Month: April 2018

The heat might have been short lived and more’s the pity, but the garden continues to give joy.

The first photo is of a rarely scene species Rhododendron, R.pseudochrysanthum and it has wonderful flowers as the photo shows.

The second shot is of R.

dora amateis on the left and the species R.fimbriatum on the right, with a few of my Camellias visible in the background.

The last shot is of the beautifully scented flowers of Viburnum x burkwoodii. The scented Viburnums are among my favourite spring flowering shrubs.

While the really warm days have gone at least for a while, in this part of ireland it was pleasant, a fair amount of sunshine and warm at times. Rain also kept away except at night which is good and temperature at night was better than other nights. As I had the lawn mown yesterday and some rain at night, there must have been growth. It was good to go for a walk around the garden and examine the place.

Generally, growth is well behind what we would have normally at this time of year. Certain shrubs like Berberis Darwinia and Forsythia are good but one would expect these to be in the flowering state they are in, early in the month while Kerria japonica Pleniflora has shown very few of the yellow flowers that would be expected. In the case of roses, some have done well but due to the March temperature well below what we have had in other years, a further bit of pruning will be needed.These rose bushes were pruned in January and February, which is the normal time for pruning same for some years. I noticed Magnolia Susan showing some flowers. They look good but very few, perhaps they will be there later. The grass after yesterday’s mowing will need some ferrous sulphate and some nitrogen too. There is still a lot of weeding to be done

I am still trying to get the hang of posting photos.  I cannot remember buying this pale lilac Anemone.  I thought I had bought the blue one!!!!  I think it is the Robinsonani A.  It makes a nice change from the blue.

I love this two toned muscari. Bought in a small pot and has spread nicely in my shrub border.

Morning!

I’m going to Fota plant fair,so i hope is see some of you there.My stall is number 19, on corner of 3th row in middle ail.I will have scented pelargoniums ,zonal pelargoniums ,species pelargoniums with me and some succulents too.

On photo my potted jewels !

What a beautiful day today, the first warm one of the year here and i got the grass cut to show the garden off to its best and it is looking well and much of the credit for that goes to the Magnolias. I have a nice few at this stage and most of them a decent size so they look very impressive in full flower.

The first flower shown is from M. susan. This has a sweet scent as well as a lovely colour and it is a splendid Magnolia. I have two M. soulangeanas in the garden and the second of the two is flowering for the first time this year, the flower shown is from the one that has flowered for years. The last one for today is M x loebneri ‘merrill’, it is a small tree at this stage and is really impressive. I should also mention that the soulangeanas and ‘merrill’ are scented as well.

Who wouldn’t have a Magnolia in the garden?

I thought the Fuchsias that I have in containers had died in the cold weather, but I think this is a shoot coming up on one of them.

For three weeks, I was unable to use Garden.ie as there was a problem with ehe internet. To day a technician arrived and things seem to be rectified. The last time I entered it was like winter, now like summer. Spring seemed non existent. Now the weather is great, yesterday was warm and sunny and to day the same. Tomatoes are doing great in the greenhouse. i have to watch that the temperature does not go too high. The last time I entered the same plants were in the house, scared to put them in the greenhouse. seven have been planted in large pots. My Musa plants are out for some time and looking better than before.

What a super day here in Dublin. Once I got my bits and pieces over and done with, I spent the rest of the day outside. Good Lord, the wild garlic that’s growing in the front garden throughout the gravel is just unreal. I had to take a fold-up stool out with me as my back was seriously being overworked. And I really wanted to concentrate on the back garden. I didn’t manage to remove it all. That would be nigh on impossible. I’m going to have to tackle it bit by bit whenever I can.

Had more fun out in the back garden. Removed all the Dandelions except for the ones that I find difficult to get at.

Last year I had begun to regret planting my much-loved contorted Hazel in the front garden. I don’t spend enough time out there, so I miss seeing its true beauty. I took one single cutting of it last year and hoped for the best. Today I was looking for new growth on it. And I was surprised not to find buds on the original stem I took, but a separate stem coming up out of the soil. Happy Days. And maybe there will still be growth on the original stem.

Hello all

Rhododendron time is starting to come into full force and over the next couple of months i will be in my element.

I have three for you today. The first is a flower truss of the very highly regarded hybrid, R.taurus. This is one of the finest red flowering hybrids and puts on a fantastic display. The second is another hybrid, R.shamrock. This is the best part of a month later flowering than it was last year. Finally i am showing the only truss this year on R.pachysanthum. This is a great species for foliage, but the flowers are lovely as well and i particularly like the purple blotch.

I’m off now to find the sun-cream.

I actually did a long journal of them all the other day but when trying to add photos the whole thing disappeared! This is Teucrium fruticans that I bought at an Open Garden a few years ago and was told came from the late Brian Cross’s garden. I think it suffered during Ophelia, I had to cut away quite a few broken bits.

I replanted my box planter last week. Took the chance of moving two Acers into the top section. So seeing as the are Japanese Acers I continued the theme on with a few extras. 😁 

Such awful weather we have had this week. Any dry day has been taken up with more essential commitments. I could have made time to get outdoors yesterday but chose housework. Today I really do have cabin fever. It rained all last night, and continued on until about 5.00pm this evening.

Ran out with the camera when it stopped. I had Erythroniums years ago and lost them. So I got another lot from Mr. Middleton’s last autumn,

and potted them up as soon as I came home. They’re coming into flower only now. I’ve seen other people’s on Facebook flowering weeks ago. So it’s good that I have mine now to cheer me up a bit. All I need now is to locate a space big enough to plant them all together. 

A soppy rainy day again so what did I do?  Headed outdoors to a plant fair of course! It really was wet and I felt sorry for the stall holders, except our own lovely Liga who had her gorgeous Potted Jewels display indoors. Of course I couldn’t resist buying a couple but so hard to choose from all her pelargonium treasures. Overall there was a reasonable amount of exhibitors, not as many as in previous years but all offering very good quality plants, many that you’d never find in the garden centres.  I collected my order from Caherhurley (pulmonaria, asters, penstemon and viola) plus some thyme and was very tempted by a dark hellebore on the Mount Venus stand, then forgot to go back for it.

The rain must have turned my brain to mush. So nice to see you Liga and Liam, hope you sold lots and best of luck at future fairs.

I put in this Hamamelis Arnold Palmer a week or two ago. Friends had given it to me for a big birthday a couple of years ago and one friend had minded it in the meantime. I was delighted to see its leaves opening the other day.