Month: January 2016

We’ll be bringing:

Red cistus            2      Small flowered variety, makes a neat bush  Moya

Small pots of muscari            10  Nuala

Kerria Japonica             3  Golden yellow variety Doreen

Rosemary                1

Nepeta Fasseenii               4  Doreen

Saxifrage (London Pride)           3 Jackie

Dianthus (clove pink)           2

Polemonium (Jacob’s Ladder)           1

Alchemilla Mollis      3

Clematis Montana ‘Rubens’             2   Small flower, fast-growing Fraoch

Lonicera Japonica ‘Halliana’       1 Vigorous, evergreen, sweet creamy-white flower

Single-flowered tall Shasta daisy           3, but could bring more if there’s demand Jackie

 

 

I am away on holiday and I am trying to remember what I can offer and get out of the ground, prepared and packed on the one day I will be in Shroove.

None of my plants will be potted up. They will be in individual bags and labelled.

Artemisia schmidtiana – lovely, short, silver filigree foliage for edge of border.
Very tall red hot poker
Aster September
White phlox
Aster -v. Tall, deep pink, late flowering, stands up well to wind.

Rudbeckia Goldstrum
Rudbeckia fulgida deamii

Crocosmia Jackanapes
Crocosmia solfataire (the very best one) see Journal 3 October 2015

Persicaria  vaccinifolia – low, pink, gd tight ground cover and very pretty with Sedum Matrona or the dark stemmed one.  See Journal 30 Sept 2015

Hesperantha Jennifer. She is of a lovely clear pink and her petals are broader than the usual pink.

Primula Kinlough Beauty – see Journal 4April 2014

Ger. Southcombe Belle

embothrium suckers !   They do best when removed at this time of year.

tomorrow I shall post a few pictures of those plants in situ.  There is no shortage of material.

ps. I’ve been trying to upload some pictures of the above plants, but so far they are uploading upside-down.  Instead I have now added the dates of previous journals wherevthey feature. 

 

To day was colder than other days since Christmas. Nevertheless, having done the meals on wheels in the morning, I ventured into the front garden and spent a short period at the roses. The roses in bed No 1 are all pruned now. I can also say that the “lake” at the front gate is clear. There was a period when Rose Bed 3 was submerged due to the rain. Now it is clear. One can walk in and out the gate without wellingtons. I hope to tackle Rose bed 2 on Thursday. The interesting point about Carlow is that this season, the Barrow did not overflow. There was a time when it was a regular occurrence to see the people walking the planks in the streets  near the Barrow and even travelling around in a boat. They have done a great job in that area. Perhaps in other areas they could learn from the Carlovians.

In the afternoon, while it was reasonably fine,  I got at the rose beds to remove all of the prunings. I had a feeling that all would be done. I finished Bed 1 and left it looking tidy except for the fact that some grass is still growing around  the odd bush. Also some Berberis Darwinii happens to be growing around a few of them. Then I got at Bed 2. I felt that the rain was on the way but it was really drizzle for a while. I moved in to have a cup of coffee and while this beverage was on the way down, one could feel that the rain was getting heavier. Well about half of the movement of prunings was complete. Well there will be another fine day. Next I got at a book case. I had bought the components in Woodies early in the week. I got it at a bargain price €15. Now, there was never a dull moment. I hope you all enjoyed the day in Johnstown.

I am going to be one handed gardening for a while , won’t bore you with the  details!

Having taken a walk around the marsh/garden today I was horrified at the abundance of weeds. So in a few months nature may well have reclaimed the lot unless I can get some weeding done.

Will not be able to use a hoe so need to make some sort of implement ,light in weight to try and keep the weeds under control.  The ground is so wet that the weeds should be easy to remove  , well the hairy bittercress and  willow herb anyway.  So I  decided to try and attach a  fork, as in eating fork, to an about 4 feet willow stake the latter gives some flexibility.  My first attempt was to bind the fork with string to the stake but the fork kept riding up , otherwise it was very promising!!  So any ideas how best to secure the fork so it won’t move?    I  need just the prongs and about an inch of the handle to protrude from the stake with the rest of the handle being attached to the stake. .Also the ””design””’would be improved if instead of the fork there was some implement with a wider space between the teeth/prongs of the fork as small stones tend to stick in the prongs of the eating fork. Any ideas ?

There are some tools available for disabled gardeners but they are very expensive and I  hope to be able to use normal tools in a couple of months.

This morning shortly after 10, I was about to enter the house when I saw a parcel through the glass in the door. When I opened the door I picked up the parcel. What was in it? Obviously a book. Now who would think of sending me a book? Then I opened it and what was it but Rachel’s book. I had a glance through it. The birds were fed and a little more work on the rose beds. For the rest of the day it was non stop. To morrow is another day and as it is to be cold like to day, I should give some tome to reading it. She commented in the book about my pruning. Of course only for the fact that some years ago she mentioned in garden.ie about her Felco secateurs which I though a bit pricy but I did buy a pair and only for it, I would not get that much pruning without doing some damage to my hands. Thank you Rachel.

