Month: February 2017

Its been a wet day but the soaking will be great for the little beech hedge surrounding the Pwincesses seat and the two azaleas that went in yesterday. It has also washed Hazel’s rock clean and it looks so well,. And I got the time to label all sixty photos in the album I set up last night. So if anybody wants to recap on them ….

next I have so many beds to clean it will take me till Christmas! Got a nice size apricot Prunus (not americanus but something like that) for 10 euro in Arboretum. We were buying a present for a dear friend’s birthday Magnolia L Messel and when I put the tenner with it I got a fine new handfork for nothing. a really nice one. Whats not to like!

Today I am getting some major help in the garden to remove some terrible old wild ivy and cut back bigger shrubs at the back. I have decided that the bamboo is for the chop too. I know some of you will be appalled at such wanton destruction but I never really liked it and in a small garden you can’t afford any passengers!

So yesterday I was so excited about getting my huge Norwegian Maple removed from beside the house. It was a long fight but so worth it. Went to bed happy out looking forward to seeing how the garden looks now with no big tree to drown out the sunshine

It was a dreadful night here last night. The alarm went off with the wind at about 3.30am and frightened the life out of us. But that was nothing to what met us when I pulled up my blinds this morning!

We have 3 lovely Sumach, Staghorn, trees on the left hand corner of the garden. This I used as my little woodland area and have sown lots of Snowdrops, tete a tetes, ferns, grasses here due to the trees causing some shade etc. I have loved this area and looking out at the shape and structure of the trees was just lovely. I loved the trees without leaves almost as much as with leaves. In Autumn they turned a fabulous rusty colour and were just amazing.

Well they are no more. Nope, Storm Doris did her thing and brought the whole lot down with a BANG!! Unfortunately, as the shape of the trees are so crocked they are interlocked and therefore once one was to fall it brought the other two with it! Soul destroying to tell you the truth. I shouldnt really say it but I am devastated to be honest. Really gutted. I have just loved this area and now it looks so bare. And I do believe its only gardeners who really will understand what I am saying here. Although Jimmy loved them too, he just doesnt ‘get’ it and said ‘ah we will put something nice there’ 

Anyway, to me this is Mother Natures way of saying ‘dont mess with me’ lol

You know when we first arrived the Council came and told us that they would be removing a tree at our back wall because it was unsteady. We thought ok, go ahead as there are about 16 trees there and this was leaning slightly. About two days later, a similiar storm arrived and knocked down a large old Elder tree on the right hand corner, which is now my sunny border. This led to us removing all the old shrubs and hedging and putting our own stamp on the garden. But in a similiar way, the same happened last night! Very strange. 

So lets hope that is the end of it all now. I dont want to lose anything else. Mind you if it had been the Greenhouse it landed on, I dont think I would be so understanding. At least no one has been hurt and yes we will rise up again and plan something for this corner. 

I forgot to post up these photos I took in the glasshouses yesterday.  The intoxicating fragrance of the Jasmine followed us all around.

What an awful night last night, and thoroughly miserable and stormy all day. Needless to say I didn’t get out, only to check for possible damage. Thankfully there was none, the worst being a pile of empty pots that made their way into the Lower Pond.

Usually when we have a storm here I’m woken by the roof tiles rattling but last night I slept through the whole thing! i had to head to Dublin very early this morning so didn’t check for damage till I got home! I should have known there was trouble as Puss cam out to greet me when I got home telling me all about his traumatic night!

So one of the Wheelie Bins had keeled right over- the lovely Camelia that Elizabeth got as her Kris Kindle at Johnstown that has been waiting patiently to go home with her had come completly out of its pot – and that was just as I came in the gate! 

Round the corner and the big box where the cushions for the garden chairs live had been turned on its head and flung right across the deck – and three of the chairs had also keeled over!

Finally I turned round and saw the worst bit – the shelves where a load of recently potted divisions had lived was completely down – and plants well scattered! I should be getting used to this by now! Some sort of whirlwind seems to develop in my garden and nothing is sacred!

Fortunately the rain stayed away long enough for me to rescue my cuttings and divisions and move them to a safer home.

Going into the greenhouse to get the trowel I was greatly cheered to spot my first Auricula showing colour – gonna write the colour on each label this year!!!!

And then a second cheery sight – some tiny iris I bought at Johnstown have been flowering their socks off hidden from view!

So how was my Doris? Not too bad I reckon!

