Month: May 2017
I know it is only just over but have to comment. I know many of you may have recorded it so will not say too much.
But if I could afford it I would turn a portion of my garden over to Des , suffice it to say I was impressed!! I am sure his time management will improve with time.
Looking forward to hearing what others thought.
Sun shines and has its effects. Like Monday and Tuesday. the bedding plants were out to harden. These were the antirrhinums I showed two days ago and they have made progress. The Musa (banana) plants were out again and such progress, I even gave them some feed. The Magnolia Susan is fully open, possibly some of the flowers will be losing petals soon. I had another mowing done by the same neighbour on Monday and the lawn looks good. There is some moss there and I need to spray it with ferrous sulphate. Roses are making good progress and the buds coming on. Sorry no photos to day. I should have some to morrow.
I wonder did anybody stay up from midnight to 6 a.m. I didnt I try to be in bed by midnight. An interesting point was that I hardly slept at all. I will explain later. Due to double glazing in my bedroom window, I didn’t hear the birds but in the after noon, I heard them as I sat in front of the house and it wasreally pleasant. However I saw no birds, what a pity?
Sorry friends of Garden.ie but gardening has been out for a while. In recent times, my energy was low, much better now. I had thought that things would come right but eventually I called on my GP. Tuesday and Thursday of last week. He arranged me to se Mr. Ian Wilson in Aut Even Hospital. So as one who travwls a limited distance by car, I drove to Carlow station, then by train to Kilkenny and taxi to the hospital. I met Mr.Wilson and discussed the problem. This was on Friday and back to Carlow. Sunday still not myself apart from Mass I went nowhere thenI started the Fleet dose, two bottles of Fleet and about 6 pints af water.Some of the cleansing started anf anybudy who knows this operation, I hope they wont require it. No solid food that day and on Monday food and water were out. My nephew Eoin who had helped me before and he lives in Kildare, drove to Aut Even(Ait Aoibhinn) and the setting of the grounds suggest this. Very soon I was in the theatre and when I opened my eyes again I was in the area where I was collected. I was back in Carlow that evening. My energy is much better. in the process of preparing for hospital, I had a shower and that could have caused thr problem I have with the left leg. I had the physiotherapist to dat. Should be on my feet withina few days.
Does anyone know when tickets are on sale for Bloom? Where are they available from etc ? A non gardening friend has enquired !
Improving every day. I got out the front a bit yesterday and into the greenhouse fter that. The grapes are sweet. I tasted some. I drove to the shop yesterday and got to Mass to day. I am still using the stick. This afternoon I watched the matches on TV, in particular Cork v Tipp senior hurling. Sure most of the experts thought that it would be one way traffic, as we know it was a great game, never sure what way it would go until the end I would say super hurling and the team I fancied won. Now I am about to watch the Sunday Game. No photos to day, perhaps to morrow.
My nephiew Michael dropped in yesterday. He lives in Co. Dublin right besise my sister, (his mother). Michael has a greenhouse and I had tomato plants and Antirrhinums for him. Of course the antirrhinums are hardened and can be planted out now. To day, a real summers day.I fed the tomatoes for the first time. Grapes are quite sweet. I moved one of the Musa plants away from where it was , outside the greenhouse to a better place. It was fed also. I am still moving wih tffort and looking forward to the day when I will be back to normal.Yesterday I noticed one of my bush roses Arthur Bell in bloom, at a distance.
Just home from outdoor Bee demo number 5 . Brilliant instructors and great new friendships being forged. I brought some young plants for a bee keeper tonight to find she had brought some too … ended up bringing home as much . Many bee keepers are Gard too I’ve found
True according to the length ogf the days and height of the sun but not so much for temperature. At 9 a.m. the temperature was a mere 8 C and quite dull. However the sun has come out. The Musa plants are out and the Antirrhinums are out for the first time to harden. They will of course go in in the evening.
In summer 2015 I planted this Arctotis ‘Hayley’ in a friend’s coastal garden in north Dublin, along with a few other perennials that we had chosen together at a local garden centre. I knew nothing about Arctotis, except for the lovely red one I had seen in Myrtle’s garden, and thought it might be slightly tender but it was so cheerful that we went for it anyway.
