Month: January 2017
Took these two snaps yesterday in between showers and think the raindrops on the flower is fantastic. It’s G. Brenda Troyle by the way. Very wet here the last few days, praying next weekend is dry.
After years of trying to tread carefully in the back border to tend to plants, I’ve decided to run a stepping path of paving slabs through it for better access, and taking the opportunity for a partial revamp of the planting in this area.
In late summer I drastically cut back the winter jasmine on the long north-facing wall which had got so overgrown. It will take a few years for it to re-flower properly though we have had some flowers this winter. I’ve moved a few plants and bulbs and dug out the squares; hoping to get the path laid (with some help) later this week or early next week. Then I have a new tree to plant and will probably refresh some other planting as the year goes on. Will keep you posted.
I love this time of year when everything is starting to show signs of growth. The evenings are getting longer, definitely last night, and seed sowing is about to start!!
So at this time I also love to browse the shops to see what goodies they have in store. I was passing Dealz yesterday and had to have a look. Came away with a few goodies ie, labels ( well you can never have enough) string, bird seed, some bulbs and some liquid feed also. You can always pick up some knick knacks here.
I have lots of new tubers and bulbs I’ve been collecting these past few weeks. B&Q have a lovely selection, particularly Dahlia. So had a little look there too. My utility room is now bursting with all sorts for the garden, so now I just need some time to actually get out there. Fingers crossed this week might work out!!
I’m getting quite good at delegating finally. While I was busy putting away the decorations, I put Steve to work giving the grass its first cut of the year. It hasn’t been done since September and the longer it grows, the more likely that it’s littered with cat poop (well, she has to go somewhere!). It rained heavily last night so the grass is very wet. Hopefully we’ll get a few dry days and I’ll give it a proper cut when Steve is back in work.
Delighted with how well my Cyclamen ‘coum’ have bulked up since getting them about two/three years ago.
Today was nice and dry and finally got some time free to go out in the garden which I haven’t done in almost 2 months i’d say. First thing was to get rid of all the stuff I had on the lawn from cutting back and that was all put into the compost bin for collection thurs (thank god for that bin). Next and most importantly was to plant all my tulips and new daffs that I have had since autumn..ooopss but im sure they will be fine as most bulbs were starting to sprout so not much rotted. After that then was tidying and lots and lots of weeding. It was so good to get out there and get stuck in as it was far too long and hope to get more done tomorrow.I’m going ot try stay on top of things this year now and hopefully that will actually mean less work and more time to enjoy it.
P.S. Hope everyone had a great christmas and happy new year
Hebe Lady Ann x 1
Baby Agave x 1
Shrubby Eupatorium ligustrina weinmannianum syn Ageratina (evergreen with beautiful white flowers End Aug/Sept) x1 (Hazel)
Salvia Midnight Glimmer Shrubby x 3 ( Jackie 1 Moya 1 and Hazel 1)
PS All of the above will need to be under glass till the Spring.
Happy New Year everyone and happy gardening in 2017. I look forward to seeing many of you at get-togethers through the year, starting with Johnstown on Saturday.
Here are my plant offerings:
1 x Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’
2 x Achillea ‘Smiling Queen’
1 x Dahlia ‘Vancouver’ (large)
3 x Iris japonica ‘Variegata’ – Jacinta,
1 x Plectranthus purpuratus – MaryB
Penstemons (1 of each): ‘Bodnant’- Hazel, ‘Evelyn’ – Michele Maria, ‘Garnet’, ‘Hidcote Pink’
2 x Schizostylis/Hesperantha (pink) – Moya, Jackie
1 x Sedum ‘Purple Emperor’ – AitAlainn
1 x Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’
1 x Silene dioica
2 x Sisyrinchium ‘Biscutella’ – Hazel,
1 x Solomon’s Seal – Jackie
3 x Stipa tenuissima – Gerby (3)
Also bringing promised plants for Jackie and Moya. If I have promised anyone else, please remind me!
Gidday all,
thinking of you all at your get-together,trust it goes well for you all.
All,s well around the patch,Summer has been kind so far,nights have been abit cooler 14*not real good for the tomatoes but good for sleeping,fingers crossed that we do,nt get the 40* days time will tell.
regards roofy.
Well what can I say that hasn’t already been said!
