Month: July 2016

Yesterday morning we went down to the Holy Trinity Church where a wonderful

3-day Fund Raising event is being held – to raise funds for restoration work on their Church.   There’s all sorts of craft work being sold, flower arrangements, artwork and a plant packed tent of flowers, both indoors and out!!  All these items have been donated by the people of Westport.   I bought a sumptious Streptocarpus and attach a a couple of photos.   Haven’t contributed to this site lately due to other things going on and plus computer is not the best………………

Lysimachia punctata is very late blooming this year. But it’s on its way now. It’s a plant that I have been warned about as regards its spreadability. But I find it very well-behaved here. Maybe as it’s in a North-facing border? But it does a great job of colouring up a dull area. And its variegated cousin is nestled right in beside. This one flowers even later. So there’s a nice continuity between the two.

Penstemons seem to be doing exceptionally well this year – namely P. ‘Garnet’.

This is a great plant for lifting a planting scheme in a North-facing Border that gets partial sun. Lovely glaucous foliage too with a great fragrance.

I love seeing this plant in the greenhouse pond just reaching for the stars at this time of year. Very architectural and doesn’t take over.

Well, here she is in all her glory. Poor neglected divil thrown out to the garage once she had done her thing and totally forgotten about – until about two weeks ago when I discovered green shoots as soon as I opened the garage door to put a wash on.

I thought there were only two flowers coming on three stems. But no, all three stems are now in bud. This is the first one to open. Haaaaaa!  Gorgeous!

It is always a treat to meet up with friends from Garden.ie and a double treat when they take the time to vist my garden.

Over the last couple of weeks I have had a visit from Keego and some of her family and also from Linda B. and some of her family!

Even though the weather was rather unfavourable and the garden suffering from the excess of rain that has fallen in recent weeks this did not deter us from enjoying a walk through the garden sharing ideas and gardening triumphs and defeats!  

This sharing has been one of the pleasures of Garden.ie from its beginning and both Mary and Linda, like myself, have been members from the start.  It has, indeed, introduced me to some great gardening friends and I have learned so much from them over the years.

Thank you Mary and Linda and your plants are a lovely reminder every time I walk past them.

I had to smile when I saw Jacinta’s journal earlier.

I have to thank Myrtle who a few years back mention how she had a Hippeastrum flowering outside during the summer. I managed to get it to work last year and again this year.

Without a doubt I’ll be increasing these wonderful plants for next year as they add a real exotic look to the garden with so little effort.

Thanks to the Orchid experts and their advice my one and only orchid has suddenly cone to life … All winter it looked … Well dead ! With almost no attention just a once off misting to the roots it has rewarded me . 

Should I pot it on later , feed it even . I will most probably kill it if I try to be too nice !!

I sowed a mixed packet of seeds this time last year.  I then over-wintered plants in greenhouse and then they were planted out into different borders last March.  I was hoping for white ones and I got a good few along with some really nice soft pinks.  So quite pleased with myself.   On the packet it reads ‘perennial’ but will they come back next year!!!!  I’ve looked at some individual colours of foxgloves on the Seedaholic website (based in Westport) and am more than sorely tempted!!!  Now is the time to sow seeds for next year, if anyone is interested in doing so.

To day it is overcast like yesterday. However as one enters the greenhouse, there seems to be a change. While most of the tomatoes are still green and quite plentiful, one tomato has shown a change in colour, from a definite green to a somewhat buff colour. Perhaps a bit of sunshine and we may see real results. The grapes are a bit late compared with last year but sampling one or two the sugar content has increased.

After a 4.00am start yesterday morning to Blarney and a long but a much learning day at the Blarney in Bloom event, sadly it was very misty and drizzly all day with some showers, several times it looked as if it was going to brighten up but sadly, no.

I need to say a big big thank you to so many friends from Garden.ie who texted, rang and messaged me in so many different ways, it is really fantastic how such a simple thing can make one feel with positive vibes. To those of you who called to see me and my stall yesterday, I thank you no end, to see a friends face on such a day as it was for me, really meant so much.

So after breakfast this morning and before heading home for Dublin, it was ‘me time’, with garden visits. Two long awaited gardens on my hit list were finally visited.

First was Elizabeth’s stunningly positioned Garden of Eden, it is a pure work of art that is backed by a pure love of gardening and nature. I was amazed at the size of the garden and hearing about how it was reclaimed from a rough corner of a field only in recent years leaves me in total wonderment of this amazing Lady.

Then it was on to the other side of Cork, and Peter’s tropical pardise. My first steps into the garden just simply stopped me in my tracks. The wonderful stonework needs no more mentioning as we all know about it, but for someone like myself who loves natural stone I was a happy camper. The planting is superb, the range of plants is endless, but it is the way Peter blends and mixes all these super plants together lends itself to what I think is a pure Show Garden of Gold Medal standard and even more so when you consider how new Peter is to the gardening scene.

To you both all I can say is thanks for giving me the time to see your pieces of paradise, it was well worth the wait. I will allow the photos speak for themselves.

I do believe there used to be a path under all that stuff!

I finally got around to working on the Stream Borders as all the paths were as in this photo so I took great satisfaction in tackling the  paths and doing a gereral tidy-up on the area.

The first photo is the “before” view but I was too exhausted when I finished to take an “After” photo – maybe tomorrow!

