Month: March 2014

The Joy of having loving daughters! I have just received this in the post From one of them.  I’m sure I will be forgiven for opening the parcel now! 

3 paeonies: Early Scout, Coral Charm and Shirley Temple.  Perhaps in a few years I will be posting pictures of these beautiful flowers.

We spotted this plant in Great Dixter and Kew last summer. It was Deborah who identified it. It is a glorious, exotic, tender plant that is shy of direct sun and grows to 6-10 ft, like an enormous graceful umbrella.

We didn’t find it for sale anywhere and then, once home, to rub salt in the wound, June Blake had one in her garden!

At one stage Deborah, Liga and myself were in a frenzy looking for it. We forged alliances and passed on leads but in the end we all found our separate sources.

This is my specimen, bought as a plug last autumn. It is growing well and fast and I expect great things from it.

… Well, it’s the last of the fancy pleiones anyway.

The ordinary ones are just opening now, the largest pot being in the greenhouse.

This is Pleione Shantung.

I like it.

I’m very pleased with those Lidl herb pots. They really worked well for showing off the pleiones this year.

………….in Lidl yesterday. 

I was only interested in the jumbo perennials that were on sale. Plus I had my granddaughter with me so it was a bit of an in and out job!!! 

But I picked up some Foxglove. 6 in a pack for €3.99. Nice big plants. Also some red Geums, and yellow Poppies. They also have Delphiniums, lupins, and lots of other plants and shrubs that I didn’t stop to look at as there was a war going on between said child and me!!!! 

Going back this morning!!! On my own 😉 

Linda gave me a piece of this plant a few years ago now.

It is just starting to flower now and it will be flowering for months to come. It has been well divided and is dotted all over the garden.

A great value plant.

I spent the morning potting on.

Not seedlings, larger plants…

Furcraea, Epiphyllum, Brugmnasia, Aloe, Senecio, Tibouchina, Aeonium, Boophane and others.

There’s a lot to do at the moment and the garden needs attention.

I’m sure it will come together in the end.

I liked this shot of the house plant because it shows all my tulip pots outside, brimming with promise 🙂

Like Sally, my auriculas are just coming into flower.

This is the first and she is called Alice Haysom.

The flowers on this one are tiny, and not the easy to get a decent photo in the wind today.

A great little plant, that produces fantastic foliage  as a side line 😉

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

Today after our walk, Paddy and myself went to a local garden centre  Easter Island and treated my self to two plants. After seeing Mary Joe’s beautiful Ribea “White Icicle” on FB last night I thought that it was time to re-introduce it back into the garden. I had a Crinodendron that was hammered in the second of the harsh winters and had nursed for two years, but it just lingered on, so I got Paddy to dig it out last summer. I hope the new one will thrive and fill the empty space that was left by it’s demise.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mammies on the site and I hope you all have a great day.

Camellia ‘Margaret Davis’ has never had as good a year as this, flowering its socks off at the moment despite it being in a pot now.

And over the last day or two another one opened. Lovely strong colour. Labelled only as ‘Double Red’.

Have a nice day, all you Mothers (and others).

A person who does the work of twenty for free

Happy mothers day to all the lovely ladies on this site 🙂

its been all go this week John has been laying in edging across the back of cottag.then we raked of the top gravel off the pathway . we layed down new lighter gravel from the cottage to the boarder of the grass. I must say it looks rather good.The garden is now full of daffs tulips and primroses also all the heathers are still going strong the spring heathers are starting to flower to now.looking around the garden to day i noticed the water lillys starting to send up new leaves i just love there flowers in the summer.

I am really delighted to see the first of these blooming in my garden today

The wind Tatterised them last year,before they had a chance!

These Beauties are starting to put on a good show at the moment. A great daffodil and stands up well in the heavy rain. I have these in a pot out the front and are doing very well. I like the pink and white on these as it’s different for Daffodils. I have two more types of pink and white this year to add to my collection but no sign of them opening yet.

Day two of my seven day shift, it turned out to be a tough day.

I was not in the best of form getting home, dinner was delayed and I was told to do a bit in the garden (music to my ears).

Spent about and hour weeding and moving a few bits around. The effects of the day just melted away and all is well with the world once again.

The Sedum type plant in the photo was picked up in Jimi Blake’s last year, he had no name for it. But I have to saw I love the colours it is changing at the moment.

Clare, spotted these shoots in the garden the other day. They belong to the Paeonia you gave me a few years ago.

Lots of good healthy shoots, seems to have settled in very well.

Thanks again 😉

Well, not so many updates from my own garden… few primulas, few heleborres, few daff…. veg patch very quiet so …. we need some excitement in our life…. 

Good while ago The gang of gardeners (Fran M, Clare and Joan) and me over the lovely dinner in Clare’ s come up wih this idea- go to visit Bodnant gardens in Uk..

As we know some ideas, like a dreams they might or might not to come true..    but in Hands of the Master organizer Fran all the ideas come true…Emails were send, travel tickets booked, Fran is going to be our driver and me Clare and Joan will keep him company…..  

to be honest I did not know a lot about this garden, but just idea to go on the boat with the company of great gardeners was so good. After some recearch (google is great) i just realize how lucky i am to go and see this. 80acres of beautiful gardens.

 oh The date- 15th May, will be back with more news….

I think that I never had this cactus in bloom like this in March before. There should be several more flowers on it before long.

I love watching the new growth on all plants at this time of the year.

One favorite are the Astilbes.

This is Astilbe Fanal given to me by Mary (Keego) at Johnstown in January.

The vibrant red colour is stunning in the sun and against the green background.