Month: November 2016

I have 2 or 3 major jobs to be done this autumn in the garden, the type that needs man power! So I am delighted that I have got the first one done. Any of you who have been to my garden will know that I have 2 big clumps of Agapanthus, the original plant has got enormous and needed a lot removed, so I decided that half would need to go. I knew I just couldnt do it myself so was delighted when Ron tackled it today.

It was a tough job as the roots grow into a tight mat, it could be insitu about 15 years at least so you can imagine how bad it was. It is a beautiful stiff stemmed blue flower and I think one of the best as it is almost evergreen in my sheltered garden. I had thought that I might be able to divide pieces and pot them up but it is just not possible.

I have a lot of work to do now digging out more roots and renewing the soil but that I can do myself. Im hoping I can put up photos so you can see the size of job that it was.

I have had this Arctotis for quite a few years, it is a great plant and one I always like to see surviving the winter. It is best to take cuttings as I lost a beautiful pink one last year and hadnt taken any cuttings 🙁

I took these photos today as it is still looking good.

How often have we remarked on plants that are performing out of sync with the seasons? Spotted some of my Aldi Daffs today poking their noses up out of the soil. And my self-sown Nicotiana from summer 2015 are still in full flower despite the recent really cold weather. Still plenty of roses appearing, namely, ‘Tequila Sunrise’, ‘Graham Thomas’, ‘Teasing Georgia’ and climber ‘Paul’s Scarlet’. Plus Clematis ‘Bee’s Jubilee’ on its third flush.

I picked the last of my blueberries and tomatoes today, and Malus ‘Elstar’. Delicious apple and a great one for a planter.

I am glad to report that i got all my new Rhodos palnted last friday and as promised here is some info on the forst three.

R.huanum is a recently introduced species which has attractive foliage and the flowers will be lavender/purple in colour when it gets to flowering age. As it gets larger the leaves tend to hang down which is a feature that i find attractive.

R.sphaeroblastum var wumengense is a ‘blue’ leaved selection of a very attractive species with lovely underleaf indumentum, the flowers when they arrive will be white and possibly blotched.

R.campanulatum ssp aeruginosum is a form of the species with extremely attractive new foliage and will have lilac-rose flowers eventually. It has lovely indumentum underneath the leaf as well. There is a form of R.campanulatum, i’m not sure which one in our fantastic Botanic gardens and it is a beautiful plant. I haven’t seen it in flower. Keep an eye out for it the next time you are there.

I will post about the remaining two additions to the garden in a further journal in a few minutes.

are all in full bloom,I enjoy having them all out together a nice change.

We woke up Sunday to the first hard frost. A lovely day that we spent walking in the Burren with our son and his girlfriend. What a pleasure this autumn has been. 

For me it has to be Cosmos. The seed is quite big so easy to sow, the seedlings are easy to separate out, and a week into November it’s still flowering away. Would love to hear any other suggestions.

On the first dull wet day for quite a while here, just thought I’d remind myself what a lovely autumn we’ve had so far by posting an album of the back garden in September and October.

I’ll probably take a few more photos during November to finish the album, provided the rain doesn’t keep coming!

Gidday,just another day in the patch,nice surprise to see first of the Salmon Iris open another 50 to come hopefully.

Alas, the beautiful mature aspen tree in the large garden behind us is no more. Yesterday morning I heard the chainsaw and was horrified to see the main branch coming down.  Within half an hour it had all fallen and the sound of cutting, chipping and clearing continued throughout the day.

This tree has been the main feature of our borrowed landscape as long as we have lived here.  It shivered in the slightest breeze and whispered to me whenever I sat or worked in the garden.  Being so tall, it was a main staging post for birds passing through in the winter months and a roost for the local avian wildlife. 

The garden owners are kindly responsible people, so I have to assume there was a good reason for cutting it down, though it looked perfectly healthy from here.  Perhaps a suitable metaphor for the events of this week?  All I know is that I shall miss it greatly. 

rain & daytime warmth have got the patch producing,alas frost is still a concern for another week.

Another Abutilon I got at Blarney in Bloom and this time not from Margaret but she did point it out to me at the IGPS stand. I was only a fiver and I have been waiting since to see it flower and today while tidying the grrenhouse and organising plants I was delighted to see it flowering. There was no name with it so don’t have a clue but I do like the colour.

The 2 Abutilons I got from Blarney in Bloom were quite small so will leave them in the greenhouse this winter and then plant out next year and take cuttings after that.

