Month: December 2015

Felt good today to get back into some gardening mode. The Arucaria is now in its long term spot . I almost felt like putting up a ” Planted by … On ……” Plaque . The Skimmia and five grasses also got planted so all in all it was nice to be out and about . Mary arrived home from town and when I heard her say ” never again ” I knew I had enjoyed a nice mornings work and hadnt missed out !!

The hens arrived to have a scratch about shortly afterwards . 

This is one of the original shrubs from when I moved here in 1991. It has become leggy and neglected. I debated removing it but maybe I can cut it back some and improve it. Can anyone make it , it’s got green glossy leaves and nice white flowers at the moment . 

I have to say I never thought I’d bw writing about this plant at the end of December. When I bougth my first plant of this from Oliver of Mount Venus, he did say tha it would survive outside on a south facing wall in a coastal Dublin area.

I was amazed yesterday to see the plant looking so well on an East facing wall in the front garden here. Still producing fresh new growth and flowering away. Even with the mild weather of late, I’m still surprised to see the plant looking so good.

Today is the second annuversary of when my lovely Brendan passed to a better world. To celebrate our lives together I planted a tree to commemmorate his passing.

Prunus Autumnalis has burst into flower today to remind me that Brendan’s greatest legacy to me is the memories of beautiful Christmases we spent together. He helped me rediscover the magic of Christmas and so in his memory I wish you all a very happy Christmas on this the first day of the new year in the tradition of our very ancient ancestors at Newgrange.

Wishing you and yours a very happy, healthy and peaceful Christmas and New Year. 

I hope it brings you all that you have been wishing for. Hope to see you in Johnstown too 🙂 

Happy Christmas to all my garden friends and contacts . Ive really enjoyed year 2 sharing and learning from you. Let’s hope 2016 will be better gardening wise. The winds  and rain are still threatening but we live in hope and  eternal optimistic . A toast to finish up ” to absent friends “

Slan go foill 

I really do love this plant and have two in the garden here, one out in the front and the other at the rear of my back garden. Love the variegation on the leaves of this plant and also amazed to see it put on new growth at this time of the year too.

Some may say:There comes another but not really to day. Last night the wind was howling, then the rain came down in buckets full (or is it in bucketfulls) about midnight. In the morning when I got up it was quite windy but in the afternoon, would you believe, out came the sun but no heat from it. So in this case after the storm there came a calm with sun I fed the birds, only their second feed since Christmas Eve and were they not pleased? I went for a walk out towards the gate and took a few photos. Now one photo showed the flood at the gate. It will be right again DV. The other showed about one third of the lawn flooded. One might think it was the lake at Altamont. You would have to wear the Wellingtons, I won’t say waders. Only that I had it like that before, although not as bad, I would say it will  never be right again. Only for the fact that the eyes are almost 100% again after the injections on December 2,  I might say that the sun would too much for me. There was no structural damage done by the storm, thank God.

I had a quick check in my cold frame today, some successes some failures! Nothing new there but I do have a couple of plants to swap and will probably have more nearer the time.

4 Diascia personata

2 Primula (dark leaf) Garryard Guinevere

PS. If I promised any plants to people please let me know as I cant seem to find a list 🙁

Fuchsia Lady Boothby that it is now the end of December and not the end of July. Great to see it in this kind of condition.

Once again I was in the garden for a few hours yesterday morning, it was mild but really windy. I stuck the back garden and took up leaves and loads of twigs etc from the surrounding trees. Tidied up pots and needless to say I had to arrange some for old time sake LOL

Was thinking of doing a bit more this morning but think I’ll just do some plotting and planning from indoors.

Finally, best wishes to one and all for 2016, may the new year bring you all you hope for and a little more for good luck. May your God be with you.

In between the showers and biting winds this afternoon, I got out (well wrapped up, I assure you!) to mulch some of the front garden and take a few photos of plants that are flowering as the old year gives way to the new. 

In a few days’ time it will be four years since I joined garden.ie and I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all of the wonderful friends I have made here, for your company, shared knowledge and advice, garden visits, laughs and most of all for your friendship. I wish you a happy, healthy, peaceful and joyful 2016 and many hours of happy gardening.  I look forward to seeing you at Johnstown and/or other get-togethers in the coming year.  Bless you all and garden.ie and long may our friendship continue. 

Couldn’t believe it this morning when I spotted this Carnation in flower! It’s been in the same pot for about 10 years since I grew it from seed and seems to thrive on neglect. Even today it has its clove-like scent. Others still going strong are Lobelia, a fellow-traveller with a cutting from Terri, and Coreopsis, most of which blew down maybe a month ago but what was left has really come on since.

Today seems a pleasant day, dry but cold. In the garden some little flowers battled through the storms and survived,

I love the way Pampas grass looks as good now with all the horrible weather as when it first opened up weeks ago.

