Month: January 2018

I didn’t have much free time today, but it was so cold out that I had NO intentions of doing anything worthwhile anyway. Spring is just around the corner and I’m in no hurry. Delighted to see my second Hamamelis open today. One more to go.

Prompted by Myrtle’s post on Facebook, I had a little nosey at my own Clivia. It hasn’t flowered in about two or three years. But lo and behold, there are tiny little buds appearing.

It has been a while but I was out in the garden on Monday afternoon for an hour and absolutely loved every minute of it. The sun was shining and even had a bit of warmth to it.

The garden was so overgrown and it needed a good clean up. But I only tackled a few bits here and there. Plants that needed to be cut back and cleaned up. Planted up the Hellebores I bought a few weeks ago in B&Q.

Needless to say I literally can hardly walk these past two days, definitely need to pace myself. The pains in the back of my legs is unreal. Obviously out of practice haha….will need to rectify that. But you know I enjoyed every single minute of it too.

I noticed one of the Hellebores I bought H. Tutu is now opened and its a little beauty.

Also great growth going on and the second photo is of my Tree Lupin which I have here now about 4 years and its doing great again with lots of growth.

Last photo are the two ‘boys’ taking in a few rays lol…..they love nothing more than sitting on the bench and enjoying the warmth of the sunshine.

I hope that Spring is going to be good to us and give us plenty of time in the garden. We are due some good weather now for Summer so lets bring it on and enjoy every single minute of it.

Hope you all get a chance to get outside…..tomorrow is the first day of Spring afterall.

Who says men never ask for help? The mystery plant in the first photo must have came as a seedling in the rootball of R. bureavii a good few years ago at this stage. I really have no clue, it isn’t too spiky. Any ideas are very welcome.

My R. barbatum is now about 5 feet tall and is maturing nicely, and now flowers every year. It has a good few buds again this year. One of its main features though, is its peeling, smooth bark and this is the first year that it very noticeable and it is quite beautiful.

One of the finest of all Rhododendron species for foliage is the large leaved species, R. falconeri ssp eximum and even though they need the right condidtions, they are well worth trying. I have mine a few years and you can now start to appreciate how fine the foliage is. This just gets better and better as the years roll on.

on Ann’s border, named after my sister. Mostly uprooting creeping buttercup and an abundance of forget me not. The snowdrops stand out more now so I was pleased with the little I got done. But I also marvellous to relate managed to upload some pictures. Some days it works others it doesn’t. Hope you like them

We have a lovely scent near to our front door these days with the sorracocca (sweet box) and the Which hazel in the back garden. Its nice to have shrubs and trees in bloom in the mid winter and scented too.

I think it was Mary who remarked that my garden seemed to be very mild as there are a good few things flowering here now. But today, even though I didn’t get any working time outside, I was delighted to spot my Leoucojum starting to open.

Iris ‘Katharine Hodgkin’ is looking nice now. But I actually think the only reason I bought them last autumn was because so many people already had them. Yes, they are pretty but, in my opinion, the colour is a bit insipid for my liking. 

An article in yesterday’s Indo really made me sit up . If you notice your garden birds looking a bit down and you happen to have feeders out then you may be killing them with kindness . Apparently feeders need regular washing and all spills must be cleaned up . Birds apparently get throat diseases that kill from our attempts to help them . Food for thought indeed .

Bees were gathering pollen today from my Hellebores . Always a good sign that things are well . Thank you Christmas rose for providing badly needs pollen

An article in yesterday’s Indo really made me sit up . If you notice your garden birds looking a bit down and you happen to have feeders out then you may be killing them with kindness . Apparently feeders need regular washing and all spills must be cleaned up . Birds apparently get throat diseases that kill from our attempts to help them . Food for thought indeed .

Loads of them around the house with droppings to prove it.

Maisie does a good job but they tend to gambol along raised surfaces so she cannot get at them.

So my problem is that I just hate the idea of killing them but know something has to be done. I tried the high pitched plug in unit , to no avail. I got capture them alive traps and they laughed at them.  The idea of emptying traps just gives me the horrors. I bought two traps today . And there is nobody nearby i can ask to do the deed.

