Month: June 2016
In the song by Percy French Drumcollogher, the second verse goes like this “They tell me the sun does be shining with never a cloud in the sky..” Well whether you are in Drum. in Co. Limerick or here in Carlow, there was no shortage of the sun during the day. While some members were at Bloom, I was in my garden for hours and now it is looking better. I had mown about 2/3 of the lawn yesterday and left the rest as I felt that it required several days to finish the job but to day I took out the mower and finished it. Also I got at the second rose bed, doing the edging (It took a little over an hour). I noticed that a 3rd Arthur Bell rose was in bloom, what fragrance? In the greenhouse I noticed that there are so many tomatoes. Last year I was a bit disappointed with the number but not this year. I had changed from grow bags to big flower pots and it may be the reason. The Musa plants are making great progress every day and are outside for some time enjoying the sun.
To day apparently is the last day of the heat wave, at least for the moment. I collected 50 kg of NET Nitrate at Avonmore. This was intended for the lawn. I had left it until the very warm dry weather was coming to an end as I believe that the cooler and wetter type is coming to morrow. The fertilizer was spread over the front lawn as most of it had not been fed this year. I noticed some days ago that the area that was treated was growing fast. Now I can relax and let the grass grow (1/4 acre). Two days I took cuttings of hydrangea and They are in pots covered with plastic bags in a mixture of potting compost and sharp sand. A fair amount of weeding was carried out but plenty left yet. Pruning of Cotoneasters took up a fair amount of time yesterday. The compost heap started this season is getting bigger. Sorry I have no photos as the memory is gone low. I must say that the roses are doing very well. I hope to have the photos within a few days. I hope you all enjoyed the sun.
We really had it great for some time as regards sunshine and temperature. During the spell when the sun was shining over Ireland, I believe there were people moving south to enjoy the sun, although we had it here. Others were afraid to go out thinking that the radiation of the sun would harm them. I enjoyed it and made use of it as much as possible. Of course the rain had to come at some stage. I watched the weather forecast from day to day. Then they told us that the rain was on the way so off I went to Glanbia and bought 50 kg of NET Nitrate for the front lawn. Of course it didn’t all go on the lawn. The area is about 1/4 acre so it required a fair amount. It had not got any nitrogen this year except for a small portion. So knowing what weather was to be to day, down it went. It was a bit hard on my system but worth it. This morning between 8 and 8.30 (I won’t add a.m. as many people do). i went out to the green house to open the vent and perhaps get some plants for the Country Market and Buícheas le Dia, the rain had arrived, and as the poem Said Hanrahan says: “It pelted, pelted all day long, a singing at its work.” Well pelted was a bit too strong to use but was Dick not delighted. Now the fertilizer has been washed into the soil to get the grass growing. Also there is no need to water the outdoor plants. Hurray!
Just had a phone call to say we won the magnolia ‘Susan’ at Margaret (Hosta’s) open day today. Very exciting, I’m about to Google it. We’ve never tried magnolias because of our windy site, but now the shrubs are growing up it should do better. Does anyone know if they really hate lime?
why I put the mirror into the garden.
A perfect ‘make up’ position LOL
These two well know gardeners were spotted in the crowds attending Bloom on Friday last. Michael White, curator of the gardens at Mount Congreve talking to Billy Alexander of Kells Bay, Co Kerry and our own favourite gardenper, Peter, curator of The Scrub, in Borris, exploring the deeper meaning of Barry Kavanagh’s Farm Garden, which was my favourite of the show.
Once upon a time there was a Little Green Trolley. It lived in a stack of folded-up trolleys in a factory, and it was very, very bored. But the Little Green Trolley had a wonderful dream. It loved flowers, you see, and it dreamed of a day when it would be taken to live in a lovely garden where it would work hard, helping the owners to move plants about and making the garden even more beautiful. So you can just imagine the Little Green Trolley’s excitement when the factory owner chose the stack that it lived in to go to Bloom! ‘Now all my dreams will come true!’ it said to itself.
