Month: May 2018
Am sopleased with the rhodos this year and the promise of more to come in years to come. I have tried to get up phobos but failed.
Went looking for another laburnum. Mine cost 36 99 and got them for thirty as I bought two. In another centre the same were 46.99 each and in another 56.99 same size same age same label! Yes I went back to the first place..
Irises out and roses swelling.
Special very large leaved magnolia
A selfish quite unintended.I was trying to shoot two moths!
New seating arrangementm
Sunshine and shade
Tom Jones and Blue Peter.
Tom Jones and rhodo Blue Peter
This appeared on what will be a raised bed eventually, I hope. At the minute it’s soil from the garden behind, mixed with rubble. So it could have come from anywhere.
I only began these 2 years ago but this year the Delphinium are taller than myself ! Is this normal ?
I love this Poppy but as usual I haven’t it’s name ?
Lupins are so easy to grow and unfussy . Woodies charging €9.99 each is a bit rich ! I just keep some seed heads annually
Heading to my first Bloom this Friday . Any tips or advice on how best to take it all in ????
Grown from seed over several years.
This month and recent heatwave have really kicked off the bee season . After a horrible winter and cold spring our Native Bees Apis Mellifera Mellifera deserve a break . I ve just completed my Bee Keeping exams so results anxiously awaited ! Out of 6 hives I brought into last winter I hope 4 will produce a crop . So far these look promising . I’ve already done some swarm control in order to prevent my Queens from leaving with half the hive workers . One swarmed yesterday ( what a sight at the end of my garden ) but as the Queen was clipped and marked she was quickly retrieved into a new smaller hive ( nucleus or Nuc) and her swarm returned to base . They will now rear a new Queen and hopefully remain productive in the meantime . On another hive today I was removing surplus new Queen cells and had a virgin queen hatch in my hand . We only leave one new Queen in any hive as more than one only further encourages swarming . I’ve had two call outs to collect swarms from properties nearby which is always fun ( free bees !) some bee keepers have already taken a crop of honey off but I don’t expect any until August . If you have bees near Oil Seed Rape fiends you get early honey .
Native Bee on Clematis
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Hi All,
As part of the ongoing development of the site, two features have come online.
In Garden Club find out how people in the same county as you are doing by clicking on your county.
2) When you click on an image in a journal you can now view it full size.
The developers are still working on lots of other stuff including restoring email notifications, hopefully there will be news on this soon!
Hello folks.
There has been a trend in the last number of years towards the yellow flowered Magnolias and indeed there are some smashers out there and my offering is M.sub cordata. It is now at the stage where it flowers very well and is very attractive.
The second shot is of my Embothrium coccineum, surely one of the nicest of all flowering trees.
Next up is A.homebush, a really good hybrid deciduous Azalea with scented flowers.
The story of Judas has always fascinated me and i have always felt sorry for him. I know we all have free will but i think his life was laid out for him the day he was born. Life does that to some people and i hope he found his peace a long time ago. This all leads me to the flowers of Cercis siliquastrum, the Judas tree. This is supposedly the type of tree he hanged himself on but i prefer the other theory that it is called after Judea where it was very prevalent.
Finally for today a general shot.
I can’t believe that it is is two months tomorrow since I last wrote a journal – so much for good intentions!
Anyway, I was at the FUCHSIA SOCIETY meeting on Thursday last, and a very special plea was made regarding FUCHSIA GALL-MITE. This microscopic creature was brought by a well-meaning tourist from its original home in South America, where there are natural predators to keep it in check, to California where it has spread to other states where these predators are not found either. From there it was brought to the Channel Islands and to Germany, by two more tourists. It is now a scourge in France, and has spread to the UK.
One of its favourite foods is fuchsia Magellanica This is the roadside fuchsia of the south of Ireland. So far the Government is monitoring commercial traffic in fuchsias, but no one is watching us tourists so we have to monitor ourselves.
For this reason, I beg each of you to forgo the temptation to “snip that little cutting”, no matter what plant it is that you covet. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE – resist the temptation – the gall mite is so tiny that it can be carried by other insects, by wind, by birds and animals – just don’t let it be carried by you as a TOURIST.
I apologize for ‘preaching’ especially to those of you would would never be so irresponsible – but this is a matter of environmental security – and I was appalled to find that even members of the Fuchsia Society itself hadn’t heard of the hazard. But I’m not on my own in making this plea – it was also made by one of the Chelsea Flower Show officials – not just about fuchsia slips, but any cuttings of any plant.
More Information on Fuchsia Gall-mite including a nasty image
One of my own fuchsias Bella Rosella – wouldn’t it be terrible if I lost it to some tourist’s carelessness
Hi All,
So far, I have numbers for lunch on June 10th at 12.30 as follows:
Hazel (Poss +1), Mary B, Joan G, Heather (Fraoch), Margie Duffy, and Peter Wiseman.
Garden Tour only at 2.00pm: Kevin Begley and Mary O’Connell
So including Alan and I, that’s eight or nine for lunch and ten or 11 for the tour. Am I missing anyone? If so please reply to my Facebook post or add yourself here.
Plant Swap: If anyone wants to bring plants to swap, I suggest we meet at the furthest left-hand point of the Blarney Castle car park, just in front of the bus parking area (not at the hotel, which has a very small car park), at 11.30. It’s about 100m to the hotel from there for lunch. Even if you don’t want to swap plants, it would be a good idea to park there anyway and walk across to the hotel.
Although we will be a small group, it’ll be good craic and we’re looking forward to it. See you all there!