I showed this tree early on. There is more colour in it now.

…Without breaking some eggs. We’ve spent this week trying not to look out of the kitchen window, the mess has been horrifying as the new septic tank goes in. To their credit, the contractors are being very careful to avoid the beds and polytunnel, but the poor lawn. Well, gardens are very forgiving and we’ll wait until the job’s finished before we plan the restoration. That’s the lawn we hang the washing on and Oscar plays ball on, so there’s a limited amount of change we can impose. 

An Ode to Coole Park, with Apologies to W. B. Yeats

The trees were in late autumn leaf

The paths beneath were soggy,

When me and my aul fella went

A-walking with our doggy.

The lake as still as pewter’d glass

And sailing thereupon,

Instead of nine and forty, just

A single pair of swans.

I’m told they are endangered

Far fewer than of yore,

Yet still, by Yule we hope to find

Those seven-and-forty more.

Old W. B. immortalised

These woods,  a national treasure.

How fortunate were we to be

A-wand’ring at our leisure.

Meandering through the gold-cloaked  trees

Beside the silver lake,

Then home to put the kettle on

And bake the Christmas cake. 

It’s been such a long time since I did anything of note outside. So today, after lots of errands, I got out with the secateurs. All Dahlias are now cut back and in the greenhouse, plus the Begonias. Picked a few tomatoes and a few more to come. Hoping for a bit more sun so they’ll ripen enough to eat.

My Eupatorium ‘Joe Pyeweed’ has been annoying me recently with its dirty brown seed heads. So that got cut down completely today. It was very visible from the dining room but it was grown there to cover up the unfinished last pond. And it did the job very well. The stems are lovely, almost like a black bamboo. And indeed, it’s planted right beside one.

Another plant with great stems at this time of year is Persicaria ‘Red Dragon’. That’s planted in front of my Miscanthus ‘floridulus’ which hides my neighbours not-so-nice shed. But it’s getting very tatty looking and I attempted to cut this down too. It’s planted at the back of the retaining bed at the Upper Pond. But I was only able to get at half of it as I would need to step up too far. Tomorrow I might take the ladder out as now that it’s half done, I won’t sit easy until the job is completed.

Sorry for such a boring journal. But a boring journal is sometimes better than no journal at all. 🙂

I have this Acer palmatum a few years now. It used to live in a container in our old house. But 4 years on and living in the ground has really transformed it into a beautiful specimen. 

At this time of year it really takes on a fantastic colour. In the past few weeks it has gone from its natural brownish/red hue to a more enhanced red and now to a deep deep red. And it’s getting deeper each day. I just love it. When it starts again in Spring it now produces these gorgeous little red ‘flowers’ or seed heads, I’m really not sure. But such a lovely shrub. So glad we made the right decision to put it in the ground. 

I haven’t been out in the garden much these past few weeks, maybe a day here and there. Looking out it really needs a good cleaning up. Hopefully over the next few days I can make some kind of inroads, if only to sort out the leaf invasion……..again!! 

Looks like another nice day ahead. Enjoy! 

I know i am preaching to the converted here as it seems to be the same few regular journal writers on Garden.ie these days and thank God for them but in case there are some people new to gardening reading this, it may give them a bit of encouragement when things go a bit awry.

The first photo is of Camellia japonica pope john xxiii, i have this since 2006 and for the first few years it was fine but then it went downhill until it got the the stage where i thought i was going to lose it. All things in life need a second chance so i relocated it to a site with much better shelter as some of the japonicas can be more delicate than the williamsii camellias. It is now in its new spot for the last few years and it is thriving, full of buds and healthy green leaves. Seeing the religous connection in the name i am bound to say it is a bit of a Lazarus resurrection.

The second photo is one of the first Rhodos i put in the garden over ten years ago, i don’t have a name for it as when i bought it was just marked as R.species and back then my knowledge was very limited. Similar to my first tale it did fine for a few years but then had a lot of dieback and about four years ago i very nearly removed it as i was worried about the problem spreading to other Rhodos if it was a disease but i couldn’t bring myself to do it so i gave it a final hard pruning, a good encouraging chat and a lot of t.l.c and it has rewarded me in spades. It is now looking excellent and well budded for next spring.

