Month: June 2013

Achillea ‘The Beacon’ is just about to turn on a blaze of colour.

This plant has has reall bulked up so well in the last year.

Love the mass of little flowers on each bract.

Deadheading pronlongs the flowering of this plant.

I have uploaded a few photos as part of the dash around the garden theme.

Hope you like them 🙂

( The first few are the current project so a bit bare yet )

More stuff opening in the garden at the moment, More dahlias and lillies. The lillies petals are strange never seen it before kind of like a double or something but like it.

I have never got the alleged unpleasant smell. I know it will only be there for a short while before the big droop sets in.

But for now, it is perfect – an absolute perfect sight that greeted me this morning

Hopefully the next two will be as good

Yesterday my sister-in-law and I enjoyed a lovely day out in Altamont Gardens in Co Carlow.  It was her first visit and I had only ever seen the gardens in February for snowdrop time, so it was a treat for both of us. 

The walled garden, which is bare in winter, was bursting with hardy geraniums, peonies, lupins, delphiniums and other luscious herbaceous plants and the main gardens looked wonderful with roses, more herbaceous planting, shrubs, trees, lawns, wisteria arch, woodland and the beautiful lake.  We took the woodland walk down to the river Slaney, which was so still and peaceful like another world.

The plant sales area beside the walled garden was chock full of treasures too.

But I had to laugh when I looked back at my photos.  It was a special Rose Week at Altamont and we spent so much time sniffing the lovely roses that I forgot to take photos of them!   The gardens are a credit to the OPW staff who look after them and entry is free.

Can any of you name this rose? I noticed it to day. I have been at the Country Market in the morning. Sold just two Aloe Vera. I had plenty other plants including Tomatoes. I decided that no more tomato plants would be on sale this year. Instead in the afternoon, I planted six  tomatoes in large pots outside facing south. Yesterday, my sister from Dublin and her daughter visited. I had plenty tomato plants for her. It was an enjoyable visit. We went on a tour of the garden where the roses were viewed.  They also were in the greenhouse where they sampled the grapes. More and more are getting ripe every day. I wonder how did PCON get on with his.

What a rose. No need to spray or dead head, and the hips that come later are a real bonus

‘’Mr Scrubber doesn’t seem to be any different after two weeks in the bed, does he? ‘ asked Cherub Cymbals. ‘Er I think it was ‘in the med’ was the term used’ answered Micilin, ‘Of coursh, if one behaves in a moderate manner, a little holiday doeshn’t cause a huge change in weight or ashtitude, Now I well remember-‘. ‘But he is definitely browner-I noticed that when he was attempting to fight his way through the jungle-what used be the lawn’ said Statue Scrubber. ‘-es –efintely-rownner’ agreed a voice from below.

Nice to be away, nice to come home. But two weeks growth can really cause havoc. However two days work has made inroads into things and one of the highlights was to see the fabulous yellows and orangey yellows of the Fremontodendrons.  Scrubber had never seen them in reality and they are so vibrant they sing! One day spent mowing and one day spent strimming and a bit of weeding. And a lightening raid on Glanbia which proved very successful. So  hopefully all will soon return to kemptness.

Scrubber has some lovely photos of a park he visited and will try and get that up soon. No there will be no shots of the beach although the thought did cross Scrubber’s mind as he lay there in his Speedos that perhaps the lily white complexion of us Celts just might possibly evoke tremors of admiration from the  leather- tanned multitudes passing by, we being so different like!- and that perhaps the grins were of admiration rather than gentle derision? Anyway, vive la difference and looking at a few gardening magazines over there I felt very proud of our gardening tradition. We have so much going for us even if the weather changes on a whim.

So back to the Scrub and am wondering where to put those new roses.. and my long wait for the cowslips proved successful! I had had my eye on them ever since they went over and luckily no-one wanted them so they went into my boot today along with the roses- a miniature called ‘Bluesy’ which looks like a small rugosa violet/purple and pale centre. I’ll find a place! Has anyone a hellebore still out?

Lovin’ this Sanguisorba. 

I was never into Hosta’s much until about two years ago…..when I saw some in a friends garden and fell in love with them….

Ive now got some space to grow them properly in this garden…..

This is the first one that is flowering for me at the moment. Its lovely and I love the foliage on ALL Hosta’s ……..the hardest part is which one to buy as there are so many with such beautiful foliage 🙂 and the flowers are an added bonus!

I had these Petunias planted in two baskets at either side of the hall door.

But as its quite windy at times they werent doing too well. So about a week ago I brought them out to the back garden and put them in this ‘cradle’…….they have just taken off

They look fab on the steps as I look out to the garden from the kitchen……

Two more shots of the garden, taken today.

Here’s Dr. Acula, one of our resident gargoyles.

Strange how he has surrounded himself with blood red flowers!

I love this.

I’m really an old fashioned gardener at heart 🙂

Spotted this little chap in the carpark yesterday morning when I pulled in to my spot. Good to see this in the middle of Coolock.

The Martagon lilies have been lovely this year and are just beginning to go over now.

I see some Asiatic ones about to take up the baton and bloom

“Its a good year for the roses” …well so it seems at the moment.

I just wish that they all bloomed together, it would be a lovely show of colour.

I have just seen these little guys having a bit of a forage in the field behind our house.  Silage was cut there over the weekend so they are able to have a good root around and are easy to spot.  There were 3 in total.  Lovely to see

Pictures could be better but they were a bit away from me 🙂

These 2 are the 1st flowers opened in my Shake and rake and are lovely but small and of all the colurs i want to see they were pink as last years were all pink and this year is a mix i was hoping to see other colours 1st but will just have to wait. 

I like Hemerocallis. But I don’t like their untidy foliage. And waiting forever for them to open up is a pain in the …… 

Once they have finished flowering, they’re being dug up. Plants MUST earn their keep in my garden. And these don’t really float my boat. 

We live and learn!

This fern is looking at it’s best just now.

I thought it was Osmunda ‘regalis’. But Headgardener (Bill) thought otherwise.

Either way, it’s great and has great height.

I don’t have many roses here. I bought one last year in Aldi for €1, last one left and no lable.

It flowered today,

Like it, a lot.

I was just trying to see what it would be like out in the dark after watering the garden.