Month: May 2018

It’s sometimes called the “May gap”, that quieter time in the garden when the early colour of daffodils, tulips and other spring bulbs has passed and the exuberance of roses, paeonies,  and the hot colours of summer have yet to come.  With the late arrival of spring this year, and the rush to catch up, the gap is shorter but I always love this time when we can delight in fresh green growth and the delicate flowers of late spring.
Aquilegias are a favourite of mine, often a surprise as regards colour and where they will appear.  This year has brought some delicate lilac shades.

Aquilegia clematiflora is a species with a clematis-like flower which I have managed to increase through saved seed (thank you, PeterW).

And a joy to see appearing every May is Smilacina (now Maianthemum) racemosa which I bought at Bloom a few years ago, having seen it in splendour in The Bay Garden.  It has bulked up to a satisfying size now and has a lovely delicate scent.

I hope you are all enjoying your gardens; looks like we’ll have nice weather this week.

Wondet if it will work this

Time

!this wasn’t very successful but at leasthe I got pictures up.the pieris is a lovely shiny plum colour. The ferns is so beautiful at this time. The one with the big rock and azaleas and amelanchier is lovely I think. There are now host’s patriot at the bottom of the rock.

First flower, Summer must have arrived!

Good day everyone,

Rhododendron graziella is a hybrid that has become very popular in the last few years and with good reason. The narrow foliage is its strongest feature,but the flower trusses are also very good.

When you’re talking of narrow leaved Rhododendrons there is none better than R.yakushimanum. This is the parent species of many fine ‘yak’ hybrids and is a wonderful, easy species to grow.

A fantastic, very dwarf Rhodo species is R.cephalanthum crebreflorum. I am showing its lovely foliage today, and as well as being so attractive to the eye it is also attractive in other ways as the foliage is aromatic as well. It took a year off from flowering this year but when it does bloom it has beautiful, daphne like flowers.

Finally for today i am showing the flowers of my other tree Paeonia, P.lutea var ludlowii.

Got my bean rig and pea rig up and planted…

All of a sudden the garden has taken off…….shrubs and plants are growing right in front of my eyes. Ive had to even cut back a few here and there as they were getting so big. Its nice to see the few bright days. Today looks like its going to be the best so far this week and Im aiming on spending a little while out there amongst my other travels for the day!!

We have been busy in the garden sorting out the beds. I have Jimmy putting in edging around the circles and hopefully this weekend he will be finished. On the other side of the garden we built another raised bed where my T Rex is planted. So Im conscious of what I can put in there as the leaves on the T Rex are huge. Only good thing is its now quite tall so it won’t overshadow the lower plants too much! Well thats the plan. Im thinking I might now put some stepping stones into this bed too…..another little plan for himself 😄

Today I’m going to plant out the Dahlia…..have had enough of them in and out of the greenhouse. I noticed some that I didn’t lift are now sprouting so if they can do so can the ones I brought in…….

Here are a few photos of whats looking good right now in the garden. Hope you all have a great day and hopefully the weekend ahead will be good for us too!

I do like all kinds of Clematis but only have space for a couple in the garden at present.  I’ve been wondering where I can squeeze in another one or two without evicting other well-loved plants or resorting to yet more containers.  All the wall space is taken, so my eye is on the obelisk in the border beside the greenhouse, which has accommodated annuals up to now.  It’s just 6 ft high, so nothing too vigorous; perhaps a late-flowering Viticella or early Alpina, or both?  All suggestions welcome!  I’d love a Clematis tangutica, with its lemon-peel flowers and gorgeous seed heads, but don’t know of a small variety.

Meanwhile, ‘Miss Bateman’ on the patio trellis is looking good!

This shrub never fails for me and is so easy to propagate, simply get ar it at rootlevel. This year it was quite late in blooming I normally expect it to be good in April.

It is a flowering shrub with a great scent at this time of year. I have it for some time but never had it identified.

Morning all

R.dichroanthum ssp scyphocalyx is a species with lovely flowers and is looking well at the moment.

