Month: December 2013
Had a look around the garden yesterday after my walk and to my surprise I founds lots of little buds peeping up through the soil.
This daff in picture no 1 in particular seems to have escaped me until today. What a surprise.
Then further down the garden a few more buds are appearing.
Now I know it’s been very mild this Winter so far, but daffs in December? Really??
just a few pics of what I found yesterday.
Gidday all,my camera work does,nt do the birds justice but I,ll keep trying.
regards roofy.
Gidday all,dwarf beans growing well inside & out,beetles hampering the crop inside.Tomato,s should crop pretty good.
regards roofy.
Yesterday afternoon, I found myself, without having planned it, looking through my 2013 garden photo pictures and doing a bit of tidy up. This is how I ended up uploading quite a few of these pictures on the site, sorry for the sudden overload! Having done all of this, it was dinner time, and the evening went by so quickly that I never managed to write a journal…
Clare (Clara) asked what were our favourite gardens of 2013, so that tied in nicely with my rummaging through 2013 garden pictures. For me, 2013 was quite a busy year (which ended up with me being suddenly much less busy as I lost my job in December), and there were not so many garden visits, but a couple of highlights :
– Our trip to Japan in March-April, when I was able to visit a few gardens but also discover a type of gardening I knew absolutely nothing about. I absolutely loved what people did over there with their mini city gardens: the art of sculpting trees to amazing shapes and integrating this in tiny gardens everywhere, making them really stylish and beautiful. One of the gardens I visited was just on our doorstep, in a suburb of Osaka called Sakai, and we just happened upon it by accident one day we went for a cycle in the park. It was a small garden, but quintessentially Japanese in my opinion. I put the photos in the album called Sakai Garden, Osaka.
– The second highlight of the year was the Hunting Brook course I did, and the pleasure of seeing this garden evolve every month between February and November, from the quite bare flower beds in February to the explosion of colours in the summer, then gradually falling asleep for winter and the last day of the course in November. One bonus of the course was the fact that nearly every month, we were also able to end the day with a visit to June Blake’s, and that was always such a pleasure… I hope that I can go back to both these gardens in 2014 again.
The Japanese gardens I saw were so different from Hunting Brook and June Blake’s, and I’m naturally more attracted by gardens such as these two, but once in them, I also loved the Japanese gardens. So Clare, if you are reading this, I haven’t made up my mind yet!
Wish for 2014? Apart from Charleville in Enniskerry, visit one garden in England…
Early on when I got interested in gardening (a while ago now!), I wanted to have something in flower in the garden every month of the year.
In the dark days of December and into January, jasminum nudiflorum, the winter jasmine, does this in abundance with its cheery yellow blooms. Mine grows happily on a north-facing wall. Over the years I’ve acquired other winter flowering plants but because I’ve had this so long now, it’s a bit special.
Just looking at these two Amarrylis both grown at the same time and a foot in the difference of size …the pink one is our Daughters grown in Gorey Co Wexford…and the orange one is mine …..
The Moral of the story is the Country one comes out tops…..
I havnt had the camera out for ages. But when I open my bedroom curtains every morning I see these little flowers which have been flowering now for at least 2 months, they are small, white with a green tinge and when you are hurrying in from the car to the front door they go unnoticed!
They have lovely foliage all year but come in to flower in late autumn and can easily be ignored although their flower is both lovely and unusual.So I thought today they deserved a place of honour on this site!
I have another slipper orchid just opening.
I’m looking forward to this one flowering again.
Mixed year. I was busy with work over the summer so lost control of things a bit. My strawberries were great. This is their second year. Planted some apple trees last March. They were bareroot mail order from English’s Fruit Nursery in Wexford who, incidentally, were a pleasure to deal with. The trees have done really well in their first year.
I visited this beautiful garden in 2012. It’s not a well known garden outside Castlebar area and the owner opens only once a year during the summer for charity. This is one of my favourite gardens along with Caher Bridge and Terra Nova gardens. I will definitely go back to see Caher Bridge and also to Terra Nova.
My garden is over half an acre. A lot of it is lawn but I am developing beds in various places. The site is fairly exposed. The soil is heavy but free draining, stony and slightly acid. I have a mix of perennials, shrubs and trees. I also try to grow fruit and veg but with limited success.
I have a cold greenhouse where I grow tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers among other bits and pieces.
My garden is over half an acre. A lot of it is lawn but I am developing beds in various places. The site is fairly exposed. The soil is heavy but free draining, stony and slightly acid.
