Month: September 2016

Absolutely thrilled to see this finally flowering, I sowed some seeds of this Mexican Sunflower a good few months back now and tought it would never flower. It’s a very rich orange colour and by the looks of it plenty flower buds on it too, just a pity I didn’t look after most the seedling as I only ended up planting 2 out. It is not a normal sunflower size flwer but more the size of a ox-eye daisy which I like and mixes well in the border. I will def sow them again next year and make sure to plant out more around the garden.

What a lovely morning. Scrubber went down to the bottoms and made two little sets of clay steps into actual bottoms-very simple and hardly noticeable but effective. Then he brought down a big tub of water and divided up the Primula. Got about three good plants from each. The soil was very dry-in the pots so I soaked the primula in the tub and then planted them into the boggy ground. I got about six or seven nice groupings so next spring should see some lovely sights. I also divided Paddy’s Iris into nine pieces-as always it was a very generous clump. I was very pleased with the result and spent some time clearing around a rhododendron that had got into tangle with a John’s wort. the resulting clearing work looked well but havent managed to take photos of todays work.

It was a lovely sunny morning and I decided before working to just sit and drink it all in for about a half an hour. It was worth it.

We were lucky enough to meet friends at the Duck (Bistro) Marlfield House near Gorey yesterday. We had never been before but will go again. The gardens even at this later season were very beautiful-lovely herbaceous borders with a clean green and white colour scheme. And two magnificent wire netting dogs that fitted in perfectly on the lawns! Unfortunately it began to rain so we had to scamper!

i got a small slip of this from Liga a couple of years ago and it grew quite tall but only one big flower at the top. Gradually all the leaves started to fall off and I was left with a tiny piece at the very top of the plant. I was told if I cut off the plant head and cut the stem into pieces it could grow again!!! I really was afraid to do this as I knew if I went wrong that was it and it’s a gorgeous plant. But I knew the experts here wouldn’t be wrong…….

So!!!!!!! A few weeks later, or perhaps a few months now! My tiny flower is growing again and looks quite healthy and happy. And not only that but the stems which I cut, I got 3 in total, two of them are sending out more shoots, so excited. 

The first picture shows the original plants tip now growing into a lovely little plant again. 

Second photo shows the old stem rejuvenated and sending out 3 more little shoots. I am delighted with this and hopefully in a few more months I will have a couple of really strong plants. 

…………………….I took myself off to Mr Middletons on Saturday to their Open Day at their warehouse. It was a one day affair and over 20 million bulbs to be had!

I was just so excited and didnt know where to look when I got there. I was like a child in a sweet shop, ok a very old child lol, but it was just great to look around at all the lovely plants that I could have come Spring.

So I got some lovely tulips, daffs, tete a tete, Camassia Alba, crocus, Alliums and some Lilies. Some combinations I got were Orange and Purple Tulips Also a new one for 2016 was  Alaskan Aurora, which are White Daffs and a raspberry ripple on white Tulips, just beautiful.

Not sure if I should plant all my tulips in the ground or should I put them in planters, what do you do?

Today was such a beautiful day I couldnt wait to get out and plant up a few daffs here and there and some crocus also. Just to make a start. I have a lot of bulbs now and Im hoping that come Spring the place will be full of colour!

I don’t normally plan where I plant stuff in my garden. Usually ‘near enough is good enough’. But not with this combination – Phormium ‘Sundowner’ and Penstemon ‘Garnet’. Today I was definitely reassured that they were in perfect harmony with each other. Penstemons have done really well here this year, and they respond very well to dead-heading.

A week or so ago I was having a look at the bargain rack in Woodie’s and saw Streptocarpus for €1. All the ones with flowers were mauve, like ones i already have. Then i spotted a tiny scrap of maroon petals on the surface of one of the pots. I asked the man in charge if he knew which it came from, pretty impossible question! I was going to take the one the petals were on but then he lifted another, and I noticed it had a very dark totally wilted flower. So I hoped it was the one!! When I got it home I noticed a tiny bud that looked white, and thought I had made a mistake. But as it developed it got darker, and now I have a maroon Streptocarpus!

I have a Fig Tree/Shrub only a couple of years. When I bought it there was a solitary fig on it, but not mature enough to eat. It got treated to a bigger pot this year and not a sign of fruit. But I can put up with that.

This evening my neighbour popped his head over the fence and offered me a few of his figs. So, what’s the best way to eat them? I just opened up the fruit and ate the flesh. It was quite refreshing on the palate. But there must be a nicer way to eat it. Any suggestions? Maybe I should contact Jacobs?????

A couple of weeks ago when I was in the greenhouse pond cutting back stuff, I discovered a pot of this little Kniphofia growing in the undergrowth of that particular border. I had meant to take it up to the patio to give it a bit of attention.  But by mistake I had left it on the mini island in the pond. So Steve had to reach in with the litter picker to take it out. I wasn’t getting into the pond again after the fall the last time. LOL.

I think it was Paddy who identified it as K. ‘Mango Popsicle’ last year. It’s a cute little one. Must google to see how tall it grows. Snails seem to love Kniphofias in my garden. I think that’s what the problem has been all along with my failures. But with a good feed the other day, and a scattering of pellets, it’s flowering away now. Love the colour and I think the name is so appropriate.

This is photo of what I used to refer to as ‘red’.     2nd photo which is a cutting shows that it could be either – red or magenta!!!  You got a real bargain there with yours Fraoch.   I love Streps and have quite a few.

Last Spring I planted out foxgloves I grew from seed and was delighted with the colours from white through to medium pink.  I have been dead-heading them throughout the summer.    Normally I would expect narrow tubular shape flowers but yesterday morning I was surprised to see a circular heavily speckled bloom in flower – it has a frilly edge and could nearly be mistaken as a  Campanula!!!  It really is a beauty with those inner speckled markings!!