R.wilgens ruby is a Rhodo that blooms really well year after year and sometimes i take these reliable flowering hybrids for granted. Shame on me.

Another great hybrid is the commonly seen R.scarlet wonder.

To finish for now i will move away from my Rhodos and show one of the beautiful flowers of one of my tree Paeonias. I just love yellow flowers. This is scented as well so has it all.

Some photos from today.

This is a most beautiful garden in a wonderful situation in Donegal near the Derry border.  The views go right over to Errigal and Muckish and all in between.

The Lady Alice Fitzwillams all cosy against the fence.

A fairly large rhodo.

This garden is well worth a visit at any time of the year.

I had written a para  about my friend’s garden and had included 5 pictures, but hey ho!  that is not how it appears  now!  Rather than loose this journal, I will do another with further pictures.

while there are some plants in our gardens which need some TLC there are others who just come up every year and do there thing. This is three of them taken in garden today. Rhoda Iberis and silene never do anything with these only enjoy

There are all shapes and sizes of Rhododendron hybrids and each type has their place. I am lucky to have the space to grow the larger growing plants in the garden, but i grow the small ones as well. Here is an example of both.

The first photo shows the fabulous flowers of the large growing R.point defiance. The trusses on this Rhodo are awesome. In contrast the second photo shows the lovely yellow flowers of the dwarf R.wren, i have this at the base of the wonderful species R.niveum.

A great, scented shrub for this time of year is the sweetly scented Mexican Orange blossom, Choisya ternata. This is a great shrub for any garden.

Finally i will sign off with a shot of the spectacular foliage of the species Azalea, A.quinquefolium. I think this is a staggeringly beautiful shrub.

Nature has wonderful powers of recovery.  As you scroll down these pictures, you will see the embothrium to the left of the gate. Not a leaf.  This is the 1st time this has happened, but those 5 weeks of unrelenting E. winds do not seem to have damaged the flower buds.  Ths side nearer the sea is not quite as good.  But neverthless, impressive.

The epyphillium, as you can see is in great shape.  The 1st flower was around the beginning of the year!

Magnolia Susan has flowered very well, considering the blast she got from the sea.  Brave Lady Alice Fitzwilliam was wonderful.  She stays quite small, around 2-3ft.  It took her many years to settle, and so I always greet and thank her for her presence.  She finds it  a bit cool and windy.  She usually gets the prevailing Westerlies, and seems to have been protected from that Beast from the East, which actually did untold damage, especially to the  cedars.  The Atlantica glauca is now “browna”  C. Deodar is equally devoid of needles.  I think Myrtus apiculata is recovering, but the poor M. Glanleam bold is having a struggle.

I had wished to have the last picture at the top !! But heigh ho!  Perhaps if  they were iploaded one by one, I would have more control?  Any remarks on this?

The picture below was taken through the window.

my garden is fattening up at last

Tried the add album link ! Forget it

Hello all . Hope you are keeping well and gardening between the showers ! The sun has just appeared again in S Tipp after heavy rain all night. Some color appearing at last and the ground has warmed enough to add a spurt to most plants . My first potatoes are now peeping up . Don’t blame them for taking their time . I’ve concentrated on potatoes garlic onions broad beans and parsnips this year so far . My Bee keeping friend is providing me with lots of swops so the flower collection grows ! She loves Iris and exotics and collects seed herself . Happy days . I must do another Bee Journal shortly with photos . The poor bees are trying so hard but temperatures are way down on what’s required . We live in hope . Looking forward to Mt Congreve on the 20th and this year Iam Deffo doing Bloom .

In recent times, I have been taking an interest in the behaviour of the robin who comes to my door for food. I found over the last few days that he/she takes a little of the seed alonfg to an area and back again, probably to the mate in the nest.
My grapes have come on a lot. Those near the door are sweet now and I have tasted them. i wonder how the sticks I gave some years ago to Fran for PCON.

The fern that Martin gave me some years ago in Johnstown have appeared. I had thought that it was dead. I am looking forward to seeing it later.