This has been my 4th year at the Get togethers and it just gets better and better. Or maybe I’m more relaxed now that I feel comfortable with everyone else.
I had a terrific day. From the minute I arrived in the Carpark, I was first greeted by Fran, (enjoyed our catchup)……..to meeting all the lovely regulars that take the time out of their busy lives to make this a super day. Travelling from as far as Donegal, Derry, Clare, Laois, Wexford, Carlow, Co. Down, Limerick, Cork, Kildare, (think that’s everywhere) and North and South Dublin. And then to top it off, all the newcomers that came along to this special day. It was great to put faces to names.
The usual plant swapping took place, as mad as ever. Everyone running to and fro with plants, wondering ‘did I get this one, or am I giving it to someone’!!!! Will I go home with the right plants! Who did I forget? It’s great fun and so good to be able to give what you have to others. That to me is great, that we can share what we have.
Inside then for lunch, the raffle and the Kris Kindle. The chatter was non stop with everyone trying to catch up with the limited amount of time we had. Photos taken, laughter, chit chat, eating……..it was just fantastic.
We had some special guests amongst us…….Gerry Daly to name one…….but also the honourable Laetitia Churchill Beauman in our company once again!! (Peter fantastic as usual)
Such a great day and then to top it all off the sale was still on so outside for some retail therapy, and then it was all over once again.
Can I say that this was all made possible by a very special lady, Hazel. Without her working away in the background this would not have been possible and I thank you for all your hard work. It has been greatly appreciated. I really look forward to our next get together and meeting all you wonderful people again.
Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. I don’t have many photos as I was way too busy talking and enjoying myself. But here are a few. Thanks again!!
I had a very brief time out in the garden today. Mainly just observing. The grass is so wet at this stage that I’d be doing it more harm than good by traipsing all over it. Helleborus are going to be a real treat when they’re out ‘in full force’. But it is so early, in my opinion, to see buds on Narcissus ‘tete-a-tete’.
Leptospermum has been flowering for a few months now. They’re such a pretty shade of pink, and this shrub has come on in leaps and bounds since planting it out only two years ago.
I got this lovely plant from JoanG last year, it seems happy in it’s new home and is already producing buds, the first of which is just opening.
Thanks again Joan.
Cyclamen putting on a great show also.
We can’t complain about our weather lately, can we?
It has been so mild and sunny and in fact there were days it felt more like a Summers day rather than a Winters day…………
Well that’s all about to change. As I type this, its absolutely howling outside. Very eerie when it’s so dark. But it’s getting colder and those of you further West will get the brunt of it. Snow, ice, frost, and wind all forecasted. It’s going to be bitterly cold.
So with that in mind I brought in all my goodies I bought on Saturday plus anything else I thought might need some shelter. I’m looking at my beautiful Hellebores, the ones I purchased recently, and I’m very tempted to bring those in to the greenhouse too. The greenhouse is looking a bit full now and hopefully by next week we will be back to much milder conditions.
Spring isn’t too far away now and last night it was still bright up until 4.55pm, when I closed the blinds! So those long evenings are not that far away now!
Stay safe if you have to travel anywhere! And batten down the hatches !
In recent years my Snowflake appears before my Snowdrops. Mind you , given the forecast, it may be real snow we’ll be seeing next!
What a wonderful day we had on Saturday and I’m not saying that because I won a very generous token in the raffle. (Two lovely hellebores!) but it was great to meet up and chat and be given such generous swops even though I had nothing to swop with. Everyone is in the best of humour and there’s great catching up. There were a lot of new lovely people as well. Of course Paddy and Mary and Lady gardener and Elizabeth, Bruno and Hosta and Ted and Jacinta and Dick were hugely missed yet we carried on bravely and reassured ourselves that they would all be back next year. And of course Gerry was there and Laetitia fancied him unmercifully! But at present she is taken up with her new gardener, a fine chap named jean-She told us about him in what Elizabeth (Dublin not Fota) correctly and warmly described as Doggerel verse! She has promised to send me on a copy so I will share it with anyone who wishes to read it-remembering it has to be read with a very haughty or hoity toity accent!
A huge thanks to hazel and her elves who managed the raffle and Kristkindle with aplomb and admirable skill-none of us got our own kristkindle! People are so generous with their talents and everybody contributes in one way or another to make a great day happen.
