Month: December 2016
From the same poem, Said Hanrahan, true enough it did. We had the sun once more and the temperature was good. Yesterday, once again weeding and pruning the Cotoneasters. to day, I went around, looking at the effect of the fertilizer, rain and sun and the grass has changed. It has grown, so very soon, I will have the mower out again. The roses have really come on, both in quantity and quality. Some especially those on the rose tree are as big as my hand. I hope to show them if I can but there has been a problem with the computer. I have several photos in the camera. The tomatoes have really grown and I won’t be surprised if I have some to eat this month. The gooseberries are almost ready to pick and I have never had a crop like it, in my opinion. I will try again to load the photos.
For some reason I had a very bad cutting year this year and lost all of the slips I took. So we’ll have very little to exchange. But I’ll have a scout round over the holliers and make a list of things I could bring along a root of.
But I would very cheekily like to ask that if anyone has ferns that they need a home for, our new wildlife corner is crying out for some at the base of the new trees and shrubs.
Hello everyone, just off the phone from Dick who wishes to send Christmas greetings to all. He tells me he is having IT broadband problems which prevent him using the computer presently. He tracked me down through the phone book so Happy Christmas all from Dick in Carlow .
RS631342369NL
At this time of year the only part of my garden that gets the sun is a narrow strip about 2ft wide the length of the patio. These two plants are in planters. I think they think it’s still summer. Flowering their socks off still. Long may it last. Another lovely bright day today after a cold night.
I have uploaded the November garden album.
I cant believe how much colour there was during the month of November. The weather has been amazing and this has made all the difference. When I look at the photos from the beginning of the month to the end of the month, Im amazed that there is still so much going on.
I have really enjoyed doing these albums each year. It is great to look back over the 4 years we are here and see how much the garden has transformed. This has been my best year by far. So Im really looking forward to seeing what 2017 brings.
Hope you enjoy the album!
Hi Margot
Here are the two I have.
First one is Verbena Bonariensis which I have in my last journal.
Second is Verbena rigida a lower growing shrub.
Both are actually still in flower today. Very very mild here today. 15C and warm. Lovely.
We’re lucky in that we are not overlooked by neighbours. It gives us an uninterrupted view of plants that are down at our back wall. Arundo donax is looking particularly attractive at the moment with a nice backdrop of the sky.
Steve has been working on this cleat for the last few months. It will be bolted onto the garage wall and the hose will be wrapped around it, freeing up the walkway around the patio. He assures me that the weight won’t pull the garage wall down! đŸ™‚
The hose had previously just been coiled up on the ground and was a constant trip hazard. It’s adding to the nautical theme for the patio, and should weather nicely too.
This Clematis is a real summer beauty called ‘Bee’s Jubilee’. It flowered much better this year than ever before. I reckon it had been going through its ‘settling in’ stage before taking off. Great to see summer flowers that are prepared to go the extra mile and flower in winter too (weather permitting). And this, in particular, is bringing its own little bit of ‘Christmas Cheer’ despite its washed out appearance now.
I got some half-price Muscari in Homebase last week (white ones, yay!) so they, and some tulips from a good friend were planted. Looking forward to Spring.
I hope everyone has a very Happy Christmas.
I pulled out the Lavatera before Christmas, they had finally realised the winter had arrived, and spotted a couple of buds so I stuck them in water and forgot all about them. Just got back from my sister’s tonight and lo and behold one of them has opened!
1500 tulip bulbs bought on impulse in mid December are still waiting to be planted….
Hello all. Hope you had a peaceful Christmas and wishing you new opportunities for 2017. Getting garden ready, we’ll in theory anyway. Looking for advice on weed wand / flame guns for weed Control. Products vary from company to company in price and what type of aerosol used. Have any of you got one and where did you purchase? Included two possible candidates..
Hard frosts and lovely days are the way of it around here at the minute with the result that the shrubs take on a different aspect.
The first photo shows the beauty of frost on R.leusaspis which is a species i am extremely fond of.