Clematis ‘Bee’s Jubilee’ still flowering.

all you good people feel the warmth from the pics.

Fruit trees are going to bear well & the girls are lovin the fruit within reach with abit of help.

I finally got myself one of Peter Wiseman’s Fatsia ‘Spider Web’ today in Plant House (used to be Plantagen). Delighted to bits to have finally spotted it for sale. I think it’ll be planted into a big planter so I can take it under cover should the weather turn really cold.

Lovely planted up chair in their garden centre, with moss and a selection of heathers. Very quirky. Must see if there are any skips around the area. 🙂  I’d love something like this for the garden.

I’ve been a bit under the weather recently so today was the first time in well over a week that I ventured outside and took a gentle walk around the garden to see what the ravages of recent storms had done. I soon forgot about storm damage because I was so pleasently surprised with the little treasures I found – my pink Kaffir Lilies (Schizostylis) are lasting even better than the red ones – the tiny slip of Lantana that Elizabeth gave me has produced a flower – and well ahead of schedule Iris katharine hodgkin is in bloom!

Yesterday was the first day in weeks you really felt like getting out of doors, and unfortunately we both had things to do and places to be, but I did manage to take some photos. Flowers have got pretty battered and bedraggled by the winds and rain, but there is an astonishing amount of colour still. 

Back to the rain and gloom again today….. 🙁

I make a point of trying to have something of interest in the garden all year round and there are times when that is easier than others! There is no big problem, for instance, in having colour in July!

However, when it comes to the beginning of December it is not just as easy! Yes, there are a few flowers here and there on the roses and some herbacious plants still struggle to produce the odd flower that with shorter daylight are rather faded looking.

Most of the trees and shrubs that we rely upon for autumn colour have now shed their leaves, certainly the winds of the last few days ‘did’ for most of them. But something I have noticed are the shrubs that we don’t really plant for autumn colour but are still adding colour to the garden! I’m thinking of Rosa rugosa and forsythia, weigela just to mention a few.

This is the time when it is so worth having evergreens in the garden, both plain green and varigated. They give the garden ‘backbone and form’ and really no garden should be without a few.  I particularly like to have them where I see the garden from indoors, they give great pleasure on those winter days when I cant be IN the garden!

is enjoying the heat so far abit of a test as the Summer rolls on & it,s forecast to be long & hotter than usual.

Not good news for the chooks,lost 2 too a bloody fox last night which is a real bugger.

still around the path despite the lack of rain.

I,d gladly swap abit of sunshine for a few drops of your rain.

‘My goodness’ exclaimed Cherub Cymbals ‘But Cherub and Mr Scrubber are really outdoing themselves lately’. ‘Yes’ said Micilin Dee ‘ There’s no end to their reschent endeavourshs.’ He was just a tiny bit peeved at not being let in to whatever was happening lately and there had really been such a lot of activity. Mr Scrubber ,under the gentle nudging of Cherub had moved a very large rock at the side of the stone steps and then again at Cherub’s urging had put in a cairn of stones beside that to act as a wall. They then placed a lovel;y dark green pot-another glanbia bargain on this mossy stone and raked the path below it very vigorously.

Mr. Scrubber thought he was finished but Cherub cleverly lead him to two other stone heaps which when added to the ‘cairn’ helped define the steps and the amazing thing was that where those stones were taken from (Sister josehine would kill me for using the preposition there) became little areas in themselves and could be planted.

But what almost reduced Scrubber to tears was the discovery of a big rock quite near another and though he couldn’t of course move it he was able to get some clay away from it and it helped shape an area just above where he had hauled the big stone two months ago.

Now finding this new stone meant a new ledge and a line and he dug it out and there was a perfect strip of clay that would take a lovely new bed and as he looked at it Cherub diffidently suggested ‘You might like to call it Cherub’s garden?’. Im afaraid I must confess I didn’t see it very clearly as my eyes began to prickle and a huge lump came in my throat as I realized that this perhaps was a parting gift to me from my dear friend : the rock, the unexpected depth of soil, the beautiful line. I choked a little but managed to get out ‘Of course dear Cherub, Cherub’s garden it shall always be. I’d be honoured’. Neither of us said anything then. We just stood there looking over the Scrub and thinking of all the little and big changes that had been made since that first Cherub’s rock incident a few years ago. And then I turned and he wasn’t there any more. Perhaps it was the best way but I shall miss him so much.

Some shots of flowers that are starting to flower or in full flower now well ahead of time. Firstly is my Primula Pink Ice which I have 5 of and are all flowering since the end of November. Next is Helleborus Argutifolius which started to come in the flower in the last few days and lastly my Helleborus Foetidus which again started a few days ago which I find very early even for down south here in Cork. If this mild weather continues they will be all in full flower in another week.