I need persuasion that it is ok to kill them  I mean they are just doing their thing…oh it is most worrying.  Do traps kill them quickly? The only thing I kill are flies.

Help me

A lovely day for a change and isn’t it great.

First for your attention today are the flowers of the Chimonanthes praecox, the variety i have is ‘luteus’ and this has delightful scent and i am very fond of it.

I showed my Hamamelis ‘pallida’ last week and today it is the turn of H.’jelena’. This is a really fine size now and is a wonderful specimen. As photos don’t do justice to this in all its glory, i am just showing its flowers. I have various love affairs going on with most of the shrubs and trees in our garden, but i absolutely adore H. ‘jelena’. When the sun catches the flowers, it is awe inspiring.

I will finish for now with one of my Sarcococcas, this variety is ‘confusa’ and is one of the best winter flowering, scented shrubs. The scent is excellent and is one of those shrubs where the scent is stronger, if you a lttle bit away from the shrub. 

A tip of the hat to Nanci Griffith for the journal title.

Scrubber had noticed that his early daffodils about which he used well not quite crow! But he certainly used celebrate their early arrival. They arrived in January. But this year many didnt arrive at all. They had gone ‘blind’. Scrubber looked up the advice and was advised to wait until the leaves died back and then separate. He reasoned that if they were going to do anything it wouldnt make much difference if they were done in the green!!!! If they dont come back Ill plant new bulbs. BUT when I dug them up they were small and very closely packed . I got a lot out of them so if lucky they will be beautiful next January  and early as wel!!!!

The disaster? well when digging holes for the newly separated bulbs the blade of my  lovely small spade bought about two years ago suddenly snapped across. Scrubber said ‘Tut’ tut but then got a brilliant idea. He rang Ed Sweeney of Sweeneys garden centre New Ross where he bought it and Ed could not have been more helpful. He thinks I should get a replacement as the company is reputable. So if I do I might be tempted to get a small border fork…. Luckily I have some nice Christmas vouchers….. But wasn’t that very nice of him. 

Got some lovely photos but cant download them so ill use the most recent ones

 

I’m experimenting with the most efficient ways to get through the garden work. The tasks can be broken down into a few general headings –  Cuting back, Weeking, Shredding , Mulching.

So what is the best approach? – Shred as you go? – Get all the cutting back done? – Spend days shredding? – let the mulch accumulate until borders are weeded?

I have been trying to figure out the most efficient use of time in the garden but so far i haven’t found a perfect formula. I would be interested to hear how others deal with these various tasks!

For a couple of weeks I was religiously shredding as I went – clearing one area and dealing with the debris produced as i went along – and this was ok but a bit slow – so i wasn’t getting much encouragement from areas “finished” for the moment. 

Yesterday I started a differeent tack – I cut back loads of stuff – hacking , lopping and cutting like a woman posessed – net result – most of the borders in the back garden are looking better if you don;t look too closely and th epile of “shredding in waiting” is about 3 or 4 feet high!

Today I turned a determined back on the shredding and embarked on the cutting back of the front areas. No weeding, just gathering debris of dead leaves and cutting back like nobody’s business!  Result: Pile awaiting shredding is about 6 feet high but the borders flanking the drive no longer rebuke me every time I pass through!

so what methods do others follow?

Before the clean-upThat's betterHidden by the debris

Ah, yes, he is indeed, and its Conrad I am referring to.

As I write this I am listening to Gardeners’ Corner on Radio Ulster.(9.03 – 9.45am) As always, Conrad is thinking beyond the obvious boundaries. He and his uncle, and volounteers, are going to “beautify” (in the best possible way) their village of Ballyvoy. I will leave you to discover how and what they intend planting.

You can hear this radio programme on Radio Ulster Gardeners ’ Corner playback. This morning’s programme was most interesting in other ways too, as Avril Milligan, the head gardener of Rowallane Gardens, was doing a demo of pruning espalier pear trees. I understand this is a video and is available on today’s playback of the Programme. I must check that for myself now.

