Month: September 2014

This is a little plant that Rachel gave me some time ago.

But I waved good-bye to it when Steve and Derek were shovelling out the soil from the cave earlier. Nowhere else to put the soil but on top of my Primrose 5-Step area. But this little beauty has now pushed itself up through its heavy blanket of soil and is smiling at me once again. 

You have seen many journals from me about my Echium ‘wild pretti ‘ and everyone saying how great it is looking and how healthy it is. 

Well yesterday I noticed that the under leaves are starting to go brown and dying!! 

Is this normal? Should I be concerned!? 

I know the large Echium ‘pininana’ that I have planted out has some leaves at the base that are gone brown but it’s only one or two. 

What do I need to do here?

 Thanks 

I have a couple of Taxus baccata in containers on either side of the front door. They are in the containers a few years now and one is doing brilliantly while the other has been looking a bit poorly.

The ends of the leaves were turning brown so I gave it a good water in case that was the cause. Then I found an adult vine weevil near it and suspected that perhaps the grubs were feeding on the roots.

Today I decided to tip it  out and have a good look but didn’t find any grubs, just some woodlice and one more adult vine weevil. The roots seemed healthy and the compost looked good and was damp. I shook off some of it and replaced it with fresh soil mixed with compost and some grit and slow release fertiliser. Then I gave it a really good haircut.

I had to give the other one a similar trimming as it looked twice the size. I just replaced some compost without tipping it out.

They are in wooden containers which are a bit flimsy and probably won’t last much longer.

I still don’t know why it wasn’t thriving – any ideas?

This is one of my favourite water lilies here.

I just love when I get a few of the veg beds cleared and covered with manure and black plastic. It gives me a real feeling of satisfaction that the soil is being fed and protected from the weather and weeds.

That’s it now until next Spring but it will be late Winter before I get them all covered as some have beetroot and parsnips and some have brassicas still growing in them.

I like this time of year when growth slows down and I can catch up on a few jobs again without everything running away on me.

our first flower out on the Hieracium Red hart and theres lots more to open

I planted these two Thuja a few years ago now. I set them in the ground level with my eyes so they would look the same.

They took about a year to settle in and show signs of growth. I really took little notice of them since then, but standing beside them the other day I noticed they have grown about half a meter. I will start trimming them next year for sure as I want them as narrow as possible and not a lot taller.

Tina sent me a small bit of her Scarborough Lily (Crythanthus elatus) a few years ago. I have been feeding it sporadically throughout the summer, so just wondering when I can expect to see a flower? Patience is NOT one of my virtues!

I’ve had this in the greenhouse all summer. It looked gorgeous today with the red tinge to the new leaves.

I’ve never actually had a Hippeastrum to flower for the second time. I usually chuck them on the compost bin after flowering. This year I decided to try my hand at getting another flowering season. I’ve been feeding it once a month for the last three months thinking ‘Why am I wasting my time when they are so cheap to replace’.

However, I think the regular feed is starting to pay off. Let’s hope it’ll flower again. 

Today the 13ft trampoline at the back of the house was dismantled and went to a new home.

The boys never used it any more, although Sam was very grumpy with me for getting rid of it despite not having bounced once this summer.

There is now an ENORMOUS space at the back of the house where it used to be and I have no idea how I will fill it. And that unused car is going to get NCTed and sold an’ all!

Of course when I win the lottery I will build a giant conservatory along here but until then…

Did a bit of a tidy up yesterday, including sweeping.

The colour is fading from my potted plants, which is sad, but it seems a nice autumn so far.

By the way, that hideous trampoline in the photo went on adverts.ie yesterday. The boys didn’t play on it once this summer and I’ll be glad to see it taken away!

Jacinta said during her visit that I don’t put up enough pictures of the garden, so while the sun shone I nipped out to take some. I forgot that I’d had the camera on a low light setting the evening before, so they came out rather shimmery and soft focus-y. I rather like it! It’s like candle light, you can’t see the wrinkles!

I’ve been on top of dead-heading in the garden this summer. But it’s weird the way my Ipomea are now opening up purple, when the original seedlings opened electric blue.

But here’s another weird thing. This rose is one I took from cuttings a few years ago. It was planted out but had to get potted up again for some reason. And now the flowers are not deep red, the way they used to be, but Barbie pink!!! Maybe the parent rose had been grafted onto a different root stock, and this is beginning to revert?????   I do like it though.

Martin gave me this fern at Johnstown on the occasion that he was accompanied by Deborah. It was a very small fern at the time. I planted it in  partial shde and it came on great. Later, I moved it to a place where there was more shade. I seemed to go back. i moved it to where it was planted first. Now it is very good and quite big. Thanks Martin.

Just putting this out there in case anyone may be in the Crumlin area on Sunday next to support this great cause….

Some of you may know I work in St Mary’s Medieval graveyard in Crumlin. On Sunday next the graveyard will be open from 1pm to 5pm as part of the Our Ladys Hospice Garden trail.. there will be an Archaeologist available to answer questions,and he will also be giving tours and talks during the afternoon..There will also be a small plant sale with plants supplied by the Hospice…..all money raised from donations on the day will go to the Hospice …. Hope the weather will stay nice for it ……Maybe see some ie’rs there 🙂

For all those who were taken by the Mount Congreve albizia, I present my one.

I brought this back from France last year and it is Albizia julibrissim ‘Summer Chocolate’, with dark foliage. It is the tall spindly thing against the shed.

It is not doing terribly well and part of the problem is that it wants full sun and shelter from wind, which is difficult for me to provide.

Apparently our climate it really too cold for it, resulting in its shoots not ripening properly here.

For anyone going to buy one, I would suggest the green leaved one as it may be sturdier.

Rachel here is my Coupe De Soleil, this photo was taken a few weeks back but is still flowering like this. I have never seen a dahlia that flowers so much. Mine is also in the ground in a very sunny spot. Most flowers do have the white on them aswell.

A few more dahlias.

This time, left to right, it’s Pasadoble, Kim Willo, Coupe de Soleil (surely another mismarked one!) and Blue Bayou.

I visited Mount Congreve today with Clare, Fran, Myrtle and Joan and it was a brilliant day although I forgot my camera.

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

And I managed to buy Dahlia ‘Alvas Regalia’ afterwards – one of the ones on my wish list since I saw it there last year.

Gutted that Scrubber only arrived after I had left.

Wasn’t it great to day? It was like summer and so much can be done in the garden. Two days ago, the mower was out and the lawn looks great now. Of course only for the rain in August and some fertilizer it would not be like that now. Roses are beginning to show some blooms again. I had a look at the Japanese onion bed to day and the onions are up. Mirabilis jalapa is in bloom. I don’t  understand why they call it 4 o’clock plant as it was open this morning. Chrysanthemums are doing very well in the secret garden. Of course the weeds are doing well too. I spent a while at the rockery removing these and plenty more has to come out yet.