Month: September 2016

At times in life, it seems like you blink and some years have rolled by. Our wonderful son started first year in secondary last week and i’m thinking to myself, is he really 12 years of age?, but then i look at him and he’s growing up before my eyes.  He’ll be taller than me in no time, mind you that is no great achievement. I’m no Jack the giant.

The garden is also maturing at the rate of knots and i am very pleased with it, it isn’t only the A team who are happy when a plan comes together. I have been doing a load of pruning, cutting hedges etc over the last few days and it is satisfying, if tiring work at times. 

The first photo i am sharing this evening is of my Heptacodium miconioides. This is a lovely, late summer flowering shrub with scented flowers. 

The second shot is a view of what i call the north/west garden, i have a lot of fantastic shrubs and plants in that garden which has filled out beautifully.

The third photo is of a rarely seen species Rhodo, R.makinoi with its fabulous indumented, narrow leaves. Unlike most Rhodos, this Rhodo doesn’t like the soil to be too acidic.

Was in Dublin for two days with April and Andrew just do to a bit of shopping and visit Dublin Zoo with himself which was a fantastic break away as we just got glorious weather. Anyway on the way back this afternoon we stopped into Johnstown for a cup of tea and cake and of course a look around. I got a nice selection of spring bulbs which included a lovely small Iris called Danfordiae and another new daffodil on me to try in the garden called Double Campernelle.

Two plants also one being a climber which anyone that has it or seen it knows it’s a cracker Clematis ‘Princess Diana’ and once I saw it I had to get it. Last thing then was a Canna called Madeira with stunning red and orangey/yellow flowers. Not sure how hardy it is but the plant is huge and about to burst out of the pot so I will divide it onto a few plants and keep a piece in the greenhouse just incase. Photo of the canna from the web as I knocked off the flowering putting it in the car.

AKA Rainbow Eucalypyus, came accross these while on the web the other evening. Breathtakingly beautiful is the only words, no camera tricks, this is for real.

For me this is a must have plant in my garden which I first saw in The Bay Garden.  It flowers all summer long!!!! It does fall over a bit but I still love it!!! Also it is so easy from cuttings!!! 

Very wet today!!!

Have a great weekend! Think tomorrow will be better!!

I got this lovely Begonia at Fota Plant Fair last year. It wasn’t in flower when buying it. But it was the foliage, particularly the underside, that attracted me to it.

It’s finally flowering. The pot had just been placed on an out-of-the-way place on the edge of the lawn over the summer months. But today I noticed that it had also self-seeded right beside it. So that got potted up and will be placed possibly down in the Mini Durassic Border for next year.

After a long wait, my one and only canna flowered last weekend and looked bright and cheery in the sunshine yesterday.  It has another stem growing well but I doubt if it will flower before time runs out.  I don’t mind as the foliage looks good too.

And I went shopping for spring bulbs this week … bought this lot in Malahide with a gift voucher I had been saving and then yesterday got two more packs of tulips and one of crocus in Woodies, nice firm bulbs and good value at 3 packs for €10. 

One of my favourite plants at this time of year. Just love the yellow flowers against those leaves.

I received this bulb on Friday 2nd September from Potterton Nursery. Planted it on Wednesday 7th and it was at that stage producing a flower. After all the rain yesterday I went out this morning expecting it to be either flattened by the rain or gobbled up by slugs, but no, three beautiful flower opening in the sunshine. That is instant gardening and I just love it.

A freshly-cut lawn really enhances an unkempt and untidy garden. Basically that’s what my garden has been this summer. The lads got the grass cut yesterday and it’s looking good. Then they assembled the new garden furniture. It’s a really big table and now the patio needs to be extended pretty pronto. But not sure if it’ll be next year before we can afford that. It takes 6 chairs, so at the moment just two will stay out. The other 4 will be stored in the garage until the patio is extended. Need to reduce pots big time, and I just bought a load of daffodil bulbs in Aldi yesterday for more pots!  There’s no hope!

The seven blueberry bushes are ready to be transplanted into their new home. Hopefully that will be done today. In their new home in the raised bed, they will get all the light they require. And it will be easy to erect bamboo canes and netting should the birds decide to devour them.

I Googled growing Blueberries. It says that they should be pruned back in late winter but I’m wondering would it do any harm to do that job now?  All advice would be welcome, please. Monty Don showed how pruning should be carried out on Friday so all I need now is assurance that doing it now would be ok.

