Month: July 2013

I constantly thank my lucky stars that our back garden faces west. I get the best of the sunsets on a good evening. All I need to do now is get Steve to chop down those ugly lamp posts.

Flowering here at the moment but dare i say it’s still in a pot as i have not found a place for it yet but i do really like it.

Peter, this is my Bishop of Llandaff, quite different to your dahlia I think.

I love Passiflora. Did you know that the three dimensions of the flower represents the Trinity? And I love its’ gorgeous shade of blue too. I got a small seedling from Bruno which is doing well, although I think it is possibly not ready to flower this year.

But the one I have here at the moment is flowering prolifically and is a change from the ordinary. Just luvin’ it.

Gardening got second place her all last week,especially on Tuesday,Thursday,and Sunday.Water up to almost 20cm deep.Lower houses suffered especially,but just incase the water missed me then more payed a visit on Sunday last.This time the force was so bad a large amount entered the front here and down through the garden,and out the lower gate.Still thougs as i have said before a drop in the ocean, to other cases of flooding around the country.I will add pictures and that will tell the tale.

Spotted this little fellow on the feeder today.

I have a basket here that has 8 holes around the sides for planting, and also the top of it which measures about 8-10 inches. So it takes a lot of plants. I decided to plant it up with bedding begonias for Steve (he loves begonias). However, a few of them snapped off while planting them as they are so brittle. But I know how well they fill out over the season so wasn’t too worried about any gaps.

I was off today, and got to grips with lots of things. Fed everything, and have now run out of tomato feed. But the said basket is looking completely mad as it is hanging on one of the pergola posts, right beside my clematis ‘Polish Spirit’. As soon as I turn my back, my clematis decides to invade the hanging basket, making it look much fuller. I like it.

I bought a pack of 3 Bishop of Llandaff dahlias a few months back and put all into pots etc and now that it is flowering and after seeing Jackies Bishop of Llandaff it made me question mine and think it wasn’t what i got as the petals are different on mine and the colour is much darker red. With a bit of googling i think i might have gotten Dahlia Bishop of Auckland or is it Llandaff as i haven’t grown this one before so if wnyone else has one they might know. Don’t get me wrong tho i do love it but just wondering 😀

The heavy rain has been severe on this rose which had done really well this year with non stop flowering but some of the stems got broken but anything that was worth while was brought in to the house to enjoy!

Hi Everyone, I am looking for a bit of advice on what hedge to choose for an awkward side of the garden. The location has a natural roadside hedge already in place. i want to grow a new hedge on the west side of the existing hedge to increase privacy in the winter and to dampen down some of the road noise. Does anybody know which plants will could work under a natural hedge made up of mature deciduous tress and hawthorn, my preference was Holly, although the drawback to this is that is quite slow growing. Something like Leylandi would be perfect although I am not sure if would be successful?

Any suggestions are welcome, Thanks a mil

Runner Beans

July gave us the summer we had all been praying for (and really deserved!) We did struggle to keep up with watering and as a result a few areas suffered, but I would rather have it that way than the continuous grey damp that we were so used to. It has done many plants the world of good. I have never seen our roses looking so florific for so long! The herbaceous borders also put on a good show and are still happily flowering away.

Fruit production has been good this year and many of our young apple trees in the heritage orchard are set to give their first ever crop. Logan berries are in full swing and we might even have some melons if the sun keeps shining.

We are in the process of summer pruning our fruit trees. Apples and pears can be pruned now to encourage fruit buds to form next year and also to maintain shape or train the tree into a shape. There are two periods for pruning, December/January and July/August. As a rule winter pruning encourages growth of new shoots and summer pruning discourages growth. We also prune stone fruits now, tipping back and tying in new growth on our wall trained plums, peaches and nectarines. Stone fruits should only be pruned in early spring or midsummer as this reduces the chance of silver leaf disease. Fruit pruning is not very complicated if you follow a few basic rules, and there are many helpful sites on the internet with step by step guides.

Ragwort is always a big problem at this time of year. It’s the yellow flowered plant that you see along all of the roadside verges driving into Cork. Ragwort is a highly poisonous plant when eaten and posses a particular threat to cattle and horses. Under the Noxious Weed Act local authorities and landowners are legally responsible for ensuring that the land within their control is clear of ragwort: Unfortunately due to lack of enforcement this is not the reality. We do our bit here in the estate to clear all ragwort every year, but as it is being left to seed freely along our roadsides and elsewhere there is always a new stock of seed ready to blow in.