I went to The Orchard in Celbridge on Tuesday with Margie and we had a lovely morning looking around. Have to say though that my favourite place would be Johnstown as they have such a huge selection. But The Orchard still had plenty to offer and we came away with a few goodies. So of course they now need a home.
I spent yesterday morning doing a little bit and I am hoping to do the same today before I have to collect my little ladies for the afternoon, I am sure they will help too!
So for now here are a few photos that are looking good at the moment. I bought some Rodgersia in Bloom last year and they are looking great and the buds are even nicer!…..
We cut back our Lilac tree some years ago as it was very woody and the flowers were almost gone. This year it has rewarded us with some fabulous blooms and the scent is amazing.
Im loving the Solomons Seal that I got from Joan one year. It is looking fantastic with the Dicentra Bleeding Heart beside it.
Have a great weekend and I hope the we get that promised good weather too.
No not the usual catalogue of disasters! We were away today so I only got out to the garden after five. But the strimmer which has a mind of its own, was cooperative and I started to strim the terraces on the slope. Well that was done and I started on the banks on the other side. This is trickier because there are little junipers there and two roses, There were five ! Then I removed some of the sod from the rocks there to give an edge. Then the strimmer stopped. If I ignore it for a while it usually starts again so I cleared the grass around the junipers and roses. There was a ledge in Elizabeth’s corner and a stone that could be shifted to improve a line and another bigger one that could also be adjusted. I shifted the stone and took out the other. It was a nice bulky one and I thought it would be better on a path corner and I could use the one there to fill in the wall. Rolled bulky one downhill and it was just right and the other fitted in exactly. I was able to use leftover clay to form a ledge. Then back and got strimmer and off I went again into Elizabeths corner and strimmed and was very pleased with the result but I really have to plant something there worthy of its name! Im thinking azaleas maybe?
Anyway that’s all I got done but it was hugely satisfying and a lovely calm evening. Unfortunately i missed chelsea as a result. You cant have everything!
Now Im going to try and be clever. Difficult I know! But im using my old laptop for this and Im going to post it and then Ill use edit and put in the picture/s from my phone. I find the phone tiring to type on so maybe this wil work.
I am seeing yellow colouring on my potatoe plants. Can someone help as to what is causing it is.
When I press More after a journal nothing happens, it just goes back to the start again.
Anyway I am planning on spending some time outside today and doing a little bit of deadheading and maybe a bit of weeding…..also Ive some plants that need a home.
We put in a new path to our other raised bed in the left corner of the garden. This is where my Tetrapanex Rex is living. Its getting quite tall now which is great as I can now underplant it. Also put some low growing plants in amongst the cobbles that make up the pathway. All in all I am happy with how its looking now.
I had a birthday on Monday so my daughter Sarah bought me another Tree Fern, she bought my first one 2 years ago! And she bought the same pot too. So they both match now and this one is in the other circle. I am so pleased now. And hopefully this too will flourish like the other one has. Very impressed. ☺
Everything is taking shape now. We are nearly done with edging the circles with stone borders. This has really made a huge difference. Im not sure if that was Jimmys way of making sure they didn’t get any bigger lol. But I like the finished look to them. So only one more to go and it’ll be finished.
I hope you all have a chance to enjoy this beautiful promised weather and have a great day!
Really disappointed that the site isn’t working as well as I thought it would. We had problems with the photos on the old side being sideways etc and it appears that that is still an issue. Cant find any old albums or journals either…….pity!
Acer platanoides ‘Drummondii’ literally glowing this morning
Aquilegia ‘Red Hobbit’
Cotinus ‘Grace’ unfurling
Choisya this evening
I see there is a button on my profile called “Photo” – can we please have instructions how to actually add an album?
I haven’t been doing much in the last while. But the garden is carrying on without any help from me. My tree Peony enjoyed todays’ sunshine. This is my first journal on the new site with my phone. Let’s see how the portrait – positioned photos turn out.
Considering the low temperatures we had in March and April, I was afraid that the roses would be very late, if I would get them at all. Now over the last few days we had some lovely weather and things in the rose beds showed a great improvement. To day is quite sunny and I went into the front garden with the camera. and there
I had a Rugosa rose. The same rose was one I got from my late sister in County Waterford. I usually expect it before the others. It is only beginning to bloom but I am looking forward to see more of it.
Our midi skip is booked for the June bank holiday weekend (yes, there’s still that much rubble, rock, detritus, weeds, etc. to be removed). But while we wait for our beleaguered household bio bin to get emptied again, we decided to head to Mount Usher for a bit of climate-relevant garden inspiration.
I adore an English Cottage Garden, and the Robinsonian aesthetic of meadows and layered boarders suits me down to the ground. Our little patch is too small to really put the principles into full use, but we’ve no end of ideas after a most gorgeous morning wandering one of my favourite gardens.
Morning all,
Joan was talking in her journal about the ‘May gap’ and though there are many months in my garden when there are plenty gaps in terms of flowers, May isn’t one of them.
The first photo today shows a combination of an evergreen Azalea on the left, A.geisha orange and a deciduous Azalea on the right, A.golden sunset. This is what my garden is all about, i hope Scrubber likes the rock.
A.persil is a reliable flowering deciduous Azalea and some of the flowers are shown in photo no 2.
Photo no 3 shows three hybrid Rhodos and from left to right they are R.sneezy, R.dreamland and R.grumpy.
I have stated on many occasions how much i love Magnolias and a few years ago i added M.wilsonii to my collection. It is now a fine size, but as yet far from free flowering and i look forward to when it is as the flowers are beautiful and scented to boot.
