Month: September 2017

Scrubber wondered why he had a slight ache in his side this evening, He had worked hard but that wasn’t it. Then he remembered! He was strimmimg near Marian’s garden in the Scrub and lost his footing and went tumbling down like Jack minus Jill. He put out a hand to save himself and took the oriental Lantern of Wisdom with him! Ended up on his back with the strimmer still going. Switched it off and stood up expecting at least a cut and bruising but was absolutely fine and the Lantern was in  two pieces (As it was when I bought it and not a mark or scratch either. I said a fervent prayer of thanks and was very careful of my footing for the rest of the day!!!

But got a lot done and finally got around to Elizabeth’s corner and gave that a thorough strimming-very very carefully! Was delighted with so much done as I did the terraces and banks as well. We were visiting friends at three and just before we went a gentleman pulled in and offered to wash our patio and the area in front of the house. We have had him before and he is good so he has just finished that and its very well done,

Yesterday equally busy. I had bought five skimmia merlot-the leaves are variegated. I was able to divide each into four so I had twenty plants, I put them in in the Scrub. There are a good few more there and they seem happy. Then I mowed leaving the mower on a high level. Then I cleaned a bit more of the Long Border and divided some shasta daisies. I was able to divide them so I put some in Eileen’s bed/ flowerbed! And some back in the border and put in a few red rum hebes that I got in Glanbia.

My e-mail wasn’t receiving since tuesday so I contacted EIR last night and got a very nice young man who really tried hard. He managed to get my e-mails through webmail.eir.ie but couldn’t get the normal one to work. I rang today and got a gentleman who was a bit too technical for me, I thanked him and rang again within five minutes and got a brilliant kind man who fixed everything in ten minutes. Those phone calls are not charged. 1901 or1800 503 303 I know it’s not gardening but it might be helpful to somebody-‘If at first you don’t succeed try try again’ Sr Josephine was right to make us write that out in out in our best if inkblotted copperplate.

This is the time of year that we start buying our bulbs for the coming spring and spending a fortune on them. I think as gardeners we are always looking forward and that is an nice attitude to have and something I hope I will have for many years to come. However, if you have had a peep in the bulb catalogues at what you could purchase in August and have flowering in September you would have come across these little beauties.

The first one is Colchicum parlatoris which Paddy grew from seed more than ten years ago and during that time we suspect it has self-seeded. It stands up to the rain as it is has a short stems with pink flowers and prominent yellow stamens. It is a native of Greece, so needs very good drainage.

The other colchicum is Colchicum autumnale ‘Nancy Lindsay’ which I bought only last year from Potterton Bulb Nursery, a U.K. nursery, and was in flower a week after I planted it. This year it has returned and I am very pleased with that result, as I feel if it flowers the second year after buying that I have managed to plant it in the right conditions. 

I hardly noticed the Fuchsia when I came by this container, but it’s certainly the main item now.

Can anyone tell me the name of this lovely looking flower please?  I’ve tried RHS plant finder and google but no luck in identifying it yet. Notice the long tail spur at the back of the flower.

Not talking about my soul mate, but a cute little juvenile robin who followed me everywhere around the garden today. I know they love freshly-exposed worms best of all, but I wasn’t doing any digging today. But he does love Nijer seed, something I hadn’t been aware of.

The denizens will be getting worried! Two whole days-and very pleasant ones. wewent down to Dunbrody and Tintern Abbey today and tomorrow is already planned. But I went out dutifully this am to get a better shot of the Rhodo for Hazel and a better shot of the new box circle. They aint great but they may give an idea! the view of the box cicle is looking down from the rockery-you can just about make out the tiny box plantlets but they will be much bigger in a years time.

Round at the house this morning and I spotted an Amaryllis flowering. The bed where it is hasn’t really been interfered with apart from dust etc, but then I saw buds coming up in the section that was covered with machinery and trampled over by workmen most of the summer! Nature is amazing.

I only sowed the seeds of these in May,, and the first flower appeared a couple of weeks ago. They really are almost black.