I was determined to get lots done today. Weather is to deteriorate for during the week. Today was very windy and dull, but at least it remained dry for most of the day. This morning I made the painful decision to get rid of the invaluable ‘potting bench’ that Steve made for me a few years ago. At this stage we need all the space we can to accommodate the new furniture. So today it was time for the potting bench to get the chop. It was great in the beginning. But slowly but surely things get thrown in randomly, to be sorted at a later date. That date never arrives, but the amount of stuff getting plonked in just grows and grows.

So I sorted out the plastic pots I need to keep. Others got bagged up and will be given to a chap in Steve’s job tomorrow who has an allotment.

The potting bench will now be used for winter firewood. It’s chopped and ready to go.

Steve dug up my blueberry bushes. I thought I had 7. But could only find 6???  I wonder did the Bamboo beside them eat away at the last one. However, 6 bushes is plenty. So I now have them planted in their designated raised bed. Need another couple of bags of ericaceous compost so that’ll have to wait until next weekend. They got a good soak and I’m hoping I’ll still be rewarded with their lovely scarlet Autumn foliage.

Delighted with the amount of jobs we completed today.

Blechnum chilensis so big and bold and easy to propagate,just chop a bit off!

Aralia Sun king vanishes for the winter and then appears with lovely lime green leaves which go more yellow at this time of year .

and what about Fuchsia Betty Boothby ? This lady just takes off and like Topsy grows and Grows .

sorry for typos using ipad and hate typing on it!

My second Physocarpus I have in a big planter, waiting to go into the raised bed when it gets done. But just watering it yesterday and noticed all the new growth is coming out green. Any explanation for this?

Hesperanthas are coming on nicely now.

I have to be honest and say Rosemoor wasn’t on the list of places to visit, mostly because I thought it was in the opposite direction to where we were heading. But then we found that it was between our friends in Barnstaple and St Austell, where we’d booked B&B near the Eden Project. So we made a stop, and it was wonderful. We saw a lot of gardens while we were away, and in most of them the plants had gone over (including at the Lost Gardens of Heligan, which was a surprise.) But Rosemoor was so full of colour, and the planting and composition of trees and shrubs was just lovely. A really inspiring place. I slipped the credit card into my pocket in case there was something in the shop that could be carried on Ryanair hand luggage, and ended up joining the RHS. 

Visiting Mount Venus a few years ago there was an offer of three free plants as Joan mentioned. I chose three different Michaelmas Daisies all of whom are doing well. I have their names carefully recorded in the database but of course the labels have long since disappeared!

So I took a photo of each one today. Problem number one is that the camera isn’t able to differentiate between the different colours. Problem number two is trying to match the names to the plants!

They are quite different so I’d really like to be able to have the correct names for them!

Photo  One is quite a deep blue and isn’t very tall – not much more than 2 eet tall.

Photo Two is paler in colour and more towards mauve than blue. It has a loose format and sprays out quite nicely without falling over. If it was up straight it would be between 3 and 4 feet tall.

Photo Three is also pale mauve but the flowers are much smaller and the whole plant is taller – over the 4 foot mark.

The three names to choose from are:

1. Aster Nemoralis

2. Aster Pyrenaeus Lutetia

3. Aster Cordifolius Blue Wood

I’ve matched them as best I can but would love to have a definite identification!

To thank all my dear friends who are convinced Im going to -pull a muscle, break a leg, twist an ankle, strain my back. I take all their advice on board and move around my garden with elegance and caution!

Got out early and went down and trimmed some branches off the big limb and dumped them at the dividing hedge. The great thing about being in the country is that you can use all these branches as fencing. That helped clear the bottoms. Please note I am not using ‘ My’ in reference to bottoms any more as it led to misinterpretation! It was good to see them coming back. Then I made the bank down below a bit broader and found a lovely big flat rock which fitted in beautifully in making a level area-Ill try to get a picture. I divided my three primula into ten good ones and have planted those in the boggy bit. I divided a bamboo that fell into my boot (10Euro) in Graiguenamanagh last week and put one big clump into a lovely ceramic barrel type pot and the other beside the bust of Lord Buddha. I was very pleased the way the slope worked as its a nice new little area and I have put in Miscanthus Zebrina and there are two older rhodos that are set off more clearly.

As Anna was going shopping I stayed near the front of the house so got a lot of grass cut and that might not have got done because when I go down into the scrub time stands still! Now there a good bit of strimming to tidy things a bit but as I have told my dear friends whom I mentioned at the beginning Im taking it bit by bit.

I was very fortunate to get a copy of An Irish Florilegium recently on Amazon. Id say it cost me about 22 euro in all and it was for sale in Graig at the bookfair for 80! Theres a system in the post office called addresspal which enables you to have any Amazon order delivered to your post office for 3.50. You know some Amazon booksellers wont send to Ireland-well this way circumvents that. And if you arder a few books its still the same charge. I got a beautiful book on Monet’s garden at Giverney and it cost in all about 5Euro!

