Month: January 2015

For your delictation, a video of this orchid…

Blc Chia Lin ‘New City’ – YouTube

As you’ll see from the photo’s when the house was bought in 2006 by my partner. it didn’t have a garden as such more like a field at the front and back. There is a lot of land and a great view of the Neffin mountain range. It’s still very much a big work in progress. I’ve been trying to change it bit by bit since 2011 when we got toghter but as gardening isn’t cheap and as you’re all aware it doesn’t happen overnight when your working full time. Living in the west of Ireland on a plot of land that is wide open to the elements especially the wind is not easy. The wild Hares are lovely to look at but I’ve had to change a lot of things in the garden as they love young Heathers and the bark of saplings so a lot of things that should be established now are still fighting to survive or dead.

I’ll get there one of these days.

Tomorrow is the first day of spring some say, but the evenings and mornings are definitely brighter and new growth is all around the gardens. The snowdrops and crocuses are getting more plentiful, but other flowering plants, as has been noted here, have come and some gone. Winter Jasmine, mahonia, hellebores camellias, ribes, daphne, garrya, cherries  and many more have been looking good.   So let’s hope 2015 will be a great gardening year for us all.

Tomorrow is the first day of spring some say, but the evenings and mornings are definitely brighter and new growth is all around the gardens. The snowdrops and crocuses are getting more plentiful, but other flowering plants, as has been noted here, have come and some gone. Winter Jasmine, mahonia, hellebores camellias, ribes, daphne, garrya, cherries  and many more have been looking good.   So let’s hope 2015 will be a great gardening year for us all.

Freezing cold  wind here today too cold to even think of gardening. While giving Meg some excercise I spotted a ‘warm spot. It was Escheveria rosea getting redder and redder as it gets colder. 

This is a very cold, breezy and showery morning here and apart from giving my robin(s) his porridge oats I really have not ventured outside yet.

We have just had a very heavy shower of hailstones that whitened the ground, well there is nothing new about that as we have been getting them all week.

However, there is something different about today’s showers. The hailstones are falling from the opposite slant!

Let me explain. All week, the rain, sleet or hail was falling on a slant from west/northwest to east/southeast but today the slant is very definately from east/northeast to west/southwest! Brrr! 

As I was watching this from the comfort of my livingroom this morning I just wondered if folk in towns and cities notice this or is it one of those things that only country dwellers are aware of?  Certainly, I suppose, we have better opportunity to observe it.

Just wondering!

Thank you so much everyone for your lovely words. My phone and my emails were hopping all night! I was so nervous, but now relieved that I came across ok. There were still those self-concious moments of…”Do I look like that?” “Do I sound like that?” and “Do I smile the whole time?” lol There was a funny blip when I pointed out a Pontederia and the editors showed an image of what looked like an Hippuris. lol It was all filmed last August, so it was great fun to watch and be reminded of the different experiences. It was the first time I got to see the aerial shots, and was also the first time I got to hear what the other gardeners said, and I was truely chuffed.

Thanks again for your kind words, and here’s to some downtime over the next few days! x

 

The Golden Trowel

Spotted this poor Iceberg Rose in the garden yesterday. I cut it and brought it in and it’s looking a lot happier  inside this morning.

Wonder is it a case of, ”the last shall be first and the first shall be last”.

R.Iceberg

I really enjoyed the programme tonight mostly of course because of Bruno but also the general Cork interest.  Your Garden looked super as usual Bruno  your planting is just so so good. Only thing is the Meerkats were missing!!!

Well done Bruno, beauiful garden and great selection Of plants  

Killing some time in Thurles so I dropped into Lidyl ….. For a look ash you do. What’s a man to do Hellbores galore still left on shelves so I bought four !! Do I plant them out now ? Should I feed them up first ? Roots comming through the pots 

Gidday my friends,

                           good to see the pic problem was fixed,well done to the team for fixing it so quick.Hope you get abit of warmth from the album.

Well done Bruno for a famous victory with your garden….its a creation of real beauty…a very peaceful haven!!!

Brilliant! Well deserved.

Well…tonight’s the night! I’m sure I’ll be cringing all the way through it as God know’s what way I’m going to come across. Looking forward to seeing how the garden looks from the air.

Show Me Your Garden

Hope you enjoy it!

Gidday,no luck in posting pics again.

I will be uploading a photo album in the next half hour or so of what is in flower in the garden at the moment. It wasn’t the best day for photos but I hope You enjoy them anyway. The photo here is of Rhododendron roxieanum var parvum, a splendid species Rhodo.

R.roxieanum var parvum.

To day was one when outside work was out with rain and sleet. There was sunshine and clear sky too but too cold. I decided to  pot up some tomatoes. The true leaves had appeared so I got fifteen of the plants potted up. The job was done in the greenhouse where it was reasonable warm, not simply on account of the heater but the sun. The plants were taken into the house and put inside a south facing window. As well, the Beefsteak tomatoes were germinated to day so they are on the same window.