A good tip that I can give is to plan your bulb order now. You can probably still remember how things looked in the spring. Make a few notes as to where you would like some extra colour in the garden, then select bulbs that suit. Too often bulbs end up as an impulse buy that get stuck in a corner and forgotten about. This can lead to some nice surprises but often leads to disappointment. Bulbs, like any other plant, have certain preferences and it pays to do a little research first.

Blarney in Bloom was a great success this year and we have already set the date for next year as Saturday 12^th of July. The garden fair provides an opportunity for us to show the gardens to local people who may not have visited before. We have long been seen as just the castle, and a destination for tourists, but this has now changed. The gardens are a feature in their own right and visitors are coming specifically to see them. This is hugely satisfying for both myself and all of our gardening team and volunteers who have put in such hard work over the last few years.

I look forward to seeing you in the gardens. Adam

Just noticed Paddy had a post on FB saying Mt Congreve will be open this Thursday. Anyone who gets the chance to visit should enjoy it immensely as the grass garden and the stunning walled garden should be coming into their own. I’ll definately be going myself but won’t be able to make it till 1.30 pm. Mt Congreve unsed to have a policy of not letting children in but I’ve noticed in my last visits that all ages now seem to be let in.

Correction – just found out the gardens will be open every Thursday during August so there will be more opportunities. I’ll still go out Thursday though as I need my fix. Forecast bad though 🙁

A few weeks ago I’d made up my mind I wasn’t bothering with annuals again, they were too much work for too little reward. But now they are really coming into their own, especially the Coreopsis and flax. I wasn’t at all sure about this half-hardy annual Rudbeckia ‘Moreno’, it looked a little dull, but as more come out it’s growing on me.

Any of you experts know if the perennial forms of coreopsis and rudbeckia really are hardy? I have both annuals and perennials, but I’m not sure whether I should take the perennials indoors over winter.

Also the gladioli Pete Wiseman gave us at Blarney is coming into bloom, what a colour. Do you know what variety it is, Pete?

Solanium lacinatum is covered in flowers and riping fruit at the moment.

The fruit turns a lovely bright yellow, but sadly I won’t see that happen as the squirrel last year discovered the fruits as they ripened and happily tucked into them.

My 15 or so Morello cherries that were turning a lovely red colour went the same way a few weeks ago.

Yesterday while I was doing a few things in the garden in lovely sunshine, a few miles away in the Rathmicheal area there was woeful looking clouds, thunder, lighting and rain.

It was weird enjoying the sun while the extreme of weather was happening just a few minutes away.

spent a nice bit of time in the garden this evening, tweaking and taking a few pics.

There seems to be a limited variety of seeds and bulbs in local garden centres. Does anyone know any good mail order websites that are well priced easy to use and I can pay by pay pal?

I have added a few recent photos from June/July. I managed to get a little bit of colour planted with some very nice lupins and a few other items I got at reduced prices. Also a Sorbaria which I was delighted with and it seems to be doing well.

The pond lilies are magnificent this year and there is plenty of wild life in the garden. The weather has been fabulous but it played havoc on some of the plants I was looking forward to seeing. The Astilbe plumes seemed to burn up as they appeared and the budlias did not like the hot weather at all. They are reviving now with the tropical rain.

Got some other work done, like painting the small potting shed and was even able to put up the gazebo this year so it has been an enjoyable summer in the garden so far. I started a bed out the front too and used the blanket weed from the pond as compost for that so all in all am pleased with some of the work done.

Things grow faster than I can keep up with but we did get a reprieve from grass cutting I am sure you will all agree.

Got this fern in Bloom this year and placed it in a pot for now as the place i want it isn’t…well ready yet. It has come on leaps and bounds tho and i am after getting a real liking for ferns. Where it will be will hopefully have 2 tree ferns aswell but that is a bit off yet so the pot will do for now.

very pleased to see a second lighter flush on my wisteria

I have to say that I’m really coming to the idea of how good a plant Astrantia is. I have it in several parts of the garden now and it seems to mix well wherever it is placed.

It looks great here with Hypericum perfortum???

This nice dark flowered Hollyhock is just starting to open at the moment. There are lots of buds so should give a nice show.