For two days, it lived on the lorry. But then finally its turn came to be stacked outside the stall for people to buy. At last it spied a nice-looking lady and gentleman coming towards the stack. It was delighted, because everyone knows that middle-aged people often lose the run of themselves entirely at garden shows. ‘We’ll have a green one, please,’ said the nice lady. ‘It will be very useful for moving things around at home. ‘ The Little Green Trolley was very happy, and trundled proudly along on its little wheels behind the gentleman, prepared to carry all sorts of lovely flowers for them.
They passed a plant stand, and the gentleman said, ‘Look, there’s that Deutzia you were talking to the young couple at the next table about over lunch.’ ‘We’re not buying plants,’said the lady, very, very firmly, not to say grimly. ‘We have too many as it is, and anyway we definitely don’t need any more shrubs. We’re only here to see the show gardens.’ Well, if the poor trolley had had tear ducts, it would have wept bitter tears. All it was carrying was a carrier bag with show garden leaflets and a brochure for loft-ladders. It was very, very sad. But it didn’t see the nice gentleman smile quietly behind the lady’s back, because he knew his wife so very well.
Sure enough, two minutes and thirty-seven seconds later, the lady swooped like a hawk into a plant stand and snatched up a pretty Geranium. ‘It’s a Sanguineum!’ she said excitedly. ‘I can’t resist geraniums.’ And in no time, the geranium was joined by an Achillea ‘Sunny Seduction’ and a Lavender Angustifolium ‘Munstead’. Well, it was like opening the sluices on the Shannon in an exceptionally wet January. Soon the Little Green Trolley was bursting at the seams – it was even carrying a banned Deutzia! ‘I have fallen in with a pair of garden nutters!’ laughed the Little Green Trolley joyfully to itself, and resolved to join a gym to build up its muscles. Into the Grand Pavilion, and a Dryopteris Crispum fern, a Salvia ‘Eveline’ and a Digitalis ‘Apricot Sprite’ joined the other plants, along with two silver birch saplings from the Irish Wildlife Trust. What a happy time they all had! They even spent their dinner money!
That night, as dusk fell, the Little Green Trolley sat proudly beside the plant table with all of the lovely plants. It knew that the nice people would be glad they had such a helpful trolley when they planted their new purchases.
So they were. And they all lived Happily Ever After.
The End.
Well, we’ve all been enjoying summer skies this past week or so and here in the garden the plant has also flowered, right on cue.
One of my favourite hardy geraniums. It has grown quite tall this year, almost 3 ft.
It started with a few rumbles of thunder, a few drops of rain and within five minutes we had nearly two hours of a downpour, thunder and lighting added lots of interest.
It stopped as quick as it started, and the freshness around the garden and in the air was delightful.
My Granny loved pansies and had great success with growing them from seed. I have tried them many times and they never did well!
But a couple of years ago we were at Ballyrobert Nursery Garden and he had Boughton’s Blue and I bought a pot. Success at last! and I love the colour. They bloom all summer and are multiplying..perfect!
I have himmed and hawed over Robinia Twisty Baby for years. I saw it first in a friends garden in Wales quite a number of years ago and really liked it. Then I heard it could grow in to a big tree so that wouldnt do. Whenever I came across it in garden centres I could never make up my mind about getting it.
This morning I decided to go to a local nursery/garden centre for a walk round… just to see what they had… I saw Twisty Baby and this time I just decided that I would go ahead and get it. I will keep it in a pot for a couple of years. The man assured me it will not grow in to a big tree as it is grafted so..
I have this Physocarpus growing in the front garden. Love its purple foliage which looks gorgeous beside my Sambucus sutherlandii (yellow). Yesterday was my first outing since the op and it took so much out of me. But each day I’m seeing a marked improvement and the swelling is finally beginning to go down. The front garden is growing like a mad thing and there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it. But seeing all the fresh growth is just giving me a tingle inside. So all is good.
