Month: July 2017

A bit of Stop-Start day here all day with very sudden and torrential downpours. But I managed to get a fair bit of weeding and tidying up done. Grass needs cutting, but todays unpredictable weather put paid to that. Hopefully tomorrow!

Picked my first peaches just now. And my lovely Eucomis ‘Sparkling Burgundy’ is looking fine.

As promissed Moya a few pics of my beans.

First pic shows my large wigwam with two rows of tall canes twelve in all, reinforsed with two horizontal long canes, one chest height and the other higher up. The two rows are joined by a hoop of old bits of hose for added stability every second leg. Two and not more than three plants per leg. Second pics shows lovely pensil French beans. I actually prefere the Runners.

Third pic showes a more traditional tripod wigwam. I have in the past used up to five cane wigwams and even single poles. Anything that can be climed they will climb.  The five cane wigwam gets very congested at the top. The twelve cane two row as in first pick works very well as they doin’t come to a point of congestion, although they will try to cross over at the top, just stop them. Like tomatoes if you don’t stop them the upper fuits will be small. No more than seven truses, in my book.

Have you experience of growing them indoors ?  How do they do ?  My glasshouse wold be far too low I would think. I’ll try any thing once.

Incidently my Passiflora is in a very sheltered spot in my patio on a SSE facing wall. Yes I think it likes it there. It is five foot high now with just seven buds of which three have  flowered so far.

Talk to you all later….Cheers I

I bought these 3 at a plant sale at Russborough House yesterday morning. Good value at 4 euro each I think.

Digitalis paviflora … a brownish foxglove. I bought it because that I hadn’t seen before. I hope it is worth growing.

Zantedeschia aethiopica, Arum Lily. I have admired it in so many gardens but never spotted it for sale.

A dark red penstemon. When I got home I realised that it did not have a name tag attached. I will probably be looking for a plant ID on this forum next year.

I have to admit that I am very much my own man when it comes to what I like, whether it is music, gardening etc, and like St Brendan when he was ploughing his lonely furrow through North, South, East and West, I go my own way most of the time. But it is always good to know when someone is giving good advice and a few weeks ago Scrubber remarked that a few Marigolds would be nice around the base of the fantastic R.bureavii, as he said the flower colour would go well with the underleaf indumentum. I am glad to say I followed his advice, and even though the photo doesn’t capture it properly, the combination works great, so thank you Scrubber and thanks to my Mam for getting them for me.

I planted my Lirodendron tulipflora a good few years ago as I have loved the tree since I saw it in a garden in France, and as it takes years to flower, I wanted it to flower in my lifetime. I bought the variegated form as the normal forms were all too large to fit in my car and I am so pleased with it as the foliage is a joy.

I am lucky that I am very successful with growing my Rhododendrons, as some of them can be fussy and tricky to grow, but one that has never taken off properly is R. fulgens. Hope springs eternal.

This little orchid is flowering for me for me a second time. When the original flowers were gone I cut back the flowering shoots to just above a bud . Both sent out flowering side shoots. A brand new shoot with buds has formed between the leaves so that will make three sprays altogether. I’m delighted!

I have this amazing plant in one of the borders. It is tall, elegant and last year flowered amazingly. It’s not quite so vigorous this year but I thin it may not come into its own until next month. 

I suspect it may be Campanula Glomerata ‘Superba’ but the pink colour is putting me off a bit. The only tall pink campanula that Google is finding is a much paler pink than mine.

I have it beside Campanula Lactiflora ‘Prichards Variety’ which is pale bllue. The leaves of the pink plant are stiffer and a shiny green a bit darker than the blue one. In my database I have Rachel as the donor.

I;d really like to be able to identify this flower because it is such a striking one.

Would you believe it? I was looking forward to Elizabeth’s Open Day since I visited her in May – I said I was going on Facebook – I said I was going on Garden.ie – and then after all that I managed to get the day wrong!!!!

So I travelled to Cobh today. I have now got Elizabeth in my Sat Nav (so no escape Elizabeth!) so I’m cruising along enjoying the sunshine but as i get closer I’m a little surprised that there are no “Open Garden This Way” signs ….. i get to Elizabeths – the gate is closed! I go onto Facebook on the phone and there as large as life are messages wishing Elizabeth Good Luck for her Open Day YESTERDAY!!!!! 

