Month: March 2016
I was at the Meals on Wheels in the morning. Shortly after mid day, I got at the Hydrangeas. I usually do this on March 1. I had a bit done last week and hoped to finish it to day. It was lovely up to about 2 p.m. with a temperature about 12 C. After lunch, I got at it again but it was too misty so I took a break. I was out again about 4 p.m. and finished the large number near the house. Bagful by bagful brought to the compost heap and covered them. Shortly after 4.30 p.m., I had to move in as the rain had started. Yesterday was too wet to do any gardening, including pruning. Saturday, I did no gardening as my eyes were glued to the TV for the Election coverage. Most of the Hydrangeas are pruned but as the fellow said: “There will be dust seen on the road yet!”
Yesterday was more like mid winter but there was a great improvement to day. First yesterday: When I woke up in the morning, it was snowing. I guessed that it would stop as I was to go out about 9 a.m. I had the overcoat on and the snow seemed to be worse so I abandoned going out at that stage and it included the Country Market. By 10 a.m. the snow had departed but it appeared that working in the garden was out. It was a case of indoor gardening. Potting on of the tomato plants was the object. The sun was shining the window of the bedroom facing south. Potting on of 27 tomato plants took place. There are still to be done. To day was the day for working outside. Well part of it was done. All of the Hydrangeas were pruned. My nephew Eoin and his two sons, Seán and Rory arrived and we had a good chat. A Christmas present was given to me, Gardener’s Encyclopedia. There should be plenty to learn from that. After my friends had departed I got at the garden again, a little spraying of moss and a bit of pruning of a Hypericum at the back. Then the rain arrived.
A week ago it was more like January but to day was a real spring day. i think of the snow a week ago but what a change since. I had the tomatoes at the country Market and sold six plus an Aloe vera. I would have sold double the amount of tomatoes if I brought them along. They are really good. i transferred some of them to the greenhouse, knowing from the weather forecast that we are in for more spring weather. However there isn’t enough room for them as there are many big Pelargoniums there and it is too early to take them out. i potted on the rest of the Alicante tomato plants, sown January 1. I have potted about 45 altogether.
To day, I got the mower out to do a job on the lawn. With part of the lawn not mown up to this, the going was tough as there had been quite some growth but as there had been growth on the lawn, there is quite a lot of moss. I hope to tackle it on Monday with ferrous sulphate and some Net Nitrate. The roses which were pruned in January are doing well. I need to spray them very soon against black spot.. A little tidying was done on the rose beds. Some grass seed went down where there was bare soil. A little pruning was done to a number where there was a need for same. Weather is a bit cold although dry. Some vegetable beds at the back are in good condition and probably on Monday, onion sets and parsnips will be sown. I had good sale at the Country Market yesterday (Friday) selling eleven tomato plants.
The rain came last night, also the wind. It tended to clear for a while to day but now there is nothing one can do outside. To look at the bright side of it, the parsnip seed went down when I was able to make a good seed bed so I am expecting good results. I was planning to spray the roses yesterday and while we had sun and a rise in temperature, it was too windy. It is interesting that this time last year the place was full of ladybirds but no sign of them at present. It seems that they like to bask in the sun. The rhubarb is growing rapidly and with the rain we have it should be great to morrow and after. Plants are out at present hardening. Included are French Marigolds and Calendula which were grown indoors from seed while some more Calendula were recently sown direct. The vine leaves seem to be no worse since I showed the photo. I have got different views: PCON thinks it is a fungus, Gerry thinks it was frost, jacinta too much sun while I felt that it was drought.
Had a facebook message fro Woodies to call in to see their manager yesterday…
Pamela presented me with a choice of two free packets of Bulbs from their stocks.
Apparently they saw a facebook message where I mentioned the Tulips that were all white and no pink ….
Thats social media for you. No escaping, I chose one double Begonia and a packet of Freesia bulbs.
Hows that for customer care.
I planted these bulbs up just a little over two weeks ago and they are flowering already. I got these for Liga a few years ago and they have increased every year.
Last year I had two white Hellebores in different parts of the garden, and I kept looking for them this year, but no sign. Then today in another part of the garden, I spotted this little fellow, though it turned out not to be pure white when i turned it up to look into it.
I forgot I’d snapped these pictures on the way out the door yesterday morning. Ok, it was a very wet morning in Ennis, but it was a pretty impressive start.
Well the Tilia bulbs planted in dry compost last Oct and kept indoors till Jan are now showing nicely . Only problem now is situation as I have a young dog about that likes to toot about and chew stuff. Hadn’t planned on leaving five planters up on a table ..
This has been a really bright sunny day, even though very windy and quite cold.
A few weeks ago, I posted a picture of my little orchid showing four flowers at that stage. Well look at it now! Six blooms and 2 to come. The white Ludisia Has two flowering stems. It is now in its 6th year.
Could you have a better view from the kitchen sink? The topiary box in the planter is one I grew from a cutting and now I am only allowing a single to grow upwards with the idea and hope that some year I will eventually be able to trim it into a second ball. The rose on the wall is Rhapsody in Blue. Lovely colour on the new growth. Good flowers too.
Lovely colour on the water in the Big White Bay. The white cottages used to be Lightkeepers houses, and are now rented out by “Irish Lights.” There is still a house lived in by a keeper who has the job of servicing the big Light of the Lighthouse and keeping the glass clean.