Gorgeous climbing rose flowering out in the front garden now – R. ‘Graham Thomas’. As the season moves on, the stems will make their way all along the front windowsill. It’s quite a vigorous climber.
Ariseama speciosum has already flowered. But now it’s time for a very similar, and equally beautiful Arisaema ‘Griffithii’.
The first of my Dahlias is in flower ‘Dahlia Happy Single Flame’. This was divided into 3 plants this year and I have them planted with my Ensete (Red Banana). The photo really doesn’t do it justice I can never get the through red in the photo but anyone that has it knows how good it looks.
I have become addicted to gathering and buying seeds and growing lots from seed. Then I look around and wonder where they will go lol
This year though I havent had a huge success, particularly with my poppies. I have lots of seedlings, which needed no help from me, but the ones I really wanted P.pom Pom and P. swansdown are definitely not doing so well at all. They are still very small, whereas I was expecting blooms by now. Can’t understand why as I’ve done much the same as before.
Seeds I got from Seedaholics are others that aren’t doing too well either, really disappointed here. I’m on my second lot of these and still virtually no success, things like Dierama, Thalictrum, even Ricinus which I’ve always had success with Aren’t looking too good Again Ive had to sow extra seeds
So far I have one decent plant which is in the photo also Cosmos Xanthos are doing good now and some are in flower
Anyone else have problems this year? Very frustrating
Just opening now is Indigofera pendula, which was gifted to me by Helen Dillon last year. I have to say I was worried about it as it was so late starting to show any signs of growth this year but when it did it grew very very fast.
I really love the delicate flower stems that hang downwards on this one.
Cloudier today but still lovely and mild, have a good one 😉
Gretta kindly gave me some of her Thalictrum flavum last year. It got planted as soon as I got a clump of it. And within the next week, it looked as if it had completely died off.
Before going into hospital I spotted its foliage coming up. And today I was so ecstatic to find that it’s beginning to flower. It’s still quite short. But I’m hoping that over the next year or two that it will grow as tall as Gretta’s clump in her garden. This is planted in the same area as my Joe Pyeweed, and Hazel’s tall Japanese Anemones. So they should all look well together.
The scarecrow has been booted and suited for the upcoming celebrations next week.
Even if this plant never flowered, it would be worth it for the foliage alone. After a wet afternoon it has turned into a really beautiful evening.
The greenhouse is holding some tomatoes and chilli peppers at the moment and i have two questions:
Chilli Peppers are beginning to have flower buds on them. Do I pinch them out like tomatoes or leave them alone?
Tomatoes – just repotted them and one of them has developed some wilted leaves – should I remove the leaves or is it some dread disease that I need to destroy the whole plant?
Hello all,
Hope ye are all having a lovely Sunday, bit showery here but warm, i added a few more photos i took this morningto the album bloom 2016 if anyone is interested, but this post is about the lovliest orchid i received for my birthday, i had a orchid before but it died on me, i have put this one into my bright batchroom away from direct sunlight, as nearly every window in my house gets sun at sme stage, do ye think i have picked the righ place and any tips on how to keep it alive & healthy would be appreciated, many thanks, also i have no idea of the name
Normally I allow David to cut back my Spirea out in the front. But we didn’t do it this year. Coming home today and saw a beautiful lilac flower sticking out from underneath. I had totally forgotten that my Rhododendron ‘Goldflimmer’ was even there. It’s a lovely variegated one.
Ok, not too much to ask for the Spirea to get cut back tomorrow so I can get a full whammy of the Rhodo.
Two more dahlias opened here in the last few days even with the dull weather. 1st is called My Love which is always one of the earliest and has nice steady blooms through out the summer. 2nd photo is of Coupe de Soleil which is super dahlia for mass flowering, I planted this in a bad spot last year and it got crowded out so I have it in a better position this year to show it off better.
Myrtle kindly gave me a cutting of this nice grey leaved plant with pearly yellow flower buds seen in her garden today.
Myrtle didn’t have a name for it; can anyone identify it please?