Well, I needn’t have worried, for it has never been out of flower since the day it was planted. Yes, that’s right, through two winters and heading into its third summer. The flowers are fewer in winter but always some. The only attention it has had since planting is dead-heading. I guess the last two mild winters have helped.
I posted about this on the 24th April, stating that its very first, so unattractive flowers were appearing. Hazel called it an Ugly Duckling. I agreed wholeheartedly.
But this evening the flowers were sparkling like little jewels in the evening sun. Well, I never!!! I suppose it really IS an ugly duckling, tranforming itself into a real beauty. Others may think it’s not worth having. But I’ve certainly changed my mind since last week.
Just a few pictures of a plant I have had for several years now. It is a standard Brompton Stock and of course, it has that wonderful fragarance. I particularly like this plant because due to being on a standard stem, it takes up less room on the ground And we can fit i. Low subjects beneath it. Aren’t we gardeners always greedy for space? We raise the crown of a tree to make room down below for woodland plants. When the spring bulbs go over we can’t wait to see the foliage die down, and yet we were so eager to see the very same plants emerge 6weeks ago!
Anyhow, this is a good plant and I would recommend it for well drained areas. My First one lasted quite a few years.
Moya kindly sent me seeds of this lovely plant, which I sowed and are now really shooting up. I planted some up against the shed, which is just outside my kitchen window. Hopefully they will produce beautiful flowers.
The first photo is obviously the seedlings in situ. Second photo is a web picture. Hopefully soon mine will look like these ;). Thanks again Moya
Very little done to day except to take out plants to harden. A few photos. Improvement with Musa ensete but Magnolia on the way out.
I have just gone outside with camera. Here is a pot I bought a coupke of weeks ago And is waiting for my attention. I have another from a few years ago, and also the old common one that seeds and is very tall, and topples over in strong winds. In fact did I mention it in my 1st comment yesterday? I intended to ……
Well. What do you think? This one is currently quite common on the market.
Sidalcea Elsie Heugh.
This is a lovely Campanula that SallySarah kindly gave me a good few years ago. It gets to about 2ft and more, and is a pretty lilac colour. It produces an adequate supply of seedlings around that are so easy to remove if they’re not wanted. It’s still early in the season, but starting to open up now.
I’ve given away lots of seedlings over the years. And it’s such a reliable doer that now I’m going to introduce some to different areas of the garden.
Today I divided and potted up an Morina longifolia that I bought in Feeneys Garden Centre over the May Bank Holiday Weekend (just down the road from Glencar in Sligo). 1 plant becomes 10, and I could have gotten more. Only cost €7. What a bargain!
Here is my Amaryllis looking great in the sunshine ;). Two more flowers have yet to open.
A few weeks ago I discovered that my Fuchsia ‘Hawks head’ was ‘no more’. Couldn’t understand how it had died as I know they’re pretty hardy. But yesterday, I had other plans for using that planter. I got a lovely Begonia in Fota the year before last and it takes full shade.
I was just going to replace the top half of the existing compost in that same planter and discovered a heap of VINE WEEVIL. Oooooh, that’s not good. So, trying to cut corners and costs, I poured 5 kettles of boiling water into the remaining compost. Still wasn’t sure that I had killed them all, so I emptied all of the compost out onto the grass for the birds to feast on whatever was left. It looks a bit unslightly at the moment but today I’ll work the compost into the lawn, and hope to take out the lawnmower later on and suck up the bulk of it.
In the end, the Begonia was planted into a different planter with fresh compost. It’s doing really well and has started to self-seed around the original plant too. I do love the red underneath veining of this plant.
A few of us are planning an outing to Charleville Gardens in Enniskerry, which only opens on limited dates. Charleville is a large private estate beyond Powerscourt, the present house dating from the late 1700’s, with restored gardens. We are visiting on Tuesday afternoon 23rd May and planning to meet at Powerscourt first for a bite of lunch at 12 Noon.
So far Paddy & Mary (Gracedieu), myself, and hopefully PCON are going and we are hoping that others will be able to join us. If anyone wants to travel by public transport, we can arrange to pick you up at the No.44 bus stop in Enniskerry village, or another mutually convenient point.
Charleville is only open until early June, and again for Heritage Week in late August, so this is a chance to visit an interesting and varied garden not often seen. We hope you can join us; please indicate below as Charleville have asked me to confirm numbers.
