Month: May 2016

Unfortunately a lot of my labels are unreadable – but I’m sure someone can identify these two please. The bottom one is a small bulb.

I’ve noticed that my Auricula are starting to go over, the flowers are wilting. They have been flower non stop for the past number of weeks. If I deadhead these now , will new ones appear, or is this it?  They seemed to almost die with this really warm spell even though I’ve watered them. 

I hate to see them go as this has been their best year yet. I think having them outside really improved them. 

Any help as always would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. 

Yesterday was great. I don’t know how many hours I spent in the garden. There was a small area in the front lawn which had not been mown on Saturday. However I had to wait until shortly before 4 p.m. before it was really dry. Then it was like child’s play to finish it. In the meantime the grass mown on Saturday was brought to the compost heap. Pelargoniums were planted out in pots and some weeding was carried out. Trimming was done around rose beds and trees. Later the mowing that remained was carried out and more grass brought to the compost heap. Some rotten compost and a little NET Nitrate scattered over it. Very little was done to day. The temperature has dropped though not a lot and little or no sun. One would feel the odd drop of rain at times. The lawn needs feeding. I gave it some NET Nitrate yesterday. I need to buy some more. To day I took photos of Aubrietia.

This Lewisia I picked up last year is flowering it’s socks off at the moment and I do just love these plants. They will repeat flower throughout the summer and love very good drainage. My other orange Lewisia is only just showing buds and seems a few weeks later than previous years but I do look forward to seeing those stunning flowers. I used to leave these outside standing over the drains in winter but now keep in the greenhouse purely just to stop them getting too wet. I would like to add one or two more of these to my collection but never see them around.

I got a plant from Liga at the get together about two years ago and it was  doing really well. But the stalk got very tall and the leaves were falling off all the time. I was left with a few leaves and a rosette at the top.  

Myrtle mentioned she cut hers to see if new growth would emerge and happily it did. 

So a couple of weeks go I did the same!!!! I cut off the complete flower head and literally left a stalk with a couple of leaves. 

Would you believe it’s starting to produce tiny little flowers around the top. Amazing!!!! 

Im just so excited lol. Hopefully I will have a few more of these wonderful plants very soon.  You can just about see it in the photo. 🙂 

Second photo is a web photo and what I’m striving for! 😉 

Threw some crocus’s in to this window box and was very happy with the results..

Mary the young leaves are a rosey pruple colour which stays on the underside of the leave while the top side turns a dark green.The flowers are cherry like

In full flow at the moment and loving it. Some of the clumps will have to be lifted and divided as the is a shortage of flowers on them is really obvious.

Spotted this small plant coming up in the new Pond Border yesterday. No idea what it might be, and no label in the ground (there’s a surprise). It’s only about 10 inches at its tallest point.

Can anyone help me identify it, please?

I haven’t been gardening lately as we’ve had a very dear friend visiting from overseas, so plenty of catch up, chat, and ‘out and about’.  

We visited the Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin one morning and spotted this plant flowering straight out of the ground underneath shrubs.  There was no label and I’ve not seen it before, so if any of you expert ier’s can identify it please, I’m curious to know what it is.  The flash fired on one of the shots; the colour is more accurate in the close-up.  Not great photos as I took them with my phone. 

It’s time now for the Saxifragas to shine. And this one is no exception. It has been split up a few times and dotted around the garden, the last division being planted over the cave as it is such a low-maintenance plant.

A bit windy today so you’ll have to forgive the photo quality.

Another little cutie – Saxifraga cunefolia variegata.

Araucaria araucana, also know as the Monkey Puzzel tree is growing in a garden that we  visited with our local garden club last evening. The tree seems to have what looks like a sucker growing which is now a reasonable sized tree. I have never noticed this before on any of the trees that I have seen growing here in Ireland and was wondering if it is unusual or common. They are a familiar sight all over the country and seem to be planted in the front gardens of every farmhouse that was built in the mid to late eighteen hundreds.

I really like the ragged, spidery look to these flowers that are carried long thin stems.

A half day ahead of me gardening and it’s looking good out there, so guess who’s a happy camper and doing a visit and catch up next week so that’s good to look forward to.

Halfway through May and only a few garden visits done so far this year, this situation needs to be corrected and rapidly.

Have a good weekend 😉

I recieved this Iris two years ago on my first visit to Paddy & Mary’s garden. When I recieved it the flowers were just going over and then due to wrong plant area never flowered last year but delighted to see plenty of flowers on it this year and it is a cracker. I have no name as it’s worn off the label so would love and I.D. Thank you so much for this as I absolutley love it. Checked on it several times today haha

Now this allium I think is possibly the nicest of all of them with it’s umbrella like flowers. I have a couple of nice clumps of these in the garden and they are super at this time of the year filling the gap between spring and summer flowers.

I have always loved alpine plants and have a number of troughs which are planted with small bulbs and alpine plants. They can give you a huge amount of pleasure, even on a wet day in winter,  when a tiny little bulb comes into flower. Alpine plants always look best during spring but continue through the summer and even into the autumn. They take up so little space that a tiny garden can accommodate a trough or two. This one Paddy made about ten years ago from cement and over the years it has weathered well.    It faces north so the plants growing in it are ones that like shade.

I’m ashamed to say that this little plant has been in the same pot for a couple of years now, or maybe more. Some one here gave it to me (possibly SallySarah), and I can’t remember what it is. It finally got planted out today. Looking a bit chlorotic, or maybe it’s supposed to look like that? Maybe it’s just a weed?

Thanks in advance.

Possibly one of the nicest aquilegias around and reliably comes back every year without bother. Flowering at the moment in the front garden and looking great.

What a beautiful fresh morning it is here in Dublin.

Isn’t the fresh growth everywhere just looking lovely. Travelling to Kildare yesterday the fresh greens was lovely to see everywhere, and so more evident in our own gardens.

Two such examples I snapped yesterday were these two small Hostas, have a great day.

This is one of two plants that I have. This one is here a couple of years. I love the broad copper coloured foliage on it. It has never flowered for me before, so I’m excited to see a flower bud has appeared. So looking forward to seeing it in full bloom. 

The other one I have was doing nothing. So last week I moved it to a better spot and I see the shoots are appearing already. I’m hoping it too will grow and give me some gorgeous foliage.

Looks like today could be a really lovely day, so I’m hoping to get out there at some stage.

Have a good one! 

Here is a photo of the first non-yellow peony I have.

Last year some buds were doing well, but after a while they stopped growing and fell off.  What is a possible cause for this, could it be lack of water?

Sorry, today was all about appreciating the beauty that was all around me. This time it’s Tetrapanax.

Good Morning friends!

My centaurea is looking a little unwell. Also a second plant in the back garden. I guess this is some kind of powdery mildew? What do you advise me to do about it?

Self-sown Nicotianas in the front (thanks to the birds) have flowered throughout last summer, autumn, winter, and spring. They have come full circle now and are in flower still for the summer of 2016. Not bad for freebies, but very weird considering it’s an annual.