I have a cold greenhouse where I grow tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers among other bits and pieces.
Gidday again, been outside all day listening to the cricket abit of gardening(not much)& enjoying the company of some beautiful birds.I hope the photos warm you up. regards roofy.
Gidday all,trust you,re all well after the Xmas cheer.A few photos of the bird life for you.The weather is turning hot again, plenty of hand watering to keep the patch alive. regards roofy.
I have been very much supported by all the kind expressions of sympathy from my lovely friends on this site.
Although Brendan had become very frail over the past year and the past six months were particularly difficult with him having to go to a nursing home because of the level of care he needed his passing came as a shock to me but I took great comfort in being able to take him home to wake in the home we built together.
Brendan was my inspiration in the garden, encouraging me in the whole project. When we discussed buying the site his reservation was in taking on such a large garden – declaring that he wasn’t going to start mowing lawns again! The challenge he set me was to design a garden that didn’t include lawns. So far I haven’t quite met that challenge but maybe some day!
Our garden will always be a reminder of Brendan and our happy few years together.
Ní bheidh a leithéid ann arís.
Maybe this will start people coming back on here …if you had a special garden you would like to share .
Just saw Clair E has Helen Dillons lovely garden up .Thank you Clair for the lovely photos….
My garden is going to be Charleville House Enniskerry.
After a shot stay in bed this morning I was up and out in the garden ASAP.
Planted a few things here and there, power washed the decking, cleaned up the last of the leaves (finally) and did some general tidying up around the borders here and there.
Then Maria woke me up asking if I wanted more mulled wine,
a perfect way to sit this storm out,
sleeping, garden dreaming, mulled wine and mince pies ;-))
The jobs above can wait for another day.
Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day here were just lovely. So calm and sunny after all the storms we had leading up to Christmas. Lots of damage around though but we enjoyed the tranquility of the days. We came across the donkeys on our way back up for a beach!!! The little horse didn’t seem to want his photo taken and who could blame him – a bad hair day, that’s for sure!!!
This is the fairly new boardwalk that’s down at the Quay in Westport. It was damaged during the storms we had before Christmas. Quite shocking to see all the metal flooring gone. Last night here the gales were horrendous – so scary. Hope everyone is OK and that not too much damage has occurred!!!!
It was very considerate of the orchids that at least one of them opened on Christmas Day.
This one is a cymbidium, which I’ve had for a few years but the flowers are always welcome.
I don’t know about the rest of you but it has been unbelievably stormy here. I don’t ever remember such scary winds! I was astonished to see the garden was still there this morning with no trees down!
Yesterday I cut down a tree in the garden, with the help of my son. The tree looked a bit precarious for about a year and it was a job I intended to do over the winter, so I was pleased the weather forced me to get down to the job. It was an acacia that has surviverd as nuimber of years, but has been damaged by storms and looked battered.
I think it will improve the garden as it will give extra light, and no damage was caused when the tree fell. So I was lucky.
Gidday all,I,m glad your weather was kind to you & enjoyed your day with family & friends.Abit of rain here so no bbq,the cooks in the family more than made up for the change in the cooking itinery.
regards roofy.
I bought this plant a few years back not knowing how big it grew, so it had to be moved. I had one spot where it could grow away but been right beside the hedge and wall I thought it would be far to dry completely.
So nothing ventured nothing gained was applied once again.
This year was as good a test for it with the dry summer. Looking at the plant now it seems happy enough and it can grow way for itself.
What a great day it was yesterday. We had a lovely day here all together with our great children, son-in-law, and of course our grandchildren. They just make Christmas.
it was a beautiful day outside too. The sun was shining and it was a great day for a long walk. I took the dogs out and thought I’d wrap up warm, only to find I didn’t actually need my gloves and scarf it was so mild. I also took a sneaky peek around the garden. The Hellebores are starting to open and the daffs etc are starting to peep up through the soil. What a great sight.
BUT…..there is a storm brewing, that was obviously the calm before the storm!!
So wherever you are, stay safe and indoors if you can while it passes over. And let’s hope it doesn’t cause too much damage.
Enjoy the rest of the holidays 🙂
A lovely Christmas was had by everyone here.
I thought I’d just put up a photo of the gardening things I got.
THE bOOPHANE HAD BEEN ON MY wISH lIST SINCE 2010.
Happy Bunny 🙂
