Month: June 2016

After 6 months of little or no rain, the storms are rolling in.

Last night we had over 6 inches of rain… now that’s what I call a rain.

The rain over the llast few days has brought out some wild as well as not so wild flowers.

Please see my latest photo album.

Enjoy

My late sister had this in her pond and my nephew divided it big time earlierin the year.It is now planted in a small planter on the decking that acts as a pond (drainage hole 12” above the ground) and seems to be triving away happily, lots of flower stems appearing at the moment.

Have a good one 😉

It was wonderful to return to see Margaret and visit her lovely garden. Other journals have described the day very well so I’ll just add my thoughts on this special place.

What caught my eye as I strolled through the garden was the way that Margaret manages to plant closely but still allows each plant space to dispay its particular charm. I love the way she plants pretty flowering plants at the base of trees which draw the eye to them.

The area at the end of the garden, a perfect woodland setting is even better than I remembered it. Even a tree stump provides the opportunity to highlight a pretty plant! Of course we all know how expert Margaret is at identifying plants and visiting her garden it was a joy to see this plant knowledge put into practice so well.

There were wonderful new areas planted up since my last visit a few years ago and this is so cleverly done that they (and the extension to the house) look as if they have always been there! clever girl, Margaret! And thank you for a lovely day. so sorry I had to rush off early!

I cant believe I am doing a June album already, the year is just flying by!

Im so happy with how the garden has turned out now. Today was a really lovely day and I spent a little while assessing the damage caused by the rain on Sunday! Some of the poppies were on the ground and a couple of Lupins were a bit loopy, so all needed to be tied up and some cut back!

Today was my first day to pick a bunch of Sweet Pea and oh my goodness the scent off them is just beautiful. The kitchen is full of their scent! It smells of Summer

As you can see from the album there is lots of colour in the garden now and lots more to come, all going well. I hope the weather will improve more and we can all get out there and enjoy, but more importantly, relax and take it all in!

Hope you enjoy the album!

Some photos of my garden up till today in June and it’s really come on in the last few weeks. The plants are just thriving and obviously enjoying the heat and the rain but it would be nice to get some more sunny days in between too so as to enjoy it. Still lots to be done and lots to be planted but there’s a long season agead yet and I will try to enjoy every minute of it.

Last photo is of a Acanthus Mollis finally flowering and growing well for me and is covered in flower buds at the moment. I have tried and failed with this 3 times but planted it last year in a sunnier position and fed every now and then with tomato feed and it loves it.

Judging by these photos, Angela’s Corner could be due a name change to the Jungle LOL

No fear of the name change, but it is looking slightly tropical.

A lazy afternoon, the sun was blazing and the temp was on the rise then from the east some loud bangs… at first I thought it was some of the farmer shooting off some fireworks as a celebration…but then another and another… the sky turned from blue to black in minutes..the dark clouds rolled over the horizon and the countryside turned an eerie shade of yellow… then grey… then black as the ace of spades… the lightening came dancing down from the sky and found some of the open rice paddies to fry… it was spectacular… the bright flashed lighted up the darkness of the black sky… mother nature was putting on a pre-4^th of July fireworks show of her own…then the rain came… not a slow drizzle… but it was as if she had opened the spout of a huge faucet in the clouds… buckets and buckets of water made their way down to the ground… the streets became floored… the water backed up into the older homes… even the more upscale homes were not spared… the water filled the streets… then the houses.. the rain pelted the walls as if it had been fired from a large gun… the water made its way through the walls as if they were made of paper Mache…any small blemish in the wall began to leak water… soon the water was running down the walls of some of the better homes here in the city were greed for the almighty Peso is second to none…the lack of quality in construction reared its evil head like a snake about to drop upon its prey…a new high rise complex of some renound was in the last stage of construction… now the real estate developer had a bright idea…they could get more money for the units if the building had an underground garage for parking… so some genius decided to excavate below the almost completed building… well needless to say that was a bad idea… the rain in all its glory washed away a temp seawall and bingo… the building came tumbling down …well the sky is clearing … more rain is forecast… so I’m sure there will be more exciting events in the near future… until then…. Oh wait… hot news flash… flash flooding in the south Philippines… many killed and 100,000 evacuated… roads washed away… buildings tumble… mud slides…schools close… government putting emergency disaster plan in place…rain rain go away come back another day…

Everything is starting to flower now. Bursting to open and hoping the rain will stay away.

I had to go out and stake a few bits here and there as the heavy persistent rain from Sunday flattened a few , lets just say, less robust, plants. So they needed a helping hand. Others are holding firm, but then the wind started up last night. Not looking too bad this morning though.

