Month: May 2015

While I was out in the front garden today, I got this magnificent smell as I was going in the side gate. It is this gorgeous Wallflower. I have this plant about two years. I thought that they only lasted one season. Last year I chopped it right down and stuck it in a small bed thats beside this gate. The bed is practically neglected. But it has flowered again and in fact this is probably the best it has ever been and with the Forget me nots I just think its a lovely combination!

Today was the first day I did the garden after all the rain we have been having. I thought the garden looked fresh and was improved by the rains we have been having.

The camellias are still in flower.  They started in December and the flowers are still there. Rhodos are doing well too.  Also in spite of worries about magnolias they are giving value. Some have finished flowering, but Magnolia wilsonii will flower soon and at the end of summer in some years Magnolia grandiflora ‘Exmouth’ puts on a show. So I live in hope.

However a recent gardening highlight was the visit last Thursday to the Alzheimer’s Garden in Blackrock, which was open to the public for fundraising.  It is a wonderful garden, kept to a very high standard by an enthusiastic group of volunteers, who deserve great thanks and congratulations.

What a differece in the weather from yesterday to today, a nice bright spring day and the temperatures were not bad either. We had a visit from a Cork gardening club today and was glad that the weather held up for them while visiting Waterford. 

I have put up an album of flowers and trees that are looking good over the last week despite the dreadful weather. Have been good keeping my resolution to put up an album every month for this year.

This plant not to be confused with Hippasstrum, I got it as a present over a year ago. it is blooming for the second year. It is quite tall, 75 cm. i have another one coming on.

I thought I had lost this Podophyllum over the winter. I was ecstatic to see it pushing up the other day, so it’s now protected with bits of stone and slate until it becomes more noticeable.

Weather a lot better today. Enjoy your gardens.

Don’t forget tonight at eight thirty on BBC 2 Gardener’s World from the Malvern Show.

Positively winterish here today so decided to take a few photos an hour ago to put a bit of colour in the day and i have put them in an album which i have just uploaded. It is representative of my garden at the moment.

I went out to the garden after lunch yesterday with one task in mind. There was a clump of Rudbeckia Goldstrum and a clump of Verbena both planted too close to the path by the stream. They were planted when I made the “hot border” and the path wasn’t there! No problem – that border, now much enlarged and not exclusively “hot” had plenty of space in the middle. So I dug up the Rudbeckia first. Then I realised the perfect spot for it was occupied by my pretty little Euonymus Fortunei “Emerald Gaiety” which is in the middle of the border (of course, that was originally the EDGE of the border but things had changed!) so I dug that up too. Just dumped it at the edge out of the way and planted the Rudbeckia.

 At this stage I realised that the Leycesteria  Pheasant Berry that had done such a good job in sheltering the Apple tree when it was first planted is now causing it to grow crooked so I chop it down to about a foot and a half- I know it will grow again but once it was cut I realised that it had been dominating that whole border and none of the other plants were standing out!

Then it was the turn of the Verbena. i don’t know which one this is but i think Hosta sent it to me when I was starting the Hot border. Its a pretty one but a bit of a spreader. Anyway, I dug it up and was about to plant it when I realised the chosen spot had loads of Eupatorium ‘Joe Pyeweed’ just peeping up in the very spot! So two step to the left and a suitable hole was dug and the Verbena planted. Thats great. Now I can widen that path a little as it is really too narrow.

So I move the edging stones in a bit and stand back to admire my work – then I realise the Berberis Iologensis “Apricot Queen” is now at the very edge of the border and I’m thinking of my little granddaughter being savaged by it as she runs past! Oh dear! Its got to move! Dug it up and looked around for a suitable spot well in from the edge but with space for it to expand as it will eventually be quite a large shrub – and yes, there’s the place – but the Verbena has just been planted there! Up with the Verbena and the Berberis has a new home. At this stage I’m getting a bit tired so its really a case of where can I stick this darned plant (ok – no rude suggestions!) and at last I find a spot. So the Leycesteria will have some competition for this summer anyway! All set to pack up – putting the tools in the wheelbarrow – and I noticed that the poor little Euonymus is still sitting folornly waiting for a new home! Ok – take the spade off the wheelbarrow and start digging – mind that Joe Pyeweed – and don’t disturb the new path edging …..

Not for the sqeamish…

Orchid Horror Movie – YouTube

Bought this in full flower in Tesco in January just to tide me over the bleaker months. With dead-heading and feeding it has now come back into flower. Happy Days. I’m just wondering the life-span of this plant?

Thanks for the Begonia ‘red undies’ Rachel.

I didn’t realise it was seeds you had given me, but their on the move 😉

The weeds are coming up fast and furious!

The slugs will be suffering from obesity from the look of my hostas!

But overall the rain has done good

When we came here there were half a dozen individual tulips planted round the border, looking very silly. So we planted lots more, but didn’t realise that they’re not all repeaters. Still several do come back each year and are even multiplying. But only one Queen of the Night in each clump seems to survive. These two have stationed themselves on either side of the entrance to the front border, like a pair of guardsmen. They look a bit daft but they make me smile. 

I love aquilegias, and this one’s a beauty. Alan got it in Tescos 2 years ago, and it flowers its socks off. The colour is smashing. 

So delighted to see this flowering.

I found this plant in the Fernery and have been watching it for a few weeks to see if I could recognise it – I remember planting an Angelica there last year but I thought it had died. Can this be a resurrection?

P.S. Apologies for the junk journal before this 🙂

New tv programme on BBC 2 starting Monday next at 8pm.  Six amateur gardeners create a garden with the winner showing at Chelsea.

The Great Chelsea Garden Challenge/BBC2 at 8pm/Monday May 11th.

Elizabeth, having  read your journal about Macleya Cordata and how big it grows, I took your valued advice and took it up and put in it a pot. I love the foliage on it and it’s such a shame it can get so big and monstrous. I still have the label and it says it grows to 30INCHS!!!!! Hmmmm just goes to show don’t believe everything you read lol 

Its done now so let’s see how big it does grow. Thanks Elizabeth. 

I love Foxtail Lilies (Eremurus). A few years ago I bought some roots from Heritage Bulbs and thought they were most unusual and interesting looking, resembling little octopuses. But nothing ever came of them. Last year I splashed out and actually bought a healthy growing plant, put it into the perfect spot and enjoyed its gorgeous spikes of flowers (white). I paid a whopping €12.99 for it, but I’m a bit disgusted that there is absolutely NO sign of any growth so far this year.

I marked the area clearly, and as I know they hate disturbance, it was never going to be moved (unusual in my garden, yea!). But just googling it now I have been informed that they are loved by slugs and snails, and need a bit of protection from frost (upturned pot with straw). Otherwise they are very hardy and reliable. Hmmm! 

How are anyone else’s doing at this time of year?