulked up well.

This Pulsatilla has just open here, went to check the name and I saw Pasque Flower.

Gracedieu mentioned this a few weeks ago, that they are known by both names.

I think some one had a photo of one very like ths recently, I know their are lots of them out there, so definite id will be hard.

Any help would be grateful.

hope the slugs dont get at it this year!

they say and this was certainly the case last evening when Tedk and I went to hear Carl Wright give a lecture in Cork.  He spoke for over an hour and I don’t think anyone in the room would have minded if it was longer. Carl as I’m sure most of you know gardens in the Burren at Caher Bridge.  He told us of his great love of snowdrops and the hours he spends in graveyards in the springtime looking of new varieties.  He also spoke of how those of us living the country should try to make our gardens blend into the surrounding countryside as much a possible.  He said that no matter what size garden we have or it’s location it should be enjoyed and filled with plants that make us happy and remind us perhaps of childhood days in the gardens of our parents or grandparents.  We should try to make them a friendly place for insects and bees to visit and listen out for and enjoy the hum of bees on plants such as Astrantias.  He suggested that in this age of internet, google and ordering online that it is much more fun to research and source those ‘special’ plants through fairs, friends and books such as the RHS plant finder.  You might have to wait a while longer but getting your hands on the plant seems all the more sweet for the greater effort put in trying to get it.  He listed his favourite plants for each month of the year and suggested some to keep an eye out for to enhance our gardens.  Those discussed included : brunnera, cowslips, hawthorn, geraniums, astrantias, circium, ruscus, snowdrops, hellebores and buddleya.  Carl also spoke of the benefits and indeed necessity of Fungi in our gardens.  All in all I would think it was one of the most interesting talks I have attended with lots of information and wonderful photos.  We also met Bruno, MaryJoe and CorkTony so the iers were out in force 🙂  If you get the chance to hear Carl speak I think you would enjoy it.  His garden is open for visits and I think that would be a worthwhile trip.

A rather novel approach to planting a Euphorbia. It’s planted in just a smidgen of soil (not much available) on the edge of the Upper Pond. I want it to trail over the edge, which I think it will do nicely. It’s planted neck and neck with a little saxifraga and a self-seeded geranium.

Got this little plant a few weeks ago in Tesco i think, but recently started to flower and has a fortune of flowers on it. It is quite small now but i believe it spreads along the ground and i hope it does. Love it

These are the plants I am most proud of. I use to spend a fortune buying tomato plants, however this is the second year I have grown my own from seed. I use a heated propagator I bought from Aldi or Lidl a few year back, and I have to say it is the best money I ever spent