Month: June 2014

Fran and Clare, who visited recently, will know what this new project is all about.

It involves some decking and elevating some ornaments so that they can be better seen.

It was going great guns until today when Norman realised he hadn’t bought quite enough wood. Ooops, he had! I’d just borrowed one of the planks to help mark straight edges on borders! Guess who was in the deeps!

But now a second obstacle has occurred, in that the drill has died. Time for a trip to the shops!

The sarracenia in these beds are a little behind my more established planter in the West Garden.

Both these raised beds are bog ones and enjoy full sun – conditions necessary for sarracenia.

A few sarracenia are in flower, some are in bud and others are not old enough to flower so they are sending up pitchers now instead.

I have a little Venus Fly Trap in one bed and it is in bud. Although slightly more tender than sarracenia, Venus Fly Traps often do well outdoors if given the right conditions. The problem with growing them on your window sill, in a saucer of water, is that it is too warm in winter for them to go dormant. So they grow and continue for about two years then drop dead from exhaustion.

In my quest for bottles of Citronella oil for my much-loved oil burners, I’ve almost given up. Dealz, SuperQuinn, Dunnes, SuperValu, Homebase, Heatons, €2 shops, local D.I.Y. stores, Tesco. Only other options are Argos and B&Q. not amused.com

Alas poor Yucca I knew him/her well. In the last few days this Yucca which was probably most advanced became top heavy and is now lying in a horizontal position or you may say in a position of stable equilibrium. I was watching the advance of the flower for some time. Don’t worry if you think it is the end. I still have many Yuccas around the garden some of them in flower and several others not in flower. It was interesting that due to the mild winter we had, these flowers were forming before the winter and most of them survived it. I hope to show some more later on.

Totally unplanned, and I never noticed it last year so I am guessing it is due to the plants growth since then but i really like this combination of leaves.

A wet and miserable day in Waterford today after a beautiful sunny day yesterday. It has been raining all morning and a stong wind seems to be blowing for the last hour or so. Yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far in Waterford and last evening our local garden club had a most enjoyable visit to two gardens in the Woodstown area. It is amazing how weather in Ireland can change so quickly. 

I don’t think I will get out in the garden at all today and at this point I am under pressure to get the garden ready for the Charity Day at the end of the month. As the days  go on a feeling of panic sets in. We had a man from one of the free local newspapers call yesterday to take photos and this added to an already stressful suitation. Why do I get myself into these suitations?

With nothing do to this morning I have been going through Paddy’s photos and have added a few photos of  hot colour flowers to my June album.

Tetrapanax Rex – definitely a King!

I am pretty pleased with this part of the border ,but i think i will have to move some  as the Hydrangeas are fighting for space!

I have Solidago at the back ,but i really dont like this plant  and part of me dont want to get rid of it .Have anyone any suggestions of a suitable companion for solidago?

I still cant add photo albums,from this area.Got to do a spring album but no more.I will contact Craig,during the week.No problem with the spring album but since then a full stop.Tried on both Pc and Tablet app 3 weeks ago.Tried again in the last few minutes but no luck.I will email Craig,early next week.Does anyone else have that problem

Went  for a drive to Dunlaoirhaire today  and got a wonderful book and am so happy as it has all Irish gardens …. Happiness in the garden…..

Just noticed that I hadn’t included Astrantia shaggy. Here it is – Astrantia shaggy ‘Margery Fish’.

I know what you all think, that the leprechaun on the leaf is more interesting then what Fran has behind his back.

simple straight forward plant but i love the contrast, with the leaf and flower colour, and better if its sunny. 

Recently I am not doing so much gardening, as the weather has been bad here, but I hope to relax a bit more in the garden and enjoy it, and not be bullied by all the weeds.  

I am trying to get peonies to flower after the spring blossoms, but I am not sure what this one is.  I hope to check what I have against Google images.

A picture of my Summer Dream Clematis.   Planted just a few weeks ago. Hope I get a

few more flowers

After Jonathan built the raised bed last week-end, we had a really busy week and had no time to do anything about the soil to put in it. We have some compost but not enough and several people advised to get proper soil so I ordered top soil this morning and it was delivered a little while ago.

The delivery man very kindly inspected the back garden and the space over the wall to see if he could drop the bag into the garden, but it was quite tight and I could see that many plants and flowers were going to get squashed in the process, so in the end he left it on the front drive. Which means that the soil is going to have to travel from front to back this evening… We don’t have a wheelbarrow but I think one neighbour will lend us one, and fingers crossed for a dry evening!!!

Very different from most. I don’t know the name.

Mary and Paddy kindly gave me this plant a couple of years ago when we went to visit. It was in my HOT BORDER up until today, together with Cerastium. They were tending to ‘cool’ the hot colours down a bit. So they both got dug up and transplanted into the North-facing border today. Slowly trying to locate plants in more suitable areas. 

I’d love to be reminded of the name please, as I’m on a roll with labels this year at last.

As I mentioned in my previous journal, today I got to grips on moving plants that just weren’t working. I had spoken about getting rid of my oriental poppies the other day. And Mary mentioned that they were extremely difficult to remove COMPLETELY. C’est la vie.

However, I decided to uproot my Chamaerops humilis today, and decided that this would be the perfect spot for the big orange poppies, to add to the HOT colours. Potted up the Chamaerops (now yet ANOTHER pot!!), and planted the orange poppies in its place. This is surrounded by red and orange lilies that have already been staked up so they should provide the floppy foliage with a lot more support. I think the poppies will added a much-needed boost to this area. And if I lose them, so be it. They got two watering cans of water and I could see a visible difference by this evening. Fingers crossed now!

i snapped this today in Malahide, it is the railway bridge and its covered the bank on down the train track. Just thought it looked nice.

and gone to heaven. The scent in the garden this evening was amazing. Roses, Hesperis, Philadelphus and Wisteria. OMG. Swoon!

I love penstemon ,they are a great doer here in my garden 

The first one to bloom here is called Heavenly Blue 

A mixed day here with heavy showers strong winds and even some sunshine thrown in 😉

Well, the begonia we all saw on this year’s Chelsea arrived in the post yesterday.

It is Begonia sizemoreae.

Mine is a plug so it has some growing to do to get to the size of the ones we saw on telly but it is wonderfully hairy!

My son enjoyed rubbing its soft bristles on his face – very tickly!

I have garden.ie members to thank for my growing love of primulas.  Can’t think why they weren’t on my radar before joining.   The candelabras hold sway now and I’m pleased with this Primula beesiana, bought as a very small plant at Johnstown in January.  Three flowering shoots in year one is pretty good!

Have you ever had the feeling your been watched while working in the garden, I do, all the time.