At this time of year, when everything is in full growth tree trunks are getting bigger, it’s a timely reminder to check that your tree ties are not restricting the essential growth. Let them breathe a sigh of relief, and loosen their ties. Or on more of a personal note, just open the top button of your trousers. LOL
We have a small woodland area at the top of our garden. I have a few rhododendrons which came from naturally layered cuttings that I found in an old garden (with builder’s permission). I cut them off from the parent plant and potted them on – must be 6 years ago and now they are growing in my garden!!!! Looking forward to the lilac coloured one which has just started to come into flower. No names I’m afraid.
without our gardening friends? Our garden would be a much colder place, in that it would be devoid of friendships and memories of happy times and relationships.
So, as I go round and weed, and move things about, and propagate, I greet a plant and say “Hi” to this one and that one and remember that my father got that from Bundoran where his Aunt lived and must have died well nigh 100 yrs ago, or another one I always greet and say hello to was from my good friend’s Mother’s garden in Bessbrook Co. Armagh. And then I remember her saying that her Mum used to ask her ( as a child) to go and scrape out a pot full of compost soil from under the hedge. The old country ways! Would that ever come to my mind were it not that I had once again encountered her plant that is in fact a lovely and very well-behaved ground cover plant. I may remember the name by tomorrow! (It’s the time-lock delay on the brain. Ssh!). And then there are my 1st camassias received years ago from Ann who is calling tomorrow.
And so on and so forth, until the explosion of plant gifts started to arrive here ….. form the .iers! From the 4 corners of the country. How else could that be? These are so much more precious than bought ones. So many plants from so many friends. Why wouldn’t we enjoy the Johnstown Get Together? And enjoy rattling on about our doings in the garden on these journals?
All I can say is that it’s no wonder that gardening makes for contented and happy people, with a positive disposition, even if we have sore backs.
Having mentioned Camassia, here are 2 new ones this season. I see the bees like them.
As some of you may know, I have a rather wild garden – mainly perennials and lots of self seeders that I don’t control enough so I planned to develop a formal part to contrast with all the madness. This has been in the pipeline for a number of years and I got the hard lanscaping done last year and the box hedge planted.
I wasn’t sure for a long time what I would plant in the 4 squares inside the box but then I thought I might try shrub roses again.
This plan was further revised when I was at a talk by Dermot O’ Neill recently where he featured a slide depicting a mass planting of Iceberg shrub roses. I queried Dermot about whether they were repeat flowering which I think is essential in this situation. 9I forgot to find out from him if they were scented.)
Suffice ‘ to say that he recommended this variety and I thought I made a decision that I would stick to white and go after the afermentioned Rosa ‘Iceberg’. I calculated that I would need between 12 to 16 plants.
Well, to make a long story short, I quickly found out that it is not possible to buy that number of any one rose in most garden centres at this time of year as they have all ordered whatever roses they are getting in in Oct/Nov.
That is when I decided on “Plan B” – plant up the sections with white cosmos ‘Purity’ this year and order the roses in the Autumn. I set about buying and sowing the cosmos and they obligingly germinated straight away.
This evening I potted on 34 seedlings and only need another 2 which I have waiting. I think Plan B might just work out….
We spent a few days this week visiting The Burren in Co. Clare. It is always a delight to spend time in this wonderful place admiring the wild flowers and the unusual landscape. After this visit I am totally confused by orchids, just too much information. We saw lots of Heath Spotted Orchids on the shore near Fanore which were so tiny compared to the same orchid in the Comeraghs. We were also lucky to see The Fly Orchid near Gortlecka Cross which was growing with Twayblades and Pyramidal Bugle. It is a wonderful time to visit The Burren and we had nice weather apart from a few showers which did not stop us from walking up to the top of Mullaghmore.
We also took time out to visit two gardens, Woodville Walled Gardens, near Gort in Co Galway and of course Carl Wright’s amazing garden near Fanore. Woodville has a beautiful flower filled walled garden with the Alliums taking centre stage during May and contrasting so well with the yellow flowers of the Laburlum.
Well Carl’s garden, what can you say, a plant collection which has to be one of the best in the country. The next time I visit I will bring a notebook instead of a camera as the plants that he grows were unknown to me and only the best forms of plants that I did recognised.
Will up-load an album later this evening of the two gardens.