Tomato Alicante

A few weeks ago Moya made a suggestion that it would be great if some announcement could be made for outings and events that would be of interest to the members, so I have decided to put up the following events for the coming month. It is not ideal but may be better than nothing. I know that there are other talks this month that would be of interest to members but I have no details so will update it when I get the info. Any better idea please suggest it.

Feb. 4th Waterford Garden Plant Society 8pm Noeleen Smyth”When Plants Go Bad” Fee non members.

Feb. 7th Altamont Snowdrop Gala. Jim Jermyn and Matt Bishop. Rare snowdrops for sale. Fee.

Feb. 8th Woodville Walled Garden, Kilchreest, Co Galway. Talk by Paul Smyth Fee €10. A series of walks 2pm-5pm Fri. Sat.and Sun throughout Feb with head gardener Marie.

Feb. 9th-15th Altamount Gardens Snowdrop Week.

Feb. 12th IGPS National Botanic Gardens 8pm Paddy Tobin ” Snowdrops in an Irish Garden.

Feb. 14th Snowdrop Day at Belllefield House Shinrone, Birr with Naomi Slade, Paul Smyth and Angela Jupe.  Fee.

Feb. 15th IGPS, Munster Branch visit to Altamount Gardens. 11 am.

Feb. 19th Alpine Garden Society St. Bridget’s Parish Centre, Stillorgan 8pm Rob Potterton.

Feb. 22nd Burton House, Nass. Talk and Walk with Assumpta Broomfield 12pm Fee €6.

Primrose Hill Garden, Lucan, Co Dublin opens for the month.

Feb. 26th Co. Wexford Garden and Flower Club. 8pm Paddy Tobin “Snowdrops in an Irish Garden” Fee non members.

Feb. 26th Cork Alpine and Hardy Plant Society, Val Bourne 8pm Talk on Snowdrops. Fee non members.

Feb. 26th Limerick Garden Plant Group 8pm will  host a talk given by Assumpta Broomfield on Irish snowdrops.

  With all my talking of getting better with seeds, as I sowed some yesterday I wondered how the seed was feeling!!!  So this is what I think.

Reflections of a Seed

—————————

 At first I must say my life was not fun

My siblings and I all felt it was done.

We rattled around inside of our packet

And wonder for how long we could hack it.

 

Then came the day when we heard paper rip

I tell you I had one bad trembling lip

What was to come and where would we go

Hard to explain when feeling so low.

 

Then came some light and then very soon

Out of the packet we started to zoom.

We fell on some black stuff that was oh so wet

But another bad shock we would soon get.

 

Down on our heads more black stuff did fall

Until very soon there was no light at all

And there we did stay until that magic day

When wonderful changes did come our way

 

I felt I was growing and getting quite fat

We had no idea the reason for that

But all of a sudden my coat it did break

And for the very first time I felt wide  awake

 

I grew and I grew getting bigger each day

And burst thru the black stuff with no delay

There was the light  and that was so great

 But I still wondered what  was my fate

 

I grew from the top and I grew from below

The reason for this I just did not know

But I filled out the tray and sat tall and strong

And that was the time that a pot came along.

 

I entered the pot and filled this up too

To be quite honest I just grew and grew

Then one last move and this was the best

Into the garden  to live and to rest.

 

The best time of all,, I wanted to shout

For this was the day that my flower came out

People walked by and stopped  to admire

And said ‘’ Did you see that most glorious flower?’’

 

So now as I stand here and drink in the sun

And often times think that life is such fun

Sometimes I wonder how did I hack it

When I was a seed locked up in a packet.

 

 

 

This is just a short update to say that since converting to Apple, it has not been possible for me to post an album to this site. The site does give you an opportunity to choose any pictures for an album.  So, all I can do is post lots of Journals where you can upload  up to 3 pictures.  That will have to suffice.

This photo was taken two days ago. I never had daffodils in January before. I know some members have had them before now but not I. They are the same variety as I have had for years. The last two days were such that I didn’t even look at them.

Daffodils

I have given you many glimpses of the morning scene from my front door on this Journal but this is not my favourite! (sorry about quality).

As I type the hailstones are beating against the windowpanes and thunder has been rumbling in the distance(:

Ah well! If the snowdrops can brave it then so can I ! I’m determined to get outside today as I barely ventured out at all yesterday and that is not good!

Opening the bedroom curtains this morning it was such a joy to see two hares munching on some grass that was showing above the layer of hailstones carpeting the orchard. 

Its all going on out there and good to have a share in it.

This is an old Irish primula that Elizabeth from Cork was trying to trace. The photo is bad as it was photographed from a book A Heritage of Beauty, by Dr Charles Nelson.

Tomorrow Lidl have the hellebores in again for €3.99 which is great value and if you have seen from some peoples journals after buying last year they are worth every penny. I got 2 last year and just waiting on them to open. Lidl open at 8 in the morning so I will head over then as it’s only over the road from me and hope to get a few nice ones.