Month: March 2014

Suggesting to my beloved that I’d like to change around the bog garden and extend it to incorporate his dad’s tree, but not this year, is like suggesting to my 2-year old granddaughter that I’m going to bake cookies but we won’t eat them till tomorrow. At the Limerick Garden Plants Group talk by Helen Dillon on Thurday, I could see him nodding happily as she said she didn’t like gardens that stayed the same, and thought of herself as a creator, not a curator. 

What can you do? Hand the boy a spade and start marking the edges, I guess! Watch this space….

I’d completely forgotten we bought these – I think they were part of a 3 for a fiver pack in Woodies last year. Nice surprise! The daffs are really at their best now. 

Hellebores are still doing really great at this time. This one has been fairly slow growing (I’ve had it for 3 or 4 years, and still only 2 stems this year) but I love the pure white blooms with green centres. Although it only has two stems, each has a lot of flowers so that makes up for it.

I got this little Chrysosplenium Davidianum from Deborah at the get together in January and planted it in a fairly shady and damp area of the garden, and it seems to have settled in well as it’s beginning to flower. I had seen this plant last year at Hunting Brook and really liked the bright little flowers at a time when there was not a huge amount of colour yet, so I was deligthed to be able to have one in the garden. Thanks a lot Deborah!

I just love the foliage on this plant when it first emerges from the soil. And it just grows so quickly. This one has literally taken off at a great rate. 

The flowers on it too are amazing. They look like little hearts but if you turn them upside down they look like a lady in a bath Lol. Gorgeous 

I bought this one last year as I love it’s limey green colour. But this year I’m trying to plant out most of the stuff in planters. And do away with them as much as possible, especially the smaller planters.

So this lovely carex will get planted in the North-facing border as soon as the weather allows. The North-facing border will almost be devoid of any real colour throughout the summer, so I think the Carex might lift it all quite well, providing it likes part shade.

Happy Mothers Day to all you wonderful mothers out there. Hope you are all spoiled today and have a great day. 

Lets hope we can get a few nice hours in the garden, now that would be my perfect day. 

Have a a good one. 

Hi all,

       tomatoes are still coming on & we,re just about in April just something else that,s not supposed to be happening.

Gidday all,

              hope you ladies have an enjoyable Mothers Day you all deserve it.

The patch has just had a week of rain just over 2 inches & it,s good to have abit of moisture back in the ground.

I know all our gardens usually get a late Autumn bloom this year it looks more like Spring buds everywhere,the rose bush in the photo has never had so many roughly 40 buds.Otherside of the coin the Jonquils are starting to flower & if my memory serves me correct that,s not supposed to happen until late Winter-early Spring.

One more oddity the lawn has usually stopped growing & thats definately not happening.I like whats happening but can only guess as to why it is.

I,m enjoying looking at all off your Spring blooms quiet a show.

                                                                                    regards roofy.

spent the last hour or so looking on the web at shrubs and mixed planting in raised beds and now i have a lot better idea on how this area is going to look and work out. i was thinking the wrong way about the planting now after looking through pictures i have an idea of how i want it to work and i wont allow the clothes line to run through it. 

i honestly thought it was going to look stupid but from the photos on the web it will look good and i intend to paint the raised beds a nice purple colour also intend to put trelis for my climbers and hubby will make a special bed for them. the hedge is really ugly and it would  take too much to take it out so i am going to put a timber panel in front of it with some trelis going across the top and paint that a nice aubergine colour i love purple so it will have a nice effect on the planting and the colour works with every colour. this is the first day i have had a chance to look on the internet for ideas, work is so busy so i was too tired to try and look at anything all i saw was problems and not the full picture now i do and it will be brill.  should be more positive about it all, after all it is supposed to be a calm area, by the time i have it finished i will need to spend a solid month in it just to chill out after all the work and planning that will go into it.

the old patio will now become the tropical part with loads new stuff that i have been building up from johnstown including, tree fern, tetrapanax and fatsia all architechual plants with just foliage and little or no flowers, will look at some more photos of tropical planting. the tree ferns are very small but they will grow and i am trying more banana plants from seed. i am going to try some in just a seed tray sealed in a plastic bag just to see as i think the propagators are to hot for them, nothing happened last year for me so i will try this method to see, the heat of the tunnel and been sealed in the bag should work, i am doing this with poppies etc.

tomorrow i will sow the spores of the ferns and maybe clean my labels.

photos will follow soon

Another couple of primulas/primroses to flower still. But two more opened today, and these have self-seeded in the Alpine Circle. Going to be moved and divided as soon as they have finished flowering.

My final hellebore opened today. Time now to put them to bed for the summer months.

This is another plant I received from Augis Bulbs last year.

Really want this to do well in the shadier part of the garden here. I will be planting this one out after it flowers.

Just added an album of March colour in the garden.

You know when you see a lovely plant or a special offer in a catalogue or on a website and then they say – “Don’t deliver to the Republic of Ireland” – and you cannot get said plant or special offer, well Parcel Motel can change all that.

If you register with them, you can use their Antrim address and as long as the company delivers to N. Ireland you’re away on a hack!!

I’ve just had 3 bare root Hydrangea paniculata plants delivered through them from Thompson and Morgan.