PS. whilst you cannot see past TV programmes when you are outside UK, radio programmes are available.

Yes, the opportunities for gardening are becoming more regular, let’s hope the weather continues to be relatively good for this time of year.

I did another stint outdoors this afternoon to take my mind off giving up the cigarettes. It worked a treat, and the garden is looking all the better for it too. Did more cutting back and tidying up.

Lovely to see Pulmonaria flowering, and primroses, yellow snowdrops etc. 

Was tidying off dead foliage from my lovely un-named Iris down in the mini Jurassic bed. And I accidentally broke off some new shoots. But I’m chancing my arm and now the broken bits are potted up in the hope that they will take. What do you think?

Tonight at the Gardening club we had a most interesting talk from Troy Smith head gardener at Sissinghurst. He had worked there previously and then progressed to head gardener at Bodnant. However when the post came up at Sissinghurst he returned there. He explained the difficulty in realising his dreams of restoring the garden to the Vita and Harold days while making it capable of receiving  thousands of visitors each year. A huge challenge.

They seem to be concentrating on the area surrounding the main garden at present  especially around the entrance . 

He showed a slide of the Rose garden with many other perennials in flower and spoke of how he would prefer to restrict the area to just Roses even if it went through a barren period. Then I guess visitors would not be too keen on this.

Then there was a bed which had continuous flowering , tulips, alliums , eremerus etc and required only about an hours work during the Summer to keep in good order!!

So interesting. At the end I wondered if his longing to return to Sissinghurst  was all he had wished for or was it frustrating to be unable to fulfill his dreams. No doubt though he and his team are doing a great job.

I will be interested to hear what Mary and Paddy thought.

This morning when I opened the greenhouse at the start of my gardening I decided that I couldn’t ignore the pot outside the door – I pass it every time I go gardening and each time I just look away because it is such a mess!

Half an hour later it was looking much better – the cordaline is starting to have a stem and those Helebore seedlings are showing great promise! I couldn’t believe how little time it took to sort it out!

My next small job was a little bigger – I had a terrible job a week or so ago removing the tangled mess of sprouted seeds and plants under my bird feeders so I was determined to find a solution. I used up the left-overs from the new patio to make a crazy-paving platform under them. I know it won’t completely solve the problem but it should make the clean-up much easier in future! So good to be able to use up left-overs too!

Tidy planterBird Plaza

After some pretty relentless weeding/cutting back/shredding I decided to give myself a treat when the weather was so beautiful the other day – so I spent the day planting up the re-vamped border in front of the new patio and I’m really excited with it. Some of the dark coloured helebores will be the backbone of the Spring planting in this area and a lot of the bulbs that were in that border were distrubed with the changes so I had to keep a close eye out for the delicate tips of them but there were quite a few spaces let so I transplanted several of the bulbs in pots that I’ve had for the past few years. 

Oh – and I added the Heuchera from Jackie and the Bergenia from Joan – thanks to both of you!

I was able to find a few helebores in other places where they were hiding under stuff so I think that the next few weeks will see big changes here. Then when the Spring show is over I reckon this will be a really good place to highlight my Salvias which will hopefully have survived the winter in the Greenhouse. Its all a new departure for me – much less hap-hazard than my usual approach!

And Katherine Hodgkins is in full flower in a pot but so overcrowded that re-potting is on the cards when the flowers are finished!

I checked the website suggestd by Mary (thank you!) for the Root Training pots so should get them shortly.

i have another question – I have some pretty interesting “wormery” liquid fertilizer and I’m wondering should I use it on the newly planted things in the border so early in the year?

Border starting to fill upDaphne Bholua 'Jacqueline Postill'Hamamelis really maturing nicely

I had onions growing in a very long window box last summer. However, not all of them grew to the desired size. I was too lazy to remove them, and way too preoccupied. Yesterday while enjoying myself outdoors, I finally uprooted them. Not their supposed size, but ideal for salad dishes. You can’t beat growing your own really, can you!