Now to my title. Two stone mad people brought a boulder all the way from Clare for Scrubber! Now Scrubber loves rocks but he has gently advised that they do not continue to denude the Clare landscape (No its ok, this boulder came up from the pit dug for a septic tank) or to banjax their car springs. Scrubber got it home, watching carefully for speed bumps! and his son lifted it out! Scrubber spent quite some time wondering and wandering and then as clear as day the gap appeared between two rocks . It just needed one large rock to complete the line and here was Scrubber with just such a rock courtesy of T and A.Again many thanks!
Today he spent a glorious hour and a half fitting in the new rock and it was just A.I sizewise and contourwise. Scrubber was so pleased.He had enough energy left to take a photo and to re-edge the lower lawn and clean up a border, Proper pleased with himself he was and it wasnt a bit cold here, but then working with rocks is a warming exercise! I have two Snowdrops out, Colossus, a gift from a snowdrop colossus! and -I think Hill Poe or one very like it. I think Paddy named it for me but Ive forgotten. And also one daffodil! But theres lots of promising buds and I have filled my little urns with clumps of snowdrops-just dug them up and set them in-here’s hoping. Oh and the daffs are coming up in my bottoms!!!!
We have been very lucky today with the weather here in Waterford, a lovely bright sunny day. The sun this afternoon has helped open the flowers of the snowdrops and they look beautiful bobbing about in the grass.
I am now busy in the garden getting ready for a group of gardeners visiting in February. The mild winter, so far, has been ideal for weeds to germinate and this is the hardiest job that I am having to deal with. The lack of rain has made working easy and the soil is nice to work with and not at all sticky as you would expect at this time of year. Hopefully, we will not get any snow and the days will improve as the month continues. It is great to be back gardening in earnest and looking forward to all the spring bulbs, corms and shrubs flowering. The Spring flowering shrub all have a delicious scent and it makes working outside a pleasure.
Were we just lucky here I wonder?
Yesterday was bitterly cold and the wind would just cut you. Then today, they forecasted it to be freezing, and it wasnt as cold this morning. I brought the dogs for a walk first thing and then later the sun came out and it turned out to be a beautiful day. Blue skies and the wind wasnt so bad until about 3pm. It became cooler alright but still sunny and it was even bright until 5pm
Will we have snow overnight? not too sure, but hopefully not! It was lovely to be out in the garden again today well in the greenhouse.
Lots of buds appearing in the garden now. And lots of flowers still in the greenhouse. My Sweet Pea, which I planted up in October are looking strong now and they were pinched out to make them bushier for planting out later on in the year!
I hope wherever you are that you are safe and well and if you have to travel, be careful!
These photos were taken about 3pm with the sun still shining!
Not talking about the weather, which here is bright but very cold!
This is my Clivia which is now in bloom, and has a lovely orange glow that you can almost warm your hands at 😀
It certainly brings a glow to a gardener’s heart!
At last I’ve managed to get out amongst it with the secateurs and start cutting back dead stuff. I did have desk-work to do, but every time I do some, more seems to arrive so I had a working lunch then mitched off while the sun shone. It was gorgeous to be out there cutting back and seeing all the new flowers peeping through. It needs a good weed, mulch and some thinning-out, but a couple of hours is all the back will take if I’m going to do more tomorrow. Here’s hoping for a nice Saturday!
For some odd reason I cant edit this entry as the Cursor gets stuck at the beginning. I wanted to add in thank you jemo and Hazel after ‘pear tree’. So I had to put it iup here instead. The journal begins below. Oh and another thank you to Fleurette again. She very kindly had told me about the Japanese tradition of placing stones. I was fascinated and googled it and got lots of insights. But one really hit home. Three rocks aligned in a triangle are a representation of the Buddha. Now in my Scrub there are three huge rocks, I had named them Behemoth, Titanic and Ungeheuher (German for a Giant) Now belive it or not ,those three rocks are in a triangular formation not very far, indeed overlooking my new large statue of the head of Buddha. I was really moved. Stranger and stranger. I shall make sure to honour them properly!