I really love these little plants and watch eagerly for their flowers to appear every year. The paler one is the cyclamen that Heather gave me at the first Johnstown get-together I attended; when it came out of the bag at home, it was the size of a large brick! Thanks so much for it Heather, it’s a treasure.  The darker one was bought in Mount Venus the following year and it always flowers slightly later. 

They are planted in two raised dishes at the front corners of the shed; between them is a narrow strip of soil covered with gravel which they have started to seed into, with a nice mix of the two shades coming up.  Of course, I forgot to take a photo of the gravelled strip! 

This morning I continued on with tidying up outside. Lots of old grass clippings at the edges of the borders, and they build up over time. But today I was scraping all the clippings to neaten the edges.

To my surprise I found this lovely Potentilla ‘Red Monarch’ (I used to have this in the North-facing border and no sign of it so far this year. But I’m wondering did I get this little pot of same from someone, or did I dig up my own for some reason), and a couple of Anemones that Hazel had given me earlier, probably last year. The Anemones will make a nice addition to my pink/lilac/white area of the Greenhouse Border that I showed yesterday.  It needs some taller plants.

Well at long last my bulbs arrived from Mr. Middleton and I was very happy with the size of all the bulbs and tuber. I did not buy a lot, but will pick up some tulips over the next few months as the shops start to reduce them. I have also bought some bulbs from Avon Bulbs in the UK, but no sign of them yet. The white foxtail lily that arrived today was planted this afternoon with plenty of leafmould and grit, so fingers crossed it will be in bloom next summer. I also planted up Iris ‘Katherine Gold’ in a pot and have stored the tulips in a box in the garage for later planting. The tulips I bought were Tulipa ‘City of Vancouver’ (white) and Tulipa ‘Blue Beauty’ with the idea that all my pots will be planted with blue, white and yellow flowers for next spring. Well that is the idea anyway.

I’ve had this white sticky stuff on several Cape Primroses this year, and a couple of other house plants too. I’ve just been wiping it off with damp tissue as best I can, but I d be grateful for any information or advice. Thanks!

To day I was at the Country Market, my second time since I resumed the stand in Askea Parish Centre. Unlike last Friday, I sold nothing. I actually returned with one extra plant. A member of the group gave me what is surely a Maranta plant but what species? The taller plant was given to me by my sister some years ago, much taller and would be described as Ctenanthe Compactstar. It was only to day that I realised that they were related.

 I acquired a new mouse. The one I had which came with the computer, was giving me a problem but with the new mouse, it is child’s play. I had expected that the old one would be repaired but the man who sold the new mouse said that it would cost as much to repair the one I had as to supply a new one. How times change?

Two flowers looking well the last few days here. A kniphofia I recieved off Bruno a couple of years back which has a very tall flower spike and repeats flowering throughout the summer. and 2nd is a small begonia I also recieved off Bruno and comes back every year no problems at all. I have no specific names for these just there common ones.

Lots of showers in Dublin today and cool with it, autumn has definitely arrived; just as well I was occupied with non-gardening matters.  Over the weekend I followed Monty’s advice from Friday’s GW programme, cut off the agapanthus flower stems and gave them one last feed of tomato fertiliser.  

I’m itching to plant some infill Narcissus ‘Jetfire’ and the new Iris ‘Katherine’s Gold’ bought recently but the borders are still so full and flowering that I can’t get into the spaces where I want to plant them!  Guess I’ll have to wait a week or two. 

Leaves are starting to dress in their autumn finery, the young Sumach always being the first to colour up here, while the calm greens predominate on the shady side of the back garden.  I got Saxifraga stolonifera as a wee plant from Hazel at our last Johnstown get-together and it has certainly spread itself around in a short time.  Thanks Hazel, it’s doing its job at the front of the shed bed and I hope to see flowers next year. 

Remember my Japanese knotweed alert a while back?  Well, after several discussions with the local council, our neighbour behind us and investigation by their gardeners, it turns out not to be knotweed after all, leaving me feeling relieved but very sheepish after all the sympathy and concern my friends here expressed (especially PCON, thank you). 