The picture is from the web.

thats how i am about this new area, it has changed themes so many times and is still cant seem to get the proper feel for it. i have all the plants for it and hubby is working on the new raised beds which are going to be alot higher than what they were but a little bit shorter. hubby wont take down the clothes line which is really annoying me so i hope when he sees it done up and the clothes out he will see my point(fingers crossed that he will)  i hope it will look right at the end, this is the first time i ever had trouble with an area i usually get the feel for it straight away and know what i want in it, hmmm maybe it will be a success well i hope it will, just doesnt feel that way right now. when the beds are ready i will lay out the plants and it might all come together . well enough about that

spent a great day in the tunnel potting up some petunias for mum, i got these in aldi a few weeks ago, i dont bother with them because i dont do window boxes anymore or even hanging baskets most of my plants are perennials except the cosmos and a few bits like that. i will finish the tunnel during the week now that the evenings are getting longer yipeeeeeeeee. then get the small bit of veg that i am doing sorted, i just got some cabbage plants and a few brocolli plants and a small amount of onions for now and i will get some potatoes, i know i said i wasnt doing  veg but it felt wrong and i love the first potatoes. i wll have one area and thats it and i have come up with the idea that i will get some mypex ( the good stuff and put it down and just make the holes for the potatoes and cabbage etc that way i wont have to earth up or weed now thats what i call trouble free veg.

i still have loads to do and not a seed sown, i have poppies and other new bits i even have tree lupin seeds and banana . what am i going to do when i have the garden packed to capcitiy? what am i going to sow then i wonder? im sure i will find something new and different to sow. if i won the lotto i would buy a big glasshouse and more garden at the back. i can dream on i think wouldnt win an argument. 

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL YOU LADIES. 

its a double whamy for me cos its my birthday today and mothers day tomorrow so a baileys is on the cards  and a tub of pringles sour cream and onion and my new mags and books on kew, now thats bliss 

I just took a photo of this Cacti on my kitchen window for nearly 2 years and this is the first time I got 2 different flowers on 2 different (spikes ) maybe not the correct term for it but you do know what I mean ..   I just love it.

I got pulmonaria ‘blue ensign’about three years ago, and have since divided it up and shared it around. As a result, I am now left with just a tiny clump.

Made a decision yesterday to just leave it be and let it bulk out before dividing it again. I am getting a bit fed up with the speckled leaves of the more common one, and have found that I tend to pull them up where ever they are growing in the wrong place. I would happily let ‘Blue Ensign’spring up anywhere.

My first year with Dendrobium nobile Type,a bit  disappointed as flowering was sparse hopefully again next year it will settle in and do its thing

Pelargonium ardens is doing well and producing a second flower spike

Gloxinia which i picked up in Lidl a few weeks ago (A tip off from Rachel )

I bought this one at Cheltenham orchid Fair,its more a salmon colour than the photo suggests 

This one is called Orizaba

A few primulas i grew from Barnhaven seed

I highly recommend their seed ,great germination results 🙂

I dug up some clumps of Lysimachia ‘Firecracker’ yesterday.

It is a ‘thug’ but a lovely plant all the same.

If anyone wants some let me know, I will be doing a bigger clearout at years end.

Photos from the web.

Last year I bought a Double Tiger Lillium in Terra Nova.

It produced lots of bulbils, I allowed most to just drop into the soil around the plant. I did take eight away and planted them up. They were in the cold frame all winter, and seven have started to grow.

Very happy with this return for very little effort. 

Sally I thought you might like to see a photo of the second Lonicera here. It is in a much more sheltered position and is doing a lot better than the other plant.

Second photo not the best but you can clearly see the ‘oak shape’ leaves developing on this plant as well.

Went to hear Helen Dillon give a talk to Limerick Garden Group last night.  It was a great night with a good number of garden.ie members there.  Helen’s talk was fantastic — informative, insightful and at times funny.  We heard about the changes she has made over the years, her choice of plants from season to season and the photos of the garden were superb.

She advised planting beds at right angles to your house (if possible) so that any gaps won’t be seen from the house. She said to give your best plants the best spot in the garden to encourage them to do well. She told us of her ‘exchange’ of views with a lady from a well known UK bulb supplier who insisted their bulbs did not have virus but thrips. There were many such light hearted moments during her talk.

There were plants for sale from Terra Nova and some made their way to our car as they do lol. 

All in all a great night out 🙂

I’ve tried a number of ways to try to control ground elder in my garden. I have it in a few borders. In one area I took out all the plants and sprayed the area with glyphosate before putting the plants back. That wasn’t very successful as it came back again. I reckon it would have to be sprayed a number of times and left for a year.

In the half circle perennial borders facing each other on either side of the path, I’ve tried to hand weed it and I’ve also spot treated it with glyphosate – that was the time I killed quite a few other plants in the border – and it is still thriving.

Last year, I tried to keep  on top of it by taking out the top growth and whatever roots I could manage until the plants grew in and shaded it out a bit and it seemed to work OK. I’m planning to try that again but it has come back with a vengeance.

Any advice? I don’t really want to take all the plants out again and replant as I simply don’t have the time.