We were so lucky here on the south coast in relation to the rest of country with the passing of Storm Doris on Wednesday/Thursday.  The wind on Wednesday night was strong but no damage was done apart from a lot of flower buds blown off the Paulowinea and the old flower heads of Cardiocrinum snapping from the base of the plants. We were driving through Dublin on Wednesday evening and the conditions on the M50 in North Dublin was dreadful with rain and wind and it didn’t improve on the N9 despite been further inland.

We were returning from Ulster after a funeral and while there we called to visit a few friends and of course could not pass one or two gardens. The weather on Monday was nice and we visited the gardens at Castlewellan Co. Down, where only last year, the Narcissus ‘Lady Annesley’ was found after many years. We also called into see the gardens at Mount Stewart and it was delightful to walk around the lake on an early spring day and watch the water foul busy making their nests. The formal gardens in Mount Stewart were not at their best with many of the plants still covered up. There was also a lot of reseeding of lawns, possible due to the amount of visitors it has during the year, which is great. Will put up albums of both gardens over the weekend.

Of course we could not pass Johnstown Garden Centre and purchased a few bit and bobs. 

Afternoon everyone. I have a few more Camellias for you today.

I have Camellias all around the garden so there is colour all around the place which is nice. The first flower shown is a bit weather beaten but I love it anyway, it will be in full flower over the next few weeks. I don’t have a name for it. 

I also don’t have a name for the Camellia in the second photo, this will also be in full flower over the coming weeks.

I do have a name for the third Camellia, it is C. Pope John XX111. I had to move this a few years ago as it was slowly fading away. Thankfully, the move worked wonders as it is a beautiful Camellia. 

1st photo is of a hellebore I’ve had a few years now just coming into flower. It’s a super looking flower and seems to really like the shade of the front garden. 

2nd photo is of the ever reliable and fantastic primula Dark Rosaleen. Clumps up nice and fast and I plan to spread it even more this year. My very top primula. Hope to get a bit done this weekend.

Elizabeth is soon to return home so we were trying to plan a visit to a certain garden before she did but we were having difficulty co-ordinating the diaries (as we busy gardeners do). In desperation and to avoid disappointing Elizabeth I suggested we make do with a trip to Altamont. So off we headed bright and early – yese, really bright anyway as the sun was doing us proud! 

Well would you believe it – we had only got as far as Abbeyleix when the phone rang and guess what? the diaries had come together at last so a quick change of direction was called for!

So off we went to the depths of Carlow to finally catch up with Scrubber and Mrs. Scrubber, “Whats new pussycat” and all the denizens of the Scrub! And what a great day! The rain managed to hold off until we drove out the gate on our way home!

Every visit to this lovely garden is a joy. This was my first spring visit and I was not disappointed! Someone kept trying to convince us that the snowdrops had gone over but we didn’t believe a word of it! The artfully placed snowdrops in the Lower Lawn, the serendipitous snowdrops here and there through the woodland , the fabulous helebores, all were flowering their socks off! Michilin Dee managed to shake of his autumn leaves but declined to invite us in for tea as Sebina was away for the day! 

We wended our way down the lovely woodland paths admiring once again the astonishing rocks that are such a feature of this area.Making the circuit of the garden we arrived back to the more formal garden at the front of the house where Anna was waiting to invite us in for tea and some of her delicious fruit-cake. so after a lovely chat over the tea we headed for home.

Thank you Peter for a truly lovely day – and definitely much more enjoyable than Altamont would have been 🙂

I’m sure I’m boring you all at this stage with photos of my greenhouse pond and its inhabitants. I’ve never seen so many gathered in one small space. I counted at least 25 in here and I know there were lots more lurking down deep. The water was alive with their activities. David hasn’t seen them yet so I hope he doesn’t miss this spectacle.

I’ve been working all week covering holidays so was looking forward very much to a day out in the garden. Well, what a washout. The rain came down in torrents, buckets and deluges. We took Oscar for a walk between showers and ended up drenched, so we abandoned all hope and phoned the family instead, getting the good news that the relatives are trooping over en masse for our son’s wedding in September. But the sun came out then and we dashed out for a chilly browse round to admire the spring flowers before being rained off yet again. So it’s an afternoon with Geoff Hamilton DVDs I reckon. If you can’t garden, watch Geoff, I say. Always a cheerer-upper!

That’s what I’ve said to myself after the shock of Storm Doris and the disaster that befell my Staghorns. 

You really have to put things into perspective and remember, no one died thankfully and they were after all only trees, they can be replaced and grow again in time. 

So with that in mind I took a little stroll around the garden to see what else is making an appearance. Lots of gorgeous Hellebores are still appearing. Some I had totally forgotten about. 