Oh Dear!  What to do? I try calling her but it goes to voicemail! I see her car is in the drive and I call her but no reply … What to do now? I’ve brought her a little plant so I write a note on the only available paper – a tissue! – and decide to try the gate and leave the plant on the table outside the house – but as I tentatively go round the house I see the door is open! I call Elizabeth and her crazy dog Meg realises she is going to get the sack because she didn’t cop the intruder!!!!

Poor Elizabeth! i’m sure the last thing she needed today was yet another garden visitor! But being the lady she is, she put the kettle on and plied me with goodies before giving me my very own personal tour of her garden! Having visited in May I was very aware of just how much work she had put in to making her garden “perfect” !!!! In May it was delightful but now in July it is singing!

Thank you so much Elizabeth for your great welcome to me – I know only too well just how wrecked you must have been after your very successful day yesterday! Your garden is a real treasure but best of all it was lovely to sit and talk “gardening” on a lovely sunny day in your garden! I’m sorry for worrying you by my non-appearance yesterday! I’ll put up an album if the site is behaving tonight!

The air has been very still in the garden these past few days and I’m just pottering, doing a bit of dead-heading and little else, enjoying calm summer weather after the rain freshened up the planting.

Clematis ‘Star of India’ has been better than ever this year on the patio trellis; last year it got mildew so I’ve been keeping it well watered.  The red geum seedlings that Jackie gave me at Johnstown are flowering now (love them, thanks Jackie). I have four Thalictrums and only a definite name for two of them, not this one which may be ‘Hewitt’s Double’ though I’m not sure.  I really like these plants and hope to introduce a few more. 

Enjoy the weekend in your garden everyone. 

Elizabeth’s Open Day in aid of Marymount Hospice was a great success, and luckily the weather was kind and people were able to appreciate just how beautiful her garden is. My friends and myself certainly enjoyed it and it was lovely to meet some other iers there as well. Elizabeth, I think you are fantastic to do something like this and to go to so much trouble for a good cause. Well done!

…When you look out the window at what is supposed to be a glorious new garden and think ‘F-f-f-Father Christmas, what have we done?’ Mind you, we thought that about the new septic tank and now it’s a fantastic mass of flower. Nature, as a friend once poibnted out, is very forgiving, and we are hoping that when the grands are here next week we can plant some trees, including one for Josh Darlington. I hope Mummy has packed lots of muddy-play clothes, but they’ll have a whale of a time helping out, and we’ll ony do everything twice as slowly as we would on our own, bless them!

I don’t have a name on this small water lily, but it is bulking up great from the small piece I received from a friend a few years ago. The flowers are really enjoying the recent sunshine.

Sunday was a glorious day and a great day for a garden visit. Brian is only about 20 minutes drive away from me so it was a nice drive to get there. 

When I arrived I was astounded by the beauty of the area itself and then I walked into Brian’s front garden. Beautiful plants in here and so lush too. I met Hazel here and Brian and we were ushered into the back garden. Here I also met with Maria, Brians wife, who is just lovely and so welcoming. Also met up with lots of friends whom I hadn’t seen for a while. So it was great to catch up.

Well!! What a garden this is. Big is an understatement and just beautiful. Mature trees which I was told were planted by Brian many years ago, some with roses growing through them, added to the scenery and gave a lovely woodland feeling to the garden too. 

Brian’s plants were just enormous. No matter what you look at. The Hostas were definitely on steroids, they were just huge and he has them planted in some lovely areas. Lots of space to walk around the garden with little nooks and crannys here and there. Lawns that have been well looked after, a vegetable patch with lots of edibles looking very good. But for me the pond was really the focal point. It was magnificent. And hidden away at the back of another border containing huge plants!! 

The pond was so still and full of water lilies and some in flower. I was blown away with the Clematis ‘Princess Diana’ which was growing profusely. Definitely need to find mine again and give it a serious talking to!! A fabulous Dierama sat at the entrance to the pond looking tall and striking. A garden bench was placed near this and you could just imagine in the evening sitting there with a cuppa and just relaxing, it was pure heaven.

This is a really stunning garden and I’m so glad I got the chance to see it. I had to leave before we all sat for tea etc but that didn’t matter as I was full from all the beauty that surrounded me. Thanks again Brian and Maria for a lovely afternoon.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself. 