Things really taking off now. Yesterday I picked my first Sweet Pea of the Summer. Put them in a glass on the windowsill and the smell in the kitchen is intoxicating. It’s almost Summer in there.

Also out now are some Lily’s. My favourite flower of all. I just love them both inside and outside. There is just something regal about them.

Lots more waiting in the wings. All w bed now are a few continuous sunny warm days to get out there and enjoy them all, before this Summer come to an end.

Have a great day whatever you do. It’s not looking bad out there at all 😉

I had a big indoor planter with three Hippeastrum bulbs in it last year for impact. They flowered well, even a second time in less than a year. Once they had gone over, they were cast aside out in the garage which is basically a dumping ground for things not in use.

Just putting a wash on a few minutes ago (the washing machine is in the garage) and the first thing I was greeted with was plant growth. It was partially hidden by junk, as you can see. I had totally forgotten about these Hippeastrums. It hasn’t been watered or fed since the flowers went over. I haven’t been able to get out to the garage in the last couple of months as it is fast becoming an obstacle course.

Struggled to get the planter into the house as it’s quite big, and not easy to manoeuvre with crutches. But took my time.

Would ya look at that. Three bulbs, and two flower stems. Ha ha!! The leaves had to be cut off as they were twisted by objects that were dumped on top of them. I’m well chuffed to have something of beauty indoors as I’m a bit limited to what I can do outside at the moment.

i started with one white and now somehow have white , dark blue and a pale blue . Do these self seed and cross breed ? Not complaining mind you as I like the dark blue especially .

I have a few different Rodgersia’s planted in the garden and this has been by far the best year for them.They are so easy totally maintenance free just plant them in the and let them get on with it . Well that has been my experience of them anyway. I do not have the different names

I had some emergency surgery – all well now – on Monday which has rendered me useless in the garden for the week and next few days so what better time to take a few snaps and simply enjoy all the hard work over the past 4 years. I have posted a corresponding album which is basically a journey through the ornamental element of my mixed planting/structured bed layouts of the garden.

Cameras just cannot convey what the naked eye sees but I guess you all know that as you’ve been doing this for years, I am really pleased with how things are progressing; the scent and colour this year all over the garden is off the charts compared to previous seasons. By now I have a number of ceanothus around the place and fully justified too with the one closest to the kitchen window through which the breeze carries the scent each day. This will end soon but so worth the annual wait. And more to come too – the honeysuckle on the rear north wall is just waiting to burst onto the stage and I know it will draw in moths the size of bats when the evening scent release kicks off.

The two island beds out front will really come into their own next year but happy already with how they are progressing. Between them over 500 individual plants have gone in – most of them absolutely free through all manners of propogation techniques and some maintenance of my neighbour’s borders. Donations from a january meetup two years ago have really bulked up nicely in other beds such as Elizabeths campanula, Hazels tree lupin and lots of plants from Ladygardener particularly all the laurels, grasses and hellebores.

The sweet william was winter sown to ensure flowering this year and the rudbeckia was carefully nursed through the coldest nights of winter in the polytunnel – they’ve had ups and downs but look great now.

The bed with the helianthus, aster, sedum, astrantia, crocosmia, hosta, phlox, lobelias and yarrows have yet to show a single flower but when it does……..it will be a lovely combination of texture and colour, that will be next months’ treat 🙂

I hope you enjoy the pics as much as I do.

It was so sunny and warm up to about 2 p.m. Then the cloud comes over and not as pleasant. The grass which was mown in the front lawn is now in the compost heap, about 25-27 boxfulls. The same lawn had looked quite poor but the nitrogen given just as the heatwave was coming to an end and then the rain, I must say that it looks good again with the roses in bloom. Some nitrogen was given to the big heap of grass so as time goes on, the chemical change will be taking place. This being 23rd June, St. John’s Eve, is a great day for the bonfires in the west of Ireland and I had a look as St. John’s Wort (Hypericum hidcote). A few blooms have come and from now on, I can expect a multitude. This Hypericum was apparently dead in 2010, when we got that bitterly cold weather. I had thought it was dead at the time but it is better than ever. I also noticed Philadelphus in bloom.

I’ve recently added an outside WC to the garden at the side of the house and the constuction of same left a bit of a nightmare behine – not to mention a rather unsightly pipe to camoflage!

I had to move my Montana Reubens during the construction and I’m happy to report it has a couple of new shoots breaking trhough. It will evenutally cover the offending pipe but what to do in the meantime?

So first I had to try and return the bed to something plantable – there was an incredible amount of stones where the pipe excavation took place and Even when we removed the bulk of the large stones what was left was hardly ideal! In the end I just leveled it out as best I could and then addec three barrows of compost!