Also some Anemone are coming into flower too. My daffs are flowering away but unfortunately no sooner had they raised their heads when Storm Ewan put his head around the corner and flattened lots of them. Ah well at least my tete a tete are doing their thing and looking great  

Hope you all have a fabulous week and that the weather is kind to us……..well we are now coming into March….oh yes I forgot March all weathers!!!!!!!!

Just stay safe and enjoy!! 

I visited Helen Dillons garden last Summer with Doreen and Mary. She had some fabulous plants but more importantly she had the most beautiful Lilies in planters.

After learning what they were called and researching them online, I finally ordered some. To be honest I had forgotten about them until recently.

And so today, the postman arrived with my little package! Happy days………

I got Lillium Kushi Maya and Lillium Prescott bulbs and I cant wait to get them into their pots. 

I have lots to plant up and just need a couple of hours to myself to get going!! Hopefully this week I will be on top of everything else and get a couple of hours to plant up all my plants and bulbs in waiting!

Evening all. The first shot is of the latest instalment in my bud watch series featuring R.bureavii.

The second shot is of the latest Camellia to flower, no name I’m afraid.

No name either for the Hellebore in the third photo. It is at the base of one of my Magnolia soulangeanas which is very close to opening its first flowers of the year.

What a super day today. I got a bit more cut back in the garden, and even tidied up after myself. Now there’s a first. The greenhouse got a good airing and everything inside has sailed through our very mild winter.

Pulmonaria ‘Blue Ensign’ is doing really well here and spreading about nicely.

My Spring Border is looking a treat too. But it’s time now to get down and dirty. It needs a serious weeding. Not getting much time to myself these days.

A few small ones that you have to get close to in order to appreciate

The winds of today have put an end to the snowdrops, so the main colour of flowers in the garden has turned from white to yellow. The daffodils and primroses are of course our main source of yellow flowering plants in the garden at this time of year, but these photos show yellow flowering plants that are not so familiar.

Corylopsis pauciflora a medium sized shrub with delicate pale yellow flowers that dangle along the branches and a shrub that turns the most beautiful colours during autumn.

Eranthis x tubergenni ‘Guinea Gold’, a tuberous perennial with golden flowers about an inch wide with a ruff of dissected bronze-green leaves which hug the ground and are immune to any damage in weather like this.

Most plants in our garden have a pleasant scent, however Lysichiton, also known as Americian Skunk Cabbage has a dreadful smell. The flowers appear before the leaves which grow to a huge size and the plant flourishes in wet soil. 

Let us hope that the weather will calm down as we head into March.

Evening all, still no sign of an improvement in the weather to get some heat into our bones, not to mind the plants. Having said that, there is always somthing in our gardens to warm the cockles of our hearts.

Camellias are a constant source of pleasure to me and I grow a lot of them, the latest to flower is shown in photo no 1.

You often hear words like swathes and hosts to describe groups of snowdrops and daffodils etc, I’m afraid that my collections of the aforementioned couldn’t be classified as either, but these Hellebores at the base of R.loderi ‘King George’ are the nearest thing I have in the garden and they have spread well this year. Maybe I have a swahost.

One of the Rhodos I added to the garden in the Autumn is the very dwarf and rare, R.proteoides and it is settling in nicely. It may never flower but with foliage like that who would mind.

I have a HelpX girl with me at the moment and she is proving inspirational!  We collected her on the way home from our visit to Scrubber and she was eager to get started early next morning. It is truly amazing how much more has got done with two pair of hands instead of one! Several borders weeded and mulched, the Willow Arbour trimmed and the shredding up to date and the grass has had its first cut!

I’ve even started doing the annual job on the path behind the Rhus Walk. Here I hit a bit of a downer – my enthusiastic helpers last year were so diligent in raking this path that they managed to move the edging stones about 6 inches off the weedblock! Sorting it out is proving to be a tedious and time-consuming task but Emily is there, offering to start at the other end to shorten the task for me! Such a great helper!

My most exciting moment this week was when I found that the Helebore seedlings I had planted at the Rock Garden have turned out to be seedlings of the lovely dark one I have in the Woodland area Helleborus Hybrid ‘Harvington Shades of the night’. These are the first seedlings from this plant to flower and I’m thrilled with them!

Hoping to get that darned path finished tomorrow – weather permitting of course!

While visiting friends today, the combination of high tide and strong east wind made for spectacular views from their garden overlooking Howth harbour.

There was sea spray and the photos taken with my phone, so not the best but may give you some idea of the show we enjoyed for several hours.