Another task I tackled recently was to pot on my Auriculas. I had advice (and a little plant) from Helen Dillon on how to treat Auriculas and that they really had to be divided every year so I just though to myself that I’d give it a go. Unfortunately since all the flowers were long gone I really had no idea which was which colour-wise. My original stock consisted of two from Liga, one from Elizabeth, and this year I got another one from Elizabeth and one from Helen Dillon. The second photo shows the result of the re-potting!!!

Gosh, it’s been a very frustrating 6 weeks since surgery. The most I seem to be doing is a small bit of weeding, a lot of observing, and even more frustration. But I have to go with the flow for now.

Up at the Clinic yesterday to have an infection treated and thought that the planting around the building was just what I needed to lift my spirits. Lavender planted ‘en masse’ and looking divine. Also a great stretch of Salvia to die for. So this morning I’m going to force a spring in my step and try and be a bit more physical outside. Cloudy morning again, but every cloud…….. 

HAVE A NICE DAY!!!

I spent this morning in Waterford in the charming company of one Mary and Paddy Tobin, taking a tour of their fabulous garden.

What better way to sped the day! 🙂

The video will take a while to compile but in the meantime, here are some outdoorsy YouTube videos that I have made since my last journal and you may find interesting…

Two Minutes of Douentza in June – Wexford Open Garden – YouTube

Avoca Handweavers Plant Sales – YouTube

Meconopsis – some aspects of propagation & care – YouTube

Outdoor Carnivorous Sarracenia Planters – aspects of care – YouTube

Some Fave & Fashionable Plants – YouTube

How To Stake Delphiniums – expert advice – YouTube (with Helen Dillon)

I thought that dahlias from seed were just annuals but when I found tubers and asked people here on the site they said they would probably flower again, and they have! This one had opened today, nice surprise on a dull day, and some others have buds.

I tend to watch Montys Gardeners world recordings when everyone else is gone to bed . Recently he devoted a few minutes to ” Flowers for Bees” Seedaholic had them all in stock and 2 of the 4 are ” Plant in Sept ” so away we go . 

The Broad beans are cropping heavy too . 

Myrtle gave me a cutting of her lovely Diascia personata at Johnstown last January and today I was wondering whatever possessed me to plant it next to Hemerocallis ‘Pink Damask’ which isn’t pink at all but a deep coral colour which looks more like orange, especially in bud.  

I don’t think this combination works; very Christopher Lloyd maybe but not really me! Looks like plant moving time again but which one to move … and where??

What do you think?  and have you any pink and orange combinations in your garden?  

I remember picking this plant up so many times a few years ago, trying to decide whether or not to buy it. I took it in the end. Wasn’t even impressed with it in its first year here, but since then it has taken on a life of its own with its delicate, but reliable, ‘airy fairy’ flowers. Delighted with it now. I can’t say whether or not it has a scent as I can’t make my way in there. Maybe someone can tell me?

This may be my favourite summer perennial; many of you have heard me going on about it before.

In full flower now and will last until November with just one session of deading around September.

Anthemis ‘E.C.Buxton’; such an easy plant. 

I was delighted to pass over a ‘small’ division of my favorite Bamboo to Peter last weekend in Cork.

When I visited Peter on the Monday I talked about how I thin this plant out every year. Peter this photo shows what I thinned out, I’ll be doing the same again in a few months. The main benefit is I am now supplying myself with my own bamboo canes.

Peter I hope it does really well for and I know it will add super interest to your wonderful planting.

PS The plant may well have been in a smallish pot, but standing about 3m tall is certainly the biggest cutting to be past on by me LOL

 Beautiful morning here in Dublin, hope it’s the same for you all, enjoy.

We have just returned from a week in West Cork, a long way from here to there but worth it, especially when you can drop off for a visit or two with gardening friends along the way!

We arranged to visit Margaret (Hostas)garden and also Ted’s which was close by. Starting out on the journey the weather was not encouraging for garden visits but by the time we got to Margaret’s the drizzle gave up, think it knew we were determined gardeners!

This is a garden I had been waiting to see and it lived up to my expectations. A wide range of areas with different athmospheres, from an exotic bed, a gravel bed, to a shaded woodland area which was lovely and peaceful, Margaret is developing a collection of hostas there.I loved her grass path down to this area. She has also plans to change her gravel area so I will be keeping an eye out for her photos as that develops. A tree fern in a beautiful pot is a wonderful focal point in her lovely garden. I will let the photos show you.

Margaret then took us to Ted’s. I had only met Ted briefly at a Get-together but we immediately felt at home and he made us very welcome. Again he has different planting areas but the centre piece of the garden has to be the tiered decking area with beautifully displayed pots. The garden is quite small but Ted has made use of every inch! even creating a path down to a stream where the farmer has allowed him to plant up the banks! There is great attention to detail and every corner has been carefully thought out. The plantings and garden “ornaments” are lovely and used to make this garden a delight.

Thank you both for lovely visits and for making us so welcome, tea and cake and chat!

Coming from Helen Dillon’s garden last year, this plant had a shakey start to the year but with a little extra TLC it has come on great.

Really looking foreward to this developing in the garden here, a super architectural plant with massive leaves.

A super morning again and tempeture is already 17degrees.

Have a good one.

Received a cutting of this fantastic Fuchsia from Tina last year. It had a set back earlier in the year, due to my leaving it out one night when there was a frost, thankfully it slowly made a comeback and I repotted it the other day. Hoping for some flowers by summers end on this one.

PS sorry about photo on it’s side folks, going to have to sort this issue.