I made the trip to Jemo’s garden today – and what a day it was! I have often wondered what Brian (Jemo) ‘s garden would be like. From various conversations I knew it was a mature garden – and that he liked planting the vegetables the hard way with lots of digging – and that he had a pond. More than that I couldn’t picture so arriving at his lovely garden I was absolutely delighted!The first impression on this lovely sunny Sunday was of lovely mature trees, well-manicured lawns and a profusion of plants living happily round the trees. As the afternoon wore on more and more Garden.ie friends appeared – it was a real “gathering”. As we strolled around the garden examining Brian’s many clever planting arrangements we renewed acquaintance with friends not seen since the January get-together so there was lots of chat, lots of hugs, and our very own “official photographer” snapping everyone as they arrived! 

I particularly liked the unusual Clematis that Brian has in his garden and I am very jealous of his magnificent “Princess Diana”!!!!! I got great tips on how to grow climbers up into the trees – and while my trees are only babies compared to his lovely mature ones I amd tempted to give it a go anyway!

I also loved how there are nooks waiting to be explored all round the garden, without losing the spacious feel of all those manicured lawns! Brian assured me he loves mowing his lawns and they certainly show his care and attention! 

Down at the Pond the house is almost hidden from view – the water-lilies are flowering and the Angel’s Fishing-Rods at the pool side were dramatic! A lovely double Geranium was flowering away and I ignored Brian’s comments about it being a bit floppy – it looked delightful to me!

After we had had ample opportunity to explore the garden Maria called us in for tea and a veritable feast of goodies – and i think we did justice to her efforts!

I know the site is only back after its recent problems but I’m going to try and load an album too!

Thank you Biran and Maria – the hosts with the most – for giving me the chance to catch up with so many of my gardening friends in your truly delightful garden!

Hi everyone I wonder has anyone been to Burtown house and garden Athy and if so would you recommend and Is it accessible for an elderly person. Thanks as always. 

The fact that I haven’t been on in a while doesn’t mean that Scrubber has been idle. No even today I was up at the crack, well a good bit after dawn! The weather was dry so I hared off down to the local metal yard-yes we have a very good one. I got some iron lengths and on the way home stopped at a convenient telephone pole! E.g. one that stood out a bit from the wall. I slipped a rod behind it and pretended to look like an Eir representative! Then I bent the rod-you need no strength to do this by the way. But I realised this didn’t give me a big enough ‘hoop’. On driving in the gate at home-no -through the gateway I noticed the pillar in the middle of the circle of walnut trees, Yes a bit bigger than the phone pole! I tried it. Perfect!

Next I stuck the rods into the lawn and was thus able to paint them very easily. While waiting for them to dry I scratched around the trees in the lawn and finished some mowing, hoping all the time the mower would hold out as it had recently cost me 70 euro for repairs,It did and I got the rest of the main lawn, the lower lawn and a lot of the Scrub done, Don’t worry, the Scrub is not prettified-just that the paths are a bit grassier. After lunch I went out and turned the rods upside down and painted the remaining six or seven inches. Then the rain came down heavily, But I had like Brodrick a ‘cunning plan’. Down into the Scrub again and cut and disposed of some large branches I had cleared a few days before.

Back up then and a beech at the edge of the lawn caught my attention-a branch hanging down that had died, That came out and then another and then another and then I was up into the tree-not very high though and sawing away goodoh! I think Cherub Lute was on a roll, When I had finished what had been a tangle of branches was now a shapely tree or so I like to think-Is there no end to the man’s conceit?

I only wish I had a camera-Have you seen the PRICES of cameras lately. But I could show you my shapely tree and you could judge- and the new paths and the roses and some reshaped beds and the day lilies and….. But I haven’t got one yet so that’s why I try to make up by describing what’s being done, even when it’s raining! Hope you are all also enjoying your gardens at this time.

Some people may think that i am out of the country. Not really, simply the modem was not working and having sent it to the company i got it back this morning. As you see it is working now.

It has been a great summer so far, temperature good and items like fruit and frlowers great. The roses are as good as ever. In the greenhouse, the tomatoes are doing well. I noticed one ripe yesterday. I have been enjoying the grapes for some time. Outside, no shortage of gooseberries and raspberries.

I must apologise for long absence from site. I think I mentioned ages ago that my house has subsidence, so eventually they have started working on it and I’ve moved out to an apartment. I’m really lucky as it has a small garden, bit of grass and a shed! I’m lucky as well because it’s only round the corner from the house and I still have access to my back garden through the garage. Mind you it has got even more overgrown than usual as I haven’t been there to tip away every day. Anyway I’ve done a bit, and each time I’m there I bring a container round here! I”ve been here a coulple of months now and am settled in well, but I’ve also been away and back on various trips.

One of my favorite Geraniums is starting to put on a great splash of colour 😉