All the growths that sprang up are/were from the large aspen tree in the neighbour’s garden which was cut down last autumn.  Apparently, if you cut down an aspen before it has died, it will keep on throwing up suckers from its extensive root system in a bid for survival.  A forest in Colorado covering over a hundred acres has grown in this way! So yesterday, with the growths treated with glyphosate having died off and the ground softened by recent rain, I decided to dig.  The photos show part of what was uncovered. The roots, which must have been under our garden for some time, extended to the edges of the lawn in all directions and are under the concrete paths too but hopefully (unlike knotweed) won’t break through there.  I’ll be keeping a watchful eye in spring and will continue the Roundup treatment for any suckers spotted in the borders. 

The lawn is now a mess of course but I’ll deal with that over the coming weeks. 

Today was the first day this week that we didn’t have to leg it into the greenhouse to shelter from sudden downpours and the Patio project was able to progress a good bit. I actually managed to get a couple of hours in too – I studiously kept my back to the building and just focussed on what I was doing.

I find weeding quite therapeutic so to relieve my building-related stress I weeded the path through the Clematis Walk this evening and I’m delighted to have started on the path maintenance that has fallen by the wayside for ages.

Work has begun on remodelling my raised beds making use of the more sound bits of the decking timber.

Of course this is also maximum Blackberry and Raspberry season so I tried out the traditional method for producing Blackberry Jelly – since my family have complained about the seeds in the Jam!

Have to say the Jam is Yummy!!!!

didn’t realise that this prog is on every WEDNESDAY RTE for about 6 weeks.  PHoenix Park is tHe subject.  Will catch the last two episodes on the Internet.  Just heard abt this on gdn prog with Mid-West radio.

I think the only Anemones I have here originally came from Hazel. Discovered two in pots last week, and today during a quick visit outdoors I was astounded at the sight of one that I obviously planted in my Spring Border. You can see how small it is, and yet it is flowering. Mother Nature is truly wonderful.

As mentioned before, I have two Banana or Musa plants. One was put out in the front garden for display. Due to being ill, the other one was left at the back, facing south. That plant has come on in leaps and bounds and is shown. The one I moved to the front, I moved it to day, nearer to the house, due to the cold weather. It is still looking good but not as good as the other. Both are tender and before long, they will be going indoor, probably to the greenhouse. I took a photo of a Phormium, also called New Zealand Flax. Some years ago when we had it very cold in the winter, I thought it would die bot it had recovered to normality. There are many stalks on it full of seed pods and I have a small quantity of these seeds in the house. Has anybody sown seeds of this kind? I know that division of the root stock is the best way to propagate the plant but I would like to try growing phormiums from the seeds. I could supply seeds to anybody interested. To day was a lovely, sunny day with little or no wind. The blue sky to day may remind one of Dublin’s win yesterday althought the green and red of the Pelargoniums around the Musa might remind one of the Mayo team that ran them to a point. Think of Cillian O’Connor hitting the post late in the game and then Dean Rock sending the ball between the posts.

Not a great flowerer for me by any means. And I so love the excitement of even a single flower opening. This particular Hibiscus ‘Oiseau Bleu’ had loads of buds on it only a couple of days ago. Today, they had all disappeared. Is it due to a drop in temperature, or are they troubled by any pests or diseases? No sign of any crawlies anywhere near so it’s a bit of a mystery. Hopefully someone can shed some light on it.

Can you please identify this plant?

I try to keep very good lists of my plants: name, year, where planted and also, quite important, who gave it to me or where acquired.

Be that as it may, this one has slipped through the net.  It has been very deliberately positioned in the hall door bed where I would see it, and I think that was in early summer.  But I can find no trace of a name.

Picture 1 shows the foliage and some fallen fuchsia  flowers.

Picture 2 shows the delicate very dark flower which I had to bring indoors And stick in a vase.  3lower petals and 2upper ones.  The flower stem is wiry, in definite segments with nodes.  The individual little flowers do not last long, but the buds have all opened in succession.