Month: May 2013

This morning when I was getting into my car, I spotted my first rose of the year to open. And looking back on last years journals for this same rose, it opened on this exact date. Just goes to show that the roses are no later this year despite the longest winter ever. I love this one.

May has been a great month for growth and we are ending it with a hint of real summer. Here’s hoping! The regular maintenance work of grass cutting, strimming, edging and weed control is now taking up a large portion of our available time and while this may be mundane to some, it’s great to see the fresh growth and some of the winter projects starting to bear fruit.

The glasshouses are looking full and we have peaches, nectarines, apricots, grapes, strawberries and assorted vegetables all coming along nicely. There was good bloom in our new heritage apple orchard this year, so we are hoping for first real crop.

We recently planted up all of our display beds with mixed bedding and hung our hanging baskets. In the beds we generally use a mix of begonias, petunias, lobelia and geraniums.

The secret to a good display is regular watering and feeding. We use phostrogen plant food every second week through the growing season. We also use the largest baskets possible as they are so prone to drying out.

Our rhododendron and azalea beds have been great so far this year. There is still good colour there and it’s well worth popping in to see them. Our herbaceous border is putting on good growth at present and will be the next to put on a show. The Fern Garden is also coming along nicely, and the new waterfall is maturing and settling into it’s surroundings. The sound of running water really adds to the atmosphere in there.

Jobs for June will include sowing outdoor vegetables, pruning grape vines and pinching out tomatoes and cucumbers side shoots and start to feed with seaweed feed or similar. Spray the potatoes for blight if necessary. Keep an eye out for pests as the weather warms up. We introduce biological controls for aphids and mealybug in our glasshouses. Spray roses for blackspot and aphids or use soap suds if it’s a small infestation. Plant out bedding if not already done, keep up to speed with watering both in and outside. Newly planted or potted plants are especially prone to stress from drying out. We will also be planting up our Jungle border over the next few weeks. It’s been a bit late due to the unpredictable weather.

Our annual Summer Garden Fair ‘Blarney in Bloom’ is on the 13^th of July. There will be a lot of additional features this year, with a programme of gardening talks from expert speakers, interactive arts and crafts displays, specialist plant nurseries, the birds of prey returning, live music and children’s entertainment and a hog roast. It is all in aid of the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind and should be a great family day out. Anyone wishing to take part please drop me a line at: blarneygardens@blarneycastle.ie

I look forward to seeing you in the gardens. Adam

Here are a couple of Rhodo species, the first is the parent species of all those ‘yak’ hybrids which are very commonly grown due to the fact they flower mainly when the frosts are gone and they don’t grow too big and there are some fine hybrids out there. Having said that, there is nothing like the real thing and the species has it all, beautifully shaped indumented foliage and smashing flowers. The second species shown is R.dichroanthum ssp syphocalyix, which has unusual coloured flowers and the final shot is a general shot. For those of you going to ‘Bloom’, have a safe trip and a great time. My wife is gone up today, so I’ll have a good report later.

OK, marking off the check list.

Washed behind the ears,

Dressed,

Fed and watered,

Camera and spare battery,

Notebook and pen,

Eh, eh, emmm!!!!

Dam it anyway,

Maria’s hidden the wallet, again ……………………. ;-X

Looking great out there, have a great time whenever you go.

The reward of growing your own plants, i sowed the seed of these meconopsis grandis only two years ago, yesterday they flowered for the first time and i was delighted not just with the plant but the fact i grew it myself, so i just had to show it off.

Bought this begonia in work the other day and Steve was disgusted that I only got one. Ha! I think he might just be catching the bug finally. I’m trying to hold on to my money for Bloom. But I hope to get a couple more today. I think it is a very appropriate name for this one!

Not getting as much time in the garden as I want at the moment but I did manage to get a few good sessions this week. I was concentrating on the front areas and I’m delighted with how some of the beds are filling up – less room for weeds! 

The alchemilla mollis is paying off now – and I’m happy to have it self-seed as it is such a great ground cover for my woodlands.

The bluebells are so tall that they are covering the hard-pruned Buddleia in the Oak Woodland – but watch this space – in a few short weeks those Buddleia will have fountained up to anything from 6 to 8 feet high!

The biggest task this week was trimming the hawthorn hedge. The worst part of this task is removing the lethal hedge trimmings especially from the car-park! Before I realised how bad they were we both suffered punctures from the thorns! I’m so glad that this hedge really only needs to be trimmed a couple of times a year. 

Note the fence showing above the hedge! The farmer has put up a proper stock-proof fence on his side of the boundary much to my relief! Have to say I am sleeping better at night knowing that I won’t wake up to a bovine invasion! Hasn’t the hedge really matured!

Just got a phone call from a sister to tell me to spend €50 at Bloom as she had won €365 on the lotto and was just one number away from 10 million …can you just imagine how she felt ticking the numbers …

Thanks to the best Sister out of all 10 of us xx Jacinta.