The third example is my Euonymus europaeus. My nephew Tom who is now in U.L (where do the years go) won it when he was in national school and being the smart fellow he is gave it to me, as his parents are the people to go to if you have health problems and as sure as God they will sort you out but not if you are a shrub or tree. Different strokes for different folks indeed, i won’t mention their latest tree pruning. Anyway i planted Toms Euonymus and was delighted with it as i had fancied one for ages at the time but it had a troubled childhood to say the least. Back then our garden wasn’t enclosed fully and we used to have regular visits from a hare who really fancied himself as a bit of a tree surgeon. In fairness to him he did a great job on our oak, taking out the main stem and it is now a lovely spreading shape and he did an equally good job on Hamamelis jelena which is also a beautiful tree, but the Euonymus was beyond him and he fair butchered it. I’m not sure but there may also have been an incident with a bike which set it back further, i’m sad to report that the hares talents didn’t extend to bike riding and it was my sons turn this time. Anyway the Euonymus languished for years despite several moves but at long last it found its home in its present spot and shot up in no time at all. 

So the moral of the journal is not to give up on plants even if all seems lost. There is always hope and you might be lucky enough to have a local hare who is into gardening to help out but remember he has his favourites.

Lovely coloured foliage around the garden that brings winter warmth to the soul. My favourite garden plants at the moment are firstly, Cotinus coggygria. Second on the list is Acer palmatum ‘Garnet’ which is protected from the wind by the ferns, and lastly another Acer in the North-facing Border (I think this one is ‘Orange Dream’. But maybe it’s only when it grows up a bit that it takes on the orange colour). Love it anyway.

The first photo is of the second of my Hellebores to flower this season.

The second shot is of a small section of the bank at the back of the house. Dare i say Scrubberesque, i can dream can’t i.

The third photo is a shot of part of the north – west garden with various species Rhododendrons to be seen

are both doing well.

Well Winter came with a vengeance this morning. Heavy rain when I came down this morning to let the dogs out! It was a bit cold. But by 9am the snow had arrived. At first it was just a bit of sleet but then it came down good and heavy, but not enough to actually stick for the day, thankfully. Then later on it was a nice sunny day but it was cold in that breeze.

Some flowers are still holding on for dear life and these Cosmos are no exception. They are still flowering away. I just love them and have a few clumps around the garden. So Im definitely going to have even more for next year.

I have most of my plants now in the greenhouse that need protecting so that I wont lose them come the really harsh weather, if we do get it. 

This Abutilon is flowering away even better now that it is in the greenhouse. It has been almost neglected and I think that is why its doing so well.

I took in a few of my new Salvia just to be sure they dont die off. One of them is Salvia Lemon Delight, which is looking so sunny in the greenhouse!

Now I have a question regarding the greenhouse, heat and watering.

What is the rule for watering plants during Winter in the greenhouse? More importantly how do you stop plants from going ‘green’ on top, is that too much water? Im never sure if I should be giving them water, but then if it gets too cold will it freeze up and kill the plant, any advice would be great. Also do you leave your heater on all the time during the cold spell, or just dont let the greenhouse get below a certain degree? Im really hoping to use my greenhouse properly for Winter. I know in Summer I get great use out of it, but I want to have my plants in there and survive without too much stress on them.

Thanks everyone

My garden is being regarded as a Gourmet Restaurant by the local feathered residents. They are living in luxury in the 5-star Hotel otherwise known as the Hedgerow. Room service is still keeping them happy with blackberries and the fruits of Ivy – and if they venture as far as the feeders there is the Pheasant Berry (Leycesteria)in this area is proving to be even more popular than the peanuts and seeds!

The Cotoneaster and Pyracantha are providing excellent food options and there is plenty for all for the moment. This time of year many of the birds seem to forage at ground level among the fallen leaves – I suspect they are blackbirds – and they startle me as I walk down the paths. 

There are also still plenty of berries on the Guelder Roses but I didn’t get round to a photo of them!

around the patch & the plants look alot different than pics taken in the middle of the day.

I and many others on this site are big fans of Viburnums and its many forms. I added V. rhytidophyllum to the garden a few years ago and am very pleased with it. The foliage is very attractive and i look forward to it flowering and berrying freely.

I captured the second shot this afternoon and think it is beautiful. It is of buds on my Drimys aromatica, a shrub that i am extremely fond of. The red stems are just as amazing and go so well with the glossy, dark green narrow foliage.

Lastly i am showing the very rare, dwarf species Rhoododendron pronum. Beautiful.

In many ways, without the ‘distraction’ of flowers, it is a great time of year to appreciate the evergreen shrubs and trees in the garden.