Month: September 2014

My Sister    is looking for the name of this plant and I thought I had the name in the shed but af course it is the ony one I cannot  find ……….I know it is an Alpine that is all …………

Bought this beautiful Hollyhock in Riverlane Nurseries on 7th June when it was in full flower. I just couldn’t resist it.

This morning it rewarded me with another gorgeous bloom, and more on the way.

This Passion flower is in the greenhouse. I bought it from Bakker unlike the others which I grew from seed. I discovered the flower this evening as it was turning dark.  There are many more flowers of this nature in the same greenhouse but have not opened yet.

Or strim, a wildflower meadow. A lot of work, but it’s only once a year. Oscar’s delighted to be getting his tennis ball lawn back for the winter!

Despite the camera shake, I think it’s fair to say that Bonica’s happy in her new home. The work we did mulching and composting those new beds before planting has definitely benefited the plants. 

I bought a few new brugmansias this spring.

This particular one has just flowered and it’s called ‘Apricot Queen’.

This will make a great display at Douentza next year.

I have a few roses but I think this is my favourite.

we do,seedings are coming up but to be kept moist not not deluged in water, forgot that I,d taken the plastic out of the hothouse to make it a shadehouse & the shadecloth allows plenty of rain in hence the brollie.

I love the blue of this flower. Lots of buds yet to open.

This plant has flowered and flower all summer and is showing no signs of stopping for a while yet. Hoping to get this into the ground later on as I want to train it up a frame of some kind.

I moved this Perovskia (Russian Sage) ‘Little Sprite’ after it flowered during the Summer. However, it has decided to put on another show. It seems to be enjoyiing its new home.

Another set of seed which I sowed maybe at the end of May/start of June has opened up for me which isn’t it just fantastic. I really do love it. I have a few pots here of it so hoping it will bulk up in the pots so i have nice thick plants to plant out. A few of them have 1 or 2 buds but should i cut all these off and wait for a proper showing next year?? I failed with these last year as i potted them on into soil that was too sandy and they didn’t like that so delighted to have them now.

I’m all set for the talk this evening in Rathvilly.

Really looking forward to it now 🙂

These are the plants I’ll be taking for sale afterwards and I hope they will like them. There will also be seeds.

That’s all for now.

As you know I won €100 worth of summer bulbs some months ago. I could not plant them all, so shared them around with who I could. One report I did hear back form people was that the Dahlia’s had failed on the whole. I planted eight of these and only three grew.

I was well impressed when I got an email from the company asking how the bulbs had gone for me. I explained about the failure of the Dahlias and they were very surprised and were going to contact the supplier in Holland about the problem.

I just thought it was great PR for them to contact me even though I won and had not bought these bulbs.

Well done to Bulbs and Beyond.

Photo shows one of the Dahlia that is just opening now.

Check this one out.

I have 3 or 4 others also doing well, but this one is in almost complete shade, so I am delighted that it’s been flowering away so well.

Instead of walking in our local BORING rectangular park this morning, I took off around the Hospital. Spotted this in a garden. Back-tracked to take a photo very quickly, before someone saw me and phoned the men in white coats!!!!  It looked like a little hedgehog from where I was standing. But now looking at the photo, I’m not so sure.

Despite the lovely warm sunny weather in early September, we needed some rain. The roses in particular required it. We got it and even though yesterday was a lovely day, we had some rain last night. The roads around Carlow were busy this morning,  with cars travelling to the Ploughing Championship but it is quiet around this area now. I noticed some roses doing very well in particular Jost Joey, one of my favourites. I had them early on, then so sign of them but now they are great. I continued removing certain plants from the rockery. One plant I seemed to miss was Armeria maritima. It was not choked by others but with Snow in Summer surrounding it is was hardly noticed. Now things have changed and while more has to be removed, there is an improvement and I dare not let it go like that again.

Yesterday I spotted this set up in the garden.

Dahlia australis has bent over and is crowning the head of my little statuette!

I think it looks very cute.

And I didn’t set it up, honestly. I wouldn’t have thought of it 🙂

I never realised that Cosmos give off a beautiful scent. Not sure if it’s only during the evening. But last night I went out to the garden and I got this gorgeous whiff near the patio doors. 

I went over to my Nicotiana sylvestris, thinking it was coming from these. But it wasn’t. Right beside these are some dark pink Cosmos. And would you believe it was from the Cosmos I was getting the fabulous smell. 

I didn’t know Cosmos had a scent. I went around all the Cosmos I have and they too all had a scent off them. Some stronger  than others. It seems the darker the colour the stronger their scent was. What a nice surprise. 

to make Fran a happy man.

I saved seed from Gladiolus tristis some months ago. I saved some and sowed some straight away. Three months later and yesterday I spotted the first two slivers of green in the pots. Isn’t it strange how easy we gardens are turned into happy campers.

I will sow more of the seed now. It will take three years before these flower but at least I’m sure of this great plant been here for some time to come.