Can you believe it, Scrubber was out for about four lovely sunny hours this morning and got all his lawns cut,-Yes the man is mad. And then I planted the ferns that Fluerette kindly gave me and oddly enough when I was planting the creeping willow near a rock I took out some ferns and that gave the rock more presence. I shall use all the ferns I took out but the place looks better, Also got in the ballota and the other goodies and the nerines and autumn crocuses so many many thanks Fleurette, And Jemo’s Hosta went in. I have yet to place that Clematis Hazel but am thinking of near a pear tree,,,
It was really a blessed day and for once the Lawnmower behaved itsef and my hip was fine so am really thankful this evening.
Evening all, it was a lovely, bright day here today and the garden is looking well, full of promise. I managed to get the grass cut last week so everywhere is nice and neat, well neat as far as my garden ever is.
The main Camellia flowering season is fast approaching and to whet the appetite I have two Camellias in flower at the moment, the first one has been flowering since the weeks coming up to christmas and has since opened a good few new flowers to compensate for those that the frosts have browned. The second Camellia is what i call ‘Dads Camellia’ and it is a fantastic performer every year.
The third shot is of opened flowers on that wonderful winter flowering shrub, Chimonanthus praecox ‘luteus’. This is surely one of the best scented shrubs of all, and it is covered in buds this year.
You will get sick from me with all this Boophane thing happening 🙂
First buds are open,thanks goodness no sore eyes yet.It have very nice scent,so its bonuss.Only for my big surprise it is pink,,where,if you google name,most,or almost all of them are red flowering.
The 1st picture is of the “Newgrange” moment in Shroove. It happens on 1st January when the sun rises behind the Lighthouse Keepers house and the sum’s rays shine through from back to front. 9.10 am. On 1 January 2017.
Next, is the scene today, which is not very different to yesterday’s. Sometimes, when there is good clarity, we see the Scottish isles of Islay and the Paps of Dura at the top left corner of this view.
The 3rd photo is VERY interesting in that it uploaded at all. It is a Panoramic picture that I took with the iPad this morning. Its the 1st time I have used this facility on the iPad.
It alters the whole perspective, but interesting nonetheless.
it was bitterly cold here and I spent the day doing a deep clean in the conservatory, getting in under the edge of window ledges, up and under and behind the radiators, inspecting the plants and trimmimg back ….. in fact finding that the attention was sorely needed. So much detritus lurking about. Good job.
That’s the way I am planning to get the garden back under controll after a year of near total neglect, bit by bit.
Spent a couple of hours cutting back and cleaning up and boy did it feel good. The signs of a new season fast approaching were everwhere to be seen. I’ll get a little bit more done today and see how far I get, for now it’s just cutting back and clearing away but it’s amazing how quickly your efforts can be seen.
Just in from the garden having spent over three hours thoroughly enjoying what I was doing. I was weeding and it is not a task that I like doing, but for some reason today I was very happy picking out willowherb. It was a lovely warm sunny day and the snowdrops were once again open with the warmth. The shrub producing the best scent in the garden at present is Sarcocorca and the witch hazel has to be the prettiest with it spidery flowers. Fran mentioned cyclamen the other day and how pleased he was with them and have to totally agree, little gems.
…and the excitement of Johnstown is fading from the memory – but going through the journals and photos it all comes back!
And then there is always some gardening to do!
I had a bit of a busy week but managed a couple of short sessions outside potting up some Johnstown Swaps and weeding my existing pots – only half done so maybe i need less pots?
Most of the time was spent on the unending task of leaves and cutting back of perennials. I had help from Elizabeth and we got one large border done – the one inside the gate where the Oak trees are.
I took some photos but I’m very disappointed that the photos don’t really show the huge clean-up that area needed!This woodland area has a large number of Crocosmia, lots of Japanese Anemone, self-seeding Hardy Geraniums and assorted bulbs.
The Crocosmia leaves had turned to a thick carpet of mushy leaves, the Anemones where keeling over in all directions and the geraniums were aming at world domination again.
Photo 1 gives an idea of “before”
Photo 2 is what came out of the border nicley sorted into “for compost” in the foreground and “for leafmould” along the path
Photo 3 shows the “after” photo which to my mind doesn’t do it justice at all! The fresh spikes of the crocosmia are clearly visible and the assorted daffodils and tulips are making an appearance too!
I’m just delighted to have that area “done” for now!