Any idea what this could be?

Ive gone through my notes but cant seem to see it and the label is now worn, of course. I think it was a bulb I sowed and am thinking maybe some kind of lily perhaps? The flower on it looks a little like Camassia but I know its definitely not that!

Any ideas please?

Finally this plant has flowered for me and I love, there is gorgeours right leaves coming out of the plant right around it with the flowers in the center. I had moved it to the front a couple of years ago while the back garden was being done up but left it there in the shade and had meant to move it but never did, so now thrilled to see it flowering and happy to leave where it is as it seems to be happy.

Also don’t know bout ye but the weather here lately has been dreadful and I fear another couple of weeks of this will just finish the garden off.

Sometimes life gets in the way of the gardening! I had a delightful weekend away with my new Grand-niece and her Mum. So getting up this morning to dismal rain was a bit of a disappointment!

The storm while I was away had tossed quite a lot of stuff round the garden so as soon as the rain eased off I donned the rain-gear and went out to view the damage – well, nothing too drastic so I picked up the fallen pots and repaired the blown-over fence. Having the rain-gear on I wasn’t too bothered when the rain stopped and started for the next while. So I tackled the shredding that had been left over before the weekend and it was quite a job! Four fills of the shredder box! But I had a great sense of satisfaction when it was done!

On my way back from the compost heap with the final shredding I spotted a task that I had been trying to get to for ages. I have some giant daisies that grow to about 6 or 7 feet and always fall over and smother their neighbours. In the right place they are truly dramatic but some of them have ended up in the wrong place and I have been planning to remove them. I have another daisie that I divided that is only half the height if I decide to replace them but I may just give the neighbouring plants a chance to spread their wings!

Turning round after wrestling with one of these daisies I was struck by how vivid the Rudbeckia were looking in the rain!

They are in the sometime ‘Hot Border’ but the planing there seems to have migrated to mauves rather than hot colours – the Joe Pieweed is at its best at the moment but the Salvia “Red Ensign” is still keeping the hot thing going!The yellow Kniphofia is an early flowerer gone by now but there is a nice red-leaved Persicaria ‘Red Dragon’ there and a little yellow Crocosmia the other side of the path is carrying the theme!

Good evening all, we had a lovely day here for a change, took real advantage of it i can tell ye, next year i am putting together a greenhouse, made from old doors, timber with glass, i am collecting from the recycle centre, i have 6 to date, now today i took all the now nearly dead wildflowers and i must shift all that earth from the beds in behind the trees, it will be there if i need it, i hav done so much today though so i am calling it a day, back is well tired, i will hopefully get back and do more tomorrow, weather permitting. i hope ye all had a lovely day too.

I got this Guzmania from one of my daughters as part of a Mother’s Day gift. I’m not overly fond of them. I always think of them as a ‘novelty’ indoor plant, and usually discard them when they’re beginning to look tired and ‘gone over’. This time I just cut off the flower spike, watered it with a half-strength tomato feed and left it to its own devices.

‘Lo and behold, it is now producing two new shoots. Time for another small feed maybe. It’d be great to be able to get it to flower a second time.

Mairin from Rush kindly gave me this beautiful Camellia from her garden way back in March 2010. It went into a half barrel of ericaceous compost as soon as I got home and has been in it since then.

But only recently while trying to clear off the old patio of pots/planters I noticed that the part of this Camellia that is closer to the wall is totally bare of branches. The half barrel is too heavy to be rotating towards the light. Is there a quick-fix method of rectifying this problem. No doubt when the new patio is laid, this Camellia will be shifted to a more prominent spot. So I would like even foliage all round. Also, do Camellias take well from cuttings?

All advice will be taken on board. TIA

Smix Red Admirals on the one Sedum today. Yesterday it was the bees . Love the Sedums this time if year 

Hazel, this is the aster that I got at Mount Venus when they had the three free plants offer.  The actual colour is slightly deeper violet blue than in the photos and it’s about 18 inches tall, perfect as I wanted a short one.  I doubt if it’s the same as the one in your first photo, as the name I have for it is Aster amellus ‘Mira’.  

I couldn’t get to Mount Venus today for the first day of their sale.  Did anyone go and, if you did, what did you buy?

Delighted to see this little Abutilon cutting flowering at the moment. It is a small cuting I recieved from Margaret at Blarney in Bloom and I just love the deep red colour of it. I have no proper name for it but think it might be ‘Red Trumpet’ as it looks quite like a one Jackie posted on facebook yesterday. Will prob keep in the greenhouse this winter as it’s small and then plant out in a sheltered spot next year and take cuttings after just to be sure.

I was away for a week in Florence learning Italian and getting a last blast of sun and heat, but also some horrendous thunder showers. When i got home last night the garden looked pretty bedraggled, and today i noticed that the Chrysanths are starting to flower, so the Summer is over unfortunately. Both of these i have for several years, having bought them in bargain containers.

As well as having a lovely flower this hermocallis  has a beautiful scent. The second photo is another yellow looking good black eyed susie 

Really love this Salvia which was purchased on ebay back in spring and as little cuttings they came on leaps and bounds and planted out in early summer which they have just flowered non stop and are brilliant mixed in amongst the plants. The purple and black is fantastic and works well in with other hot or jewel like colours.

Having put up three journals with pictures of the upper garden taken last week, I thought I shoud choose a few from early August, and you see the sequence. 

There was so little sunshine this Summer.

These two pictures are looking down to the lower garden.

The holly tree had its annual haircut a couple of days later.