Have you any ideas on how Garden.ie can be improved?

We are currently reviewing how its serves the requirements of its users.

If you have any suggestions, please note them here for comment and discussion … or send them to gerrydaly@theirishgarden.ie

Many thanks!

Just had to say a few words about how much I have enjoyed reading Rachel’s book”Journal of an Irish Garden”.

What a delight it was to get lost in those pages when it was too dark to be out in my own garden!

Aspects I especially enjoyed – that the sections were short enough to read over a cuppa – though sometimes I couldn’t stop myself going on to read several more.

I loved that I had met Rachel, and had visited the garden, so I could visualize a lot of what she was referring to.

I think my favourite aspect was the Index – it was great to think you could look a potential purchase, and find out how it grew in a real Irish Garden, not just a generic comment as in many books.

Finally, wasn’t it delightful to be able to ‘hear’ Rachel’s own voice coming off the page – sure sign of a good writer. Keep up the good work.

Sorry I missed Johnstown – hope to be there next year. Elizabeth2 (liztai) from Tallaght 🙂

I feel silly asking but can anyone tell me are all posts and comments displayed here? It seems like there are only a handful of persons commenting regularly. Do I need more friends maybe ? Is it only friends comments you see ?

We have had a brilliant response to my request of 19 January for suggestions.

If you have already commented, many thanks!

If you have just seen this post, or haven’t had time yet, please add your comments to the original post or to here.

It is really helpful to have feedback from Club members in our quest to improve Garden.ie.

Your comments about the Club are invaluable but, of course, feel free to make suggestions about any part of the site.

Again many thanks,

 

Gerry

 

 

 

I wasn’t aware that Garden.ie operated a Twitter account which shows all our posts from the garden.ie site directly onto a Twitter feed ! Not sure I like this and I will be considering my options now. Does it also work in the opposite direction whereby if you ” tweet” a comment the comment then appears on garden.ie?

Seriously i think some members  may not stay onboard once they realise their comments go further . Doesn’t seem much point in becoming a site member with username and passwords if this occurs !! Jacinta last post just checked out this way ….

Friday, yesterday,  was  the best day for a long time. Quite a lot of time was spent at the rose beds. The prunings that were still there (just a little) in Bed No 3 were removed. Next  leaves from the trees nearby were removed. The Dutch hoe was introduced and what weeds and moss was in the first two beds released. There was a considerable amount of moss in bed No. 2 and this was put on heaps. I had intended finishing the job to day but due to rain that part of the work had to be abandoned.

Don’t you love technology? Just spent some time carefully going through our albums rotating all the sideways photos  so that they’re right way up, then started to put up an album…and they’ve all turned sideways again. I’ll try again later…..

 

I want to say many thanks to those who sent suggestions, or confirmed other’s opinions, following my request on 19 January for suggestions regarding our current review of Garden.ie.

There were lots of ideas coming through … very positive … and these will be very useful in planning new developments.

If any other thoughts come along, please send them … the key area is to increase participation.

Again many thanks!

 

 

 

I love the way the low winter sun creates shadows on the wall of the neigbhours extention and the reflection in the glass on the table. Believe it or not, these were all planned in the making of the garden here!! LOL

My favorite Bamboo looks fantastic as the same low sunshine seems to show it up better than ever.

Have good day folks.

Sorry about the photo, new laptop seems to have a mind of it’s own. Someone else commented about a Windows 10 photo issue, if you sorted it maybe you could let me know how please.

I don’t know about you but this has really caught me by surprise this year and I am busy all day tomorrow and tomorrow night and then it’s back to work so I thought I’d put up a preliminary list of what I think I have available for swaps. The amount I have available varies – in most cases it’s quite a few and in some case just one plant or two. I’ll see what the demand is like first.

Primula Sue Jervis – double pinky/purple Myrtle, Elizabeth7, Eilish

Agastache foeniculum ‘Apricot Sprite’ (1 or 2) Terri

Agastache Globetrotter Joann

Phlox pink 3 foot – old reliable long flowering (5 or 6) Terri

Bergenia ‘Ballawley’

Tropaeolum speciosium Bruno

Myrris  odorata (Sweet Cicely) Jackie

Melanoselinum decipiens (Giant Madiera Cow Parley)

Agapanthus ‘Cloudy Bay’ Jacinta

Various geraniums – phaeum, macrorrhizum ‘Ingwersen’s Variety’, large pink with purple veins, Jackie possibly psilostemon and others

 Auriculas – two colours pink/purple and mauve Jacinta X 2, Joann

Scented Pelargonium Attar of Roses X 2

 

 

 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR to one and all.   