A Cork gathering got a lot of votes, and not just from the Corkonians, so I’ve emailed Adam Whitbourn at Blarney Castle and we have pencilled in Sunday June 10th. Provisionally, the format will be the usual with a difference, with a swap late morning, lunch and then a tour of the gardens. I am advised by those in the know that there are good garden centres close by, for those who can’t go home without a retail fix. 

I’ve contacted Ratoath but haven’t yet had a reply so am aiming for a late summer date there, but it may be difficult for us due to work commitments, the summer visit of our grandchildren, and our own holidays. But I’ll try to arrange something in due course when I have firm dates from the kids’ parents and my boss. 

Blarney visit, May 2013Summer gathering update!Summer gathering update!

I was up at my brothers just a few hours ago and as we were having a cuppa I was facing his bird feeders situated about ten feet from the back kitchen window . Down swoops a Sparrow Hawk , Sparrows Finches and Tits panic and fly into shrubs . But to be outdone the Hawk then pounced into one shrub grabbing a Sparrow before flying off.

guess you gotta take the opportunities life presents ? Or maybe there’s no such thing as a free meal ? There’s a moral there somewhere .

I came in after an afternoon’s gardening and was surprised at how little I had done but it was a lovely day, bright and not cold and snowdrops were up im bunches. All I did was collect a lot of leaves blown around the yard and some twigs that had been blown down and cleaned out a shore. Then I wed around the quern which is a small square about a foot wide and the circle of box around a variegated dogwood in the lower lawn. That was all but it filled my time. Just as dusk arrived Anna and her friend arrived back from tea and each had four lovely yellow primula for me. I got them in on the rockery just before dark. I also took some photographs and with a deal of bother got them onto my laptop so I hope i can transfer them to the journal.

 

I got a couple of hours out in the garden this afternoon. Spent a good deal of time clearing up fallen leaves from the peach trees in the glasshouse. I had decided to leave them there before the holidays to possibly provide a bit of a mulch for them. But today I noticed that there was a bit of mildew on the leaves. 

Tidied up a few pelargoniums, and took them indoors in case the mildew has affected them. I’ll be able to keep a closer eye on them now as we’re in for some more bad weather. One of my aeoniums in the glasshouse came away in my hand, didn’t bother checking for vine weevils. I just dumped the old compost over the wall. But there’s still plenty of green growth on them. So tomorrow I hope to make a good few cuttings for healthier plants during the year.

And please don’t judge me. I only removed last years tomato plants today. It was a busy year.

Made a start on cutting back dead foliage in some of the borders and the place is looking much better.  I also managed to get a couple of roses pruned.

Delighted to see Iris reticulata and Iris ‘Katharine Hodgkins’ opening today. Oooh, I felt wonderful when I came in. 

A garden I saw recently maybe here.  The  Stipa tenuissima  were cut back and I

 think Lavender planted amongst them.  It seemed to be a mass planting but most of the Stipa being cut back was unusual  and maybe worth a try.

It was great to see that there is restoration work being carried out on the house in Altamount Gardens. The roof has been stripped and is being replaced with a new one and this should protect the building from further deterioration. It has been unoccupied for a number of years and had become unsafe over the last few. The house provides a backdrop to the garden and I feel that because the house is not massive it gives a homely feeling to the garden. It is a garden that has not lost the touch of its owner, Mrs North, who passed away nearly twenty years ago and maybe this is due to Paul Cutler’s care and attention to keep the spirit of Mrs North alive. It still is Mrs North’s garden. She loved her garden and worked so hard to keep it going over the years. Delighted to see this garden continuing to develop and improve and to survive over the coming years.

Snowdrop Week is starting in early February, not to be missed.

Snowdrop.Hellebore x hybridus.
Hellebore x hybridus.

According to Weather.com the average January rainfall for Old Bawn Tallaght is 58.58mm. The total rainfall to date (Jan 22) is now 90.4mm. Where’s it all coming from? 45.8mm fell in the last seven days – not to mention the wind-chill cold!