Certain Rhodos, mainly the larger leaved, curl up their leaves and let them hang down in very cold weather and the second photo shows R.fortunei showing those traits. I find this very attractive.
Also doing this is R.loderi ‘king george’ with the sun just starting to shine on it.
I love nothing more than these frosty mornings. We have had a couple this week. Yesterday started off quite foggy but then it turned into the most beautiful sunny day too. Yes it was cold, but once wrapped up it doesn’t matter at all. Plus when you are in any sunshine it feels warmer
Its lovely first thing as the sun is coming up. It ricochets off the trees at the back giving them a gorgeous hue. With the frost on the grass and the plants they just glisten, just gorgeous
I did a bit of cutting back just to tidy here and there. But I was more than happy to look around and enjoy the views
Here are a few photos of yesterday morning in the garden
Very cold night last night with temperatures dropping to leave a beautiful frosty morning. A bit worried about some of my tender plants so have moved them into the tunnel for protection.
Hasn’t this been a fabulous year for roses!!! The one that I got from my neighbour years ago is producing more flowers now than it did in the Summer months. But my favourite two out at the moment and R. ‘Teasing Georgia’ and R. ‘Tequila Sunrise’. Passiflora caerulea still has plenty more blooms about to open too.
Have a lovely weekend!
A few nights of hard frost put an end to my Cosmos and Marigolds. The Lavatera still has a couple of flowers, but now it’s over to Winter reliables, Jasmine nudiflorum, Viburnum bodnantense “Dawn” and Choisya “Sundance” to give a bit of brightness.
Gidday my friends,
all is going well so far this Summer,been away for a few days,came back to more colour,it was pretty hot while I was away & the patch stood up well apart from minor chook damage,those frosty morning pics are cooling me down too.
colour from the patch,the bottlebrush is a real favourite with the bees& honeyeaters.I find it quiet amazing that I,m still seeing pics of roses when you,re into your Winter.
Just a reminder that Birdwatch Ireland s annual survey starts today. Pity I don’t have a nice bird photo to go with this! Actually managed to get a few slightly blurry Sparrows since.
The weather has been so calm here lately, with hardly a breath of wind or rain, allowing several plants to keep on flowering into December.
Here a few, photos taken yesterday.
I also cut the last rose blooms to bring indoors. There were more small buds on one of the roses but I wanted to cut it back a bit so they were sacrificed.
It has been predicted that the weather will reach 15C in some areas by Wednesday!!! Seriously, this climate is definitely having a funny turn!
And the garden is loving it now. Some plants have been chopped back as they really were makint the place look so untidy. But then you have others still putting on a show.
First picture is a little Chrysanthemum beppei ‘Gold’ that is looking great with the morning mist on it.
Another is my Mahonia ‘Charity’ is trying its best to flower, nearly there though.
Finally Verbena bonariensis still flowering it’s socks off with no end in sight.
I also have Rudbeckia Herbstonne going strong too. With the Hellebores starting to shine now too.
It’s great to have such colour still going strong and shortening this Winter for us.
this years leaves are now caged and the previous incumbents spread in the veg garden. They had composted nicely even if Mary had decided to add ash from the stove to them occasionally. I did explain it to her but her eyes glazed over ever so slightly ?
The Christmas cyclamen are now on Mums grave as I waited until the – 5 degree nights had passed. Dad lies in a different graveyard with his family so Iam due there too for the Christmas visit shortly .
Found these what I think are foxgloves seeded into the gravel today so they have survived the Tipperary frosts so far
Spurred on by a couple of messages from some folk on the site recently I decided to prove that I’m still alive and well. Business and personal things have taken a major front seat of late.
The garden is a total disgrace, but nothing that can’t and won’t be resolved in time. I am still taking a few photos, and am adding a few of these here. My Honeysuckle is still flowering in December, what a fantastic end to the year we are having.
I’ll talk again soon and seel lots of you in Johnstown in December.
a wayward child regards names of what,s in the patch,I,m guessing you good people know them or most of them,the names are,nt important to me ,pain in the arse to visitors who want names thems the breaks.Hope you keep getting the milder weather for abit longer.32C here today.