On Wednesday 30th Dec last we went down to the beach for a walk – first opportunity for days due to all the rain.  Attaching a couple of photos of what we saw when we arrived at Carramore beach!!!   Apparently ‘sea foam’ is an indication of all types of pollution in the sea – well that’s what came up when I googled it. Doesn’t bode well does it!!!!!

Wishing all garden.iers all the very very best for 2016

Carramore beach 30/12/15ditto

What a pet day it was today. But the grass is so long and wet that it wasn’t feasible for working outside. Plus I had to be out in the airport.

But isn’t it great how well this Cortaderia is looking despite the recent horrific weather. Just a great garden plant.

Ricinus isn’t looking too bad for January either.

A group of friends took me out for lunch to celebrate a big birthday and also gave me a beautiful bunch of flowers, then when I got home I found a basket with more flowers on the doorstep from a nephew. Are they Kalanchoe does anyone know?

Looking forward to our get-together on Saturday and meeting up with garden.ie friends.  I was fairly lucky with cuttings and divisions this year, so here are my plant offers, and they are for giving away rather than swapping; you all know I have a small garden!

Libertia grandiflora x 1

Iris ‘Katharine Hodgkin’ x 2 pots – Doreen, Fleurette

Primula florindae (1 yellow, 1 orange), best in a damp spot – Fleurette

Purple Lupin x 1 – Hazel

Hellebore x 1 (seedling from a double pink, in bud but pot luck as regards flower)

Parahebe catarractae x 2 – Moya, Jackie

Iberis sempervirens x 3

Penstemons: ‘Bodnant’ (purple x 2 (Joann, Moya)), ‘Garnet’ x 2, and 1 nice pink one, no name but could be ‘Hidcote’ or ‘Tubular Bells Rose’ – Terrishoos

Pelargoniums:  ‘Oldbury Duet’ x 2 (variegated leaf)- Eilish, 1 remaining; ‘Lord Bute’ x 1 – Eilish

Fuchsia ‘Hawkshead’ x 3 – Joann, Jackie, Bernie

Achillea ‘Smiling Queen’ x 1 – Terrishoos

Geum rivale ‘Leonard’s Variety’ x 2 – Moya, Jackie

I will also bring promised plants for Eilish, Hazel, Terrishoos and LindaB.  If I have promised plants to anyone else, please remind me! 

 

 

Penstemon 'Bodnant'Fuchsia 'Hawkshead'

I know no one else here in the house is into gardening very much and that’s fine. But I did think I had passed on the basics at the very, very least.

I texted Aoife today and asked her to take some photos of Snowdrops that were just opening and with the sunshine today they should have been grand.

While I am pleased with the photos that Aoife took,

the subjet matter is just ever so slightly slightly off.

LOL

Not a lot of plants this year for swaps but here goes:

4  x “Sedum spurium coccinea ” – Jackie, Doreen, Terri

2 x small helebore seedlings

3  x Lamium galeobdolon ‘Variegatum’

4 x Persicaria Campanulata  – Jackie, Fleurette

1 x Leycesteria (Pheasent Berry) – Ait Aileann (Nuala)

1 x Buddliea

Hope I’m not too late with the list! Can’t believe it’s all happening next Saturday!

 

LeycesteriaPersicaria Campanulata

As the dry compost potted Tulips had begun to peep up from the compost I decided to place them outdoors. Was hoping to wait till Jan 31 but here goes . Seven containers now out in the elements .

These photos were taken to day in the afternoon, some from a distance, some closer uo. They are not open yet but it won’t be long.

Daffodils from a distanceDaffodils closer

Here are two plants that were looking really good today. The first is a very juvenile ”  Grevilliea lanigera “Red Salento”. ”  This is a new plant to me and is growing well.  It is of course very small as yet.

The next is a long-time favourite and quite amazing.  I really do not understand why it is not more widely grown. “Microbiota decusata”.  Can you see that lovely foliage, those lovely bronze fronds, how beautifully it drapes down over the rocks? This is the colour it turns in winter, and gradually, it will revert to its lovely green coat during late Spring. Its base is away up on the top flat level and over the years it has gently draped itself downwards.it never requires pruning, other than snipping bits off along the steps for flower arranging. So unlike the junipers which are stiff and prickly. 

This plant is over 30yrs old.  A real treasure.  Oh, and then there is the musky, smokey smell of the disturbed foliage. 

 not again – upside down!  Sickening! 

I’ve deleted the 2 pics and reloaded them one at a time.  That.’s better! 

Grevillea lanigera Microbiota decussata