Just as a follow on from my previous posts on Sarracenia, here’s one in pitcher.

The pitchers are modified leaves.

This plant was too small to produce flowers this year so it’s made pitchers early instead.

I think they are very elegant and beautiful plants.

The Cyclamen that started flowering before Christmas are just coming to an end now.

But there are more to come all going well.

There are lots of seed heads forming. When the seeds are fully formed the stems then bend back down to deposit the seeds for you. How handy is that?

Hoping that this process will go on for years to come.

Would anybody be able to tell me what this plant is called? I think it is quite a common plant but I cannot remember it at all.

I bought 2 of these about 3 years ago, one died and the other one did very poorly until this year.

I have no idea what I did differently, but it is growing like mad. I wonder what the flowers will be like…

There is far to much of the femine  side of things showing in the garden just now.

But I had to show this one.

Thanks Clare.

Note to self,

Macho plants only tomorrow at Bloom,

Macho only.

Oh master on high,

I hope it will please you to see your wonderful gift,

While it has fallen behind yours,

I am doing my best oh great one,

But the sun shines more on you wonderful garden,

than our humble plots.

I thank thee again.

;-))

I was at my Art class today and finished my latest painting I dont know if I like it or not but it took 4 weeks to do it and am glad it is finished … it is all done with a knife and hard to get used to it .

Yesterday, I got little or nothing done in the garden. Having arrived home after meals on wheels, It was so good that I decided to sit down in the sun. The temperature was surely 20 degrees. I observed that after the rain which we had had earlier in the week that got many flowering plants to come on. Also weeds were doing well, including docks, vetches and a real enemy, hogweed. To day, perhaps I made up for it. Begonias were brought to the front of the house where they will be planted out perhaps to morrow. Runner beans were planted in an area that had been prepared for them some time ago, with plenty compost on top. I had decided to leave the rest of the work at that time to the earthworms. To day twelve Runner beans were put in that area with bamboo canes arranged in a wigwam form. Some weeding was done in the rockery but more weeds have to come out. The work there is tedious. Finally I got out the hedge clippers and trimmed things like Kerria, and Cotoneaster. The shrub I have known as Senecio apparently is now called Brachyglottis Sunshine. Bill (Headgardener) when he was here told me that the name had been changed but I find it easier to refer to it as Senecio. Senecio of course is the name for Cineraria.

Love this at the moment.

Scrubber called some time ago while I was galivanting.  I was sorry to have missed him but he left his calling card ‘Peter’s Pears’ (gladioli bulbs).  A week or two later I got round to planting the bulbs.

I selected the spot and went to dig when I was stopped by a ‘clink’.  Now I smiled to myself as Peter often describes being alerted to a beautiful rock below by a clink, however I live in a rockless bog so am not at all used to the sensation.  Thrilled I poked around looking for the rock as I would add it to my collection for my viewing platform.  But as I poked and poked I realized that it was no little rock or building stone he had sent me but a large boulder.

Aided by my two sons I managed to take the boulder out of the ground and look at it now!  It’s a pillar at the entrance to my platform.  It came at a good time too as I realized the project I’d taken on was too big and I’d other things to do so wanted to finish it off.  Nearly there now and very pleased with it.

Yesterday evening I was asking Kate if she thought this plant might be Freesia. I had it overwintered in the greenhouse and it is now opening. I know that Freesia are beautifully scented, but my sense of smell is not the may west. However, she reckoned it wasn’t. I was happy to agree.

But, Wham!!!  Today, it suddenly dawned on me that it was the plant I had waited all last summer to do something (which it didn’t).

It is Polyanthus tuberosa ‘Pearl’. So worth the wait. And it looks like more flowers to come.

We planted out some Viola probably back in March and as the weather wasnt so good they just didnt seem to be growing much, in fact I was nearly going to pull them up……but……………………

look what we have now!

Arent they just the business…..their little ‘faces’ beaming in the sunshine…I love them

Im not sure what this is…….is it a plant or is it a weed……it appeared a couple of weeks ago where some snowdrops are dying off!……

So if anyone has any idea what it is I would be delighted to know!

Obviously if its a weed I wont lol

I bought this one last year late in the season, purely for its beautiful foliage. If I never get a flower on it, I won’t be too disappointed. It would be nice though. It’s looking nice and healthy.

It was a nice sunny day here, just a little bit windy.

I noticed that it is rhodo season and thought I would post photos of these two unnamed ones from my garden.

At last the pollarded Paulownia are starting to grow leaves. That was an unreal wait!!!

We caught up with a few bits and pieces today.

Hubby ousted a whole load of my plants from the greenhouse so that he could plant his tomatoes in the border. Bloomin cheek!

And we covered the Lasagne Bed with plastic. It will make a nice logn bed for planting next year!