So now I have a few more reasons to anticipate Spring! Which reminds me I must get in some daffs in the bottoms, I think they will do very well there ‘beside the lake beneath the trees!’

Did a fair bit of cleaning up around the garden yesterday .I love the colours of Autumn and just had to take a few photos….. also took a few of the roses which are looking good right now

I do really love Hesperantha Jennifer. She is such a well-formed flower, coming quite early in the season, sometimes in good bloom from mid-August.  Superb colour. Strangely, this year, it is a good week later. the white has been in bloom since early August, and the red one is coming along quite well now. The one which is commonly called Mrs Hegarty, comes much later and is useful in that respect.  

These pictures are of the long border in the upper garden.

Crocosmia Solfataire has flowered its socks off for a month now.  It is such a well-behaved variety and so is very welcome. I cannot deal with “wanderers” anymore, to they are consigned to eternal flames. The Rudbeckia is Rud. fulgida deamii, which is more erect than Goldstrum, and is not seen on this picture.  

Isn’t that just a lovely second flush on the …? that yellow …?  Is this a senior moment?

aah, the key has unlocked: verbascum  ? chaixii?  

All the gladioli have been there for a number of years. The yellow ones are over and ther must be twice the original number.  The storms and eternal rain have damaged the dark velvety red ones. 

The dark violet blue Aconitum carmichealii “Arendsii” is only coming out and is still in tight bud in the lower garden.  

Another few pictures from the upper garden.

The panicles of flower on Little Carlow are like a fluffy haze in the distance.The phlox are obviously well over. 

The Kniphofia have flowered very abundantly this year, as I notice in Kate and Graham’s garden too. the wind has knocked them about a bit but still lovely.  the ittle bit of aster, front right, is Aster Frikartii Mönch.  Its hard to know how to treat this one.  I lov the clear colour of the flowers and yellow stamens, but the plant needs support, which I do for some of plants and then I let some flop forward, which can be lovely too.

Could some of you who grow Rose Rhapsody in Blue, if they find that the growth right down to branches becomes very thin and straggly?  I feel I would need to prune out probably half of the main stems, come the spring.  I have not experienced this on other climbers. This one is 10yrs old.  

I’m determined to get out to the garden today. It’s been a hectic week week last week and no time to myself, so definitely going to rectify that. 

Im loving my Rhidochiton at the moment. Planted it up along my Pergola bad it’s just doing so well. I’m hoping it will over Winter well and cover the pergola in time. We will see! 

You can feel a slight nip in the air and my greenhouse is misted up this morning. But then the forecast is for warmer weather after this weekend, so it’s better to just look out the window I guess. 

Second photo is Rosa Euby Wedding given to me by a very good friend. Love the big flowers on this. 

Third photo is Euphorbia Silver Swan. A real stunner with gorgeous foliage. 

I still have lots of bulbs to plant so I’m going to tackle that later. 

Have a good week

I love walking around the garden early morning!! Here are a few shots from this morning!

The only Nerine I grow here in the garden and I do nothing at all with it just leave it be and it has flowered now for it’s second year running. It is a lot more pink that in the photo as it has a think pink vain going down the center of the flower petals but still no name for it. Quite nice tho and lovely to see late in the season.

A few days ago I noticed the flower buds which are forming on my Paulowinea, however most of these buds will end up on the ground before they flower due to the winds during the winter. It would be fantastic if all of these flower buds opened during Spring and what a display it would be. The common name for this tree is The Foxglove Tree. Most of the trees growing here in Ireland are cut down each year to produce large leaves in tropical borders. Have never seen one in flower, only seen photos. I was wondering if any member managed to grow one that flowered well.

Still painting the outside of the house, and shifting pots is really a nightmare. This year a few shrubs in planters were neglected. As a result some of them died, or are just not looking good at the moment. However, I won’t be replacing them. Way too many planters here. I’ll have to be more selective when I’m at a Garden Centre again.

I finally got the rest of the ericaceous compost for the Blueberry Bed. All settled in for the Winter now. Not a great crop this year and left some on the bushes during the transplant. However, I thought they would drop off as soon as they were moved. Still picking some each day for adding to my breakfasts.

Pieris ‘Flame of the Forest’ is turning a lovely shade now. And this Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’ is a gorgeous colour at the moment. This is one of the shrubs that will be planted into the raised bed for the patio. Not made yet, but hoping for it quite soon.

The Eupatorium is living up to its reputation and yesterday i saw two Red Admirals and lots of bees.