Can you see the red and yellow edifice? That, you probably know, is the hut for the Lifeguards On this Blue Flag Beach. It is very exciting this year as the Wild Atlantic Way has now reached this spot. It is the named “Inishowen Head Discovery point”. And so, mobility access to the beach has been put in place. It is the most easterly one.
Tulip Show Winner seems to have bulked up very well and has been in flower for a full 10 days already. It is a cute little stumpy tulip.
What started out as a simple enough task – moving the lovely weeping conifer given to me a few seasonß ago by Clare – thank you Clare! My half barrel move was one of Victors tasks so it was finally in the right place for this little tree. So the plan was to replace the little conifer with one of the many plant-in-waiting , a very pretty trachleospermum I got in Johnstown in January.
Well this border just happens to be the one that has the great Japanese Anemione clumps that I enjoy each Autumn. So naturally I had to tidy them up. Net result Nine pots of Jap. Anemone join the ever-expanding pots-waiting.
As I said, one step forward and nine steps back 🙂
Yesterday we went to what we call ‘our little beach’. A glorious blue sky day but cold all the same! On the way home via The Quay (where Westport House is situated) we came across a ‘host of gold daffodils’. I can only think that the local Council planted this grass verge up………………..well done to them if they did!!!
Kitty (Michelle) kindly sent me some winter aconite corms last year which were duly planted on receipt. Marked them after planting throughout the shady border (North-facing), although the labels have completely faded. Nothing visible except maybe leaves? I’m thinking they are slow to flower from corms. In the meantime I bought a small pot of same. Coming into flower now and not even planted. So how come the flowers are appearing now without leaves on the potted lot. And how long do the corms take before flowering? Can anyone throw any light on this please?
From now on we are going to witness the emergence of those gorgeous Acers with their stunning foliage. This one is still only very small but stopped me in my tracks with its fiery colour.
Went for a walk over to the graveyard across the road yesterday morning with Andrew to look at the fantastic display of daffodils in there at this time of the year. I was just as blown away this year as I was last year with just hundreds of them all in flower making a fantastic display. So funny that I only found this last year and never knowing of this year after year of living across the road.
I can’t be sure that the wet winter is entirely responsible for for these losses in the garden but it probably had a part to play.
Heucherella ‘Tapestry’ planted in the front garden last year has not a single leaf. When I dug it up to investigate, there were good roots but the plant disintegrated at the crown. I’ve replaced it with Tiarella ‘Sugar and Spice’ which has similar foliage and hope this will do better.
And, sad to say, the beautiful Primula pulverulenta brought home from Bodnant in 2014 has vanished without trace … and they’re supposed to like damp conditions! Also, not a single seedling of opium poppies (and there were plenty) has made it through the winter.
Did you have any winter casualties?
There have been some unexplained changes to path edgings at Gortnalee. Previously untidy and uneven edges have taken on an almost military precision. Since the gardener here has a notoriously crooked eye (not a single straight path in the whole garden) it has to be assumed that other forces were at work.
Cherub is the prime suspect. Particularly since the military precision didn’t last long and a totally new path appeared where the gardener was prone to taking a shortcut!
So if anyone has a sighting of this elusive and very welcome spirit please give him a huge hug from a grateful gardener both for the inspiration and for sending a more earthly pair of strong arms to work the magic.
If you have space for only one camellia, ‘Donation’ is hard to beat for flower power. I tried counting the blooms and buds on mine this afternoon and gave up at around 500. It is just coming into its own now and with luck will continue flowering through March and April, and perhaps even into early May.
It was a lovely day in Tipp today and I spent most of it odd jobbing outdoors . Spring in my step thank God . Seed trays all bursting out and bulbs exploding out of the ground and some pots too ! This little guy was a stray in a pot of Sedum cu but I don’t believe it’s a sedum ? Any ideas . Isn’t iT great fun waiting and wondering ….
i know someone told me a name for this last year but I didn’t make a note of it as usual. No flowers but lovely shiny leaves all year round . A cutting I took from work some years ago.
This is the last of my Snowdrops to open here and seems weeks behind everyone else but I put that down to where it’s planted in the shade really. Again I got this at a talk in November 2014 and only had leaves last year and no flowers so happy to see at least one flower this year. A really gorgeous double, very happy with it.
One of the best ‘leave me alone’ plants as I call them in any garden, has to be, Pulmonarias.
Plant them, cut back the old leaves, divide when needed and other than that, just leave them alone.
What else could a Gardener ask for from a plant?
We were in a garden centre in England last September and I bought 4 packs of tulips on special offer. One was these, ‘Honkey Tonk’. I’ve never come across a tulip which grows like a fritillary before, but isn’t it lovely? I’m in love!
By my Allium Gladiator which I bout back in Autumn 2014 for 50 cent each, they basically made a mistake in the shope and I got 10 for a fiver instead of a fiver each. Anyway 10 were planted in two groups. One group of 3 and another of 7 and they came up and flower and died back, happy out. This year I have been waiting patiently to see them stick there noses up out of the soil and eventually last week they which I was happy with but It was until yesterday evening when bruno called up and we were looking around the garden and more closely that I noticed between the two plants I have 21 shoots! I can’t get over how they multiplied so fast and by the looks of it a lot of the extra shoots look like they could produce a flower.
Is this normal for these bulbs to spread this quick? I 100% only had 10 last year and didn’t leave the seeds heads on for long.