Planting it up was a delight. There was already a Knophofia and some Snow-in-summer there but I’ve returned the Michaelmas Daisies and the Alchemilla Mossil that I removed back to the bed. When I was leveliing it i came across evidence of something I hadn’t lifted but had no idea what it was – that was until I found the label! Helenium ‘Moerheim Beauty’. I just hope it recovers!

Finally I found a use for all those stones! They made a great mulch for the new bed!

I mentioned Rhapsody in Blue early on but did not show it by accident. It has grown a lot. I bought it in Altamont some time ago. They say it is the nearest to blue where roses are concerned. The other rose shown as well as the other plant, I would like to know the name.

it was Fran who introduced me to this beautiful grass. I love how it swishes in the wind. But it is a traveller, oh yes. It likes to take off at a speed of knots if you let it, but it’s easy to pull unwanted pieces out. I have it a couple of years now and this is the first year that I have noticed the lovely soft plumes coming up out of it. Didn’t have these before. It really adds to the plant. So thank you Fran 😉

Over the last number of years i have been adding some species deciduous Azaleas to the garden. They can take a number of years to come into flower and some can be tricky to establish but they are worth the wait and like the species Rhodos they can have very appealing foliage.

Today i am showing the foliage of three of them. the first featured is A.schlippenbachii, the second is A.quinquefolium and the third is A.nipponicum. All of these are treasures and i am very pleased to have them. The flowers, when they get to flowering age, will add yet another dimension to them. It is a shame that species Azaleas are so hard to source, the only one that is easy to find is the wonderful yellow flowered, A.luteum.

It seems to be a good year for roses so far. I don’t have many but those I have are all flowering better than ever before. Here are three of them; photos taken before today’s rain.

How are your roses doing?

I hope you all don’t mind if I do a little advertising.

I have recently gone self employed again after many many years. I am setting myself up as a craft worker, working mainly in wood and stone, I will also be upcycling all kinds of items and giving them a second chance to be enjoyed, hence my trading name of

2nd chance gifts.

My first outing will be on the 10th of July at Blarney in Bloom at Blarney Castle, so if any of you good folk are there on the day, please do pop by and say Hi, I’d love to see you.

I have set up Facebook page, 2nd chance gifts please have a peek and see what I’m about.

Many thanks in advance from someone who has started to live his dream.

What part of my busy day do I want to make into a journal? Should it be the vegetables? or maybe the Alstroemeria that is coming into its own just now … or that strange Campanula ….

Well, here goes!

It was so great to get outside after the past few days of pretty incessant rain. This veg-growing business is a bit addictive – I couldn’t pass by some lovely healthy cabbage plants the other day so they had to be planted. Not much of them to be seen as they are under a cloche to prevent the Cabbage Butterfly causing havoc among them I planted out about 10 of them – they are a winter/early spring type and I reckon 10 heads is about right for my personal use of cabbage so lets see how they get on!

So with the veggies done I then cleared the bamboos that had invaded the boardwalk and its nice to be able to progress along the boarwalk now.

Strolling back up from the lower garden I spot one of my Alstroemeria just bursting into flower – Alstroemeria ‘Oriane” (thank you Rachel)

Any suggestions as to which Campanula is in the third photo? I can’t really make out the label but it is well over 4 feet high!

We finally have our new patio down in the back garden and I’m just so happy with it. It has turned out even better than I had ever imagined. It feels like it just landed there. There was no mess or disturbance from the lads putting it down and as Friday was a dreadful day they were lucky to get it finished. Plus the front driveway!!

The garden is really taking shape now and is looking great. I’m really excited at how it all has evolved. I know a garden is never finished but this has really put the ‘finishing touches’ to mine. I love it 🙂 All we need now is a bit of good weather to be able to get out there and enjoy it all.

Very wet here this morning 🙁 but lots to watch on tv too

SO COYBIB!!!!!! Plus UP THE DUBS!! 😉

A few weeks ago Bruno identified this plant for me as Aruncus, which is planted in the mini Jurassic border. Had a quick ramble around the garden today between steady showers and was delighted to see that it’s now doing its thing. First time flowering for me as it only got planted out fairly recently.

Zenobia pulverulenta is a shrub that isn’t seen half enough in gardens and what a pity that is as it is a lovely shrub. The glaucous young leaves are most attractive as are its bell shaped flowers which i am showing here. the form i have is ‘misty blue’.

The second photo is of a foliage bud about to infurl on the species R.falconeri against a background of Hosta foliage.

The third shot shows the flowers on a wild rose that i let romp away until it gets too unruly and then i will give it a good trimming. It looks happy with the cultivated Shrubs for company.