Month: September 2012

I had a good day today and got much of the grass cutting and hedge trimming done.  The place looks a lot nicer after just one day.  I still can’t cut the marshy bits as it’s still a pond down there.  Hmm will have to re think that area; it’s very unpleasant to walk through.  Tomorrow more cutting and trimming but I hope to get a start on my bulb planting too.  I bought a big bag of Barrenwyn daffodillyesterday which I’m told is a very early one.  I’m still broken hearted about my box getting blighted but noticed in Fota yesterday that they’ve got it too now in the last few weeks so I’m in good company.

I took some shots of the newly tidy garden and I’m also putting up a pic of a persicaria which divides opinion.  Hazel saw it somewhere recently and mentioned it in a journal.  I am a fan.  It is very vigorous but is easy to pull out and makes a nice background for example this rose. 

Isn’t it interesting that now is the time when we may be planting the bulbs mentioned above and  with the great weather that these pollinating insects are frequenting our gardens. There has been mention by Martin and Heather of the butterflies. Yesterday I noticed a few butterflies but plenty of honey bees in my garden. Most of them were enjoying nectar and pollen in Solidago at the back of the house. The Solidago is doing very well but not only that but hosting all these busy honey bees. While I don’t keep bees, other people in the neighbourhood should benefit from these plants with the yellow flowers and of course the pollination will benefit my plants. To day I got more done than yesterday. Testerday was very warm and suitable for the light work in the garden. To day was also a lovely day, not quite as warm but suitable for mowing the lawn. I got a lot of grass cut and took it to the compost heap. The lawn is looking quite good now. I plan to give it some fertilizer and spray it as quite a lot of weeds have appeared.

Took these today in an idle moment. All common enough but hey.

Sitting at the dining table this morning when the sun reached the garden. Noticed what looked like unusual flowers from my Deadly Nightshade in the greenhouse pond. Went to investigate further and felt such an idiot. I mean, the flowers appeared in early summer, so why did I think it was producing flowers (and way bigger than earlier in the year, and even a different colour!!! ). It was just a trick of light with the sun shining on it. Looks cool, though.

i went in to the local garden centre yesturday to see what i could afford to put with violas in baskets as i had decieded todo them, a display of violas planted on their own caught my eye and thought “they look so pretty on their own”.so i just picked up some more violas. 

as soon as i got home out i went and happily filled baskets and pots, it was a lovely relaxed afternoon, when they fill out they should look nice, even now they look so cute.

for the first time this year i had to spray the cabbage and also sprayed the bamboo and other bits at the front wall.

so that is two things marked off my long list.

next is to wash down the tunnel inside and disinfect it, hoping to do this at the weekend

Except for the fact that the reclaiming of the rockery may turn out to be a lifetimes work! Especially as one  rather stupidly decides that a stone her or there might look better!

My good friend Jim came and cut the hedges for me today as they are a bit beyond me at present and the transformation was amazing. Theres a good chance that the berberis will revive after those two bad winters. There’s lots of new growth there.

While Jim cut hedges I tried to find the rockery again. A friend recently gave me a present of a lovely hellebore and I placed it where I will see it every day. Hellebore on a rockery you ask. Yes but  its in a pocket of good earth and one looks down on it and the leaves are really lovely and theres a red tinge in the centre, and it does say sun or shade on well drained soil! Hazel if it wilts it will be out of there like a flash! 

Later I cut the grass all round and this was Id say the first time this year I cut dry grass and the difference was unimaginable. It was really enjoyable! I had strimmed and trimmed edges beforehand so all I had to do was run along after the mower! You can cut it in half the time when its dry.

Im going to try to put up a picture of a Hartstongue fern I noticed in the rockery. Its really curious and it would be nice if I got some more from it! I think Ill name it fantasticus! But then you may all have strange hartstongue ferns in your gardens.

Am very pleased with the cementing. Theres something permanent about sticking two stones together that satisfies me no end. Simple pleasures for simple minds!

With all that has been going on recently I had completely forgotten about this pretty Hollyhock! I bought it in Johnstown at the Christmas get-together – Alcea sounded familiar but I couldn’t remember what it was! I really need to work on my plant recognition 🙂 

But now I am rewarded – and I’m so pleased that so far it has escaped the rust that usually blights these lovely stately plants!

At this time of year my Zingy bed is a real eye catcher, although this year there wasnt  much sun and the trees outside my garden prevented it getting some too.

But there are a few gentle colours that are worth having too, it is nice to actually have to look for these plants in your garden rather than jumping out and hitting the eye “Look at me” types 🙂

i went out for my usual stroll to see what else was out in flower, and noticed something has been sitting in the middle of my sedum i am really annoyed about it as it can break so easily and it is just started to colour up.i divided asters in spring and dying to see them all in flower now 

here is three plants i spotted today

… especially on a beautiful sunny day like today!

The sedum bed was where I was weeding today, taking my time and examining the many different little plants in this bed. Weeding really gets me “up close and personal” with my plants and I can even try to memorise the names on labels too!

Many of the sedums are bulking up well, some are already spilling over their boundaries and some are merging together to start forming the carpet that is what I visualised when I first  designed this bed!

Today my weeding was accompanied by clouds of beautiful butterflies fluttering about often within a foot of where I was working – it doesn’t get much better than that!

The sedum bed is finished now and won’t need attention for a while now. The other tasks for today were dead-heading the dahlias and cutting back the giant daisies by the stream that had collapsed down on top of the other plants in that area. Large chunks of Rosa Rugosa had to be removed so that the path became accessible again. Another wheelbarrow full of stuff for shredding!

I need to start moving my compost heap to where it is needed, but unfortunately it is sp pretty with the Nasturtiums that grew over it that I can’t bear to pull them up!

Off to the Independent Republic of Inishown – also known as “God’s Own Country” – for a wedding this weekend so the garden will have to look after itself for a few days 🙂

I am putting up photos of this white orchid which is in bloom at the moment. My daughter gave it to me last year and I am delighted to have in in flower again. The photos are not very good but it has huge flowers on 3 stems.  25 flowers in all 🙂 I have to put a stone on the pot to keep it from toppling over!

Alonsoa is now in full flower a bit later than normal but it really needs the sun. It is a good annual to sow for autumn colour.

I did a drastic thing today in the garden.

I decided that the drifwood piece was just not right where it was.

The back gaden is full of hard landscaping, and the driftwood only added to this situation.

I moved the wood and added some more grasses and a Bamboo.

The difference is immense, I am really happy with the result.

So much for my plans of an easy day in the garden, but it was an enjoyable day.

I spent the last 2 weeks of August in New York on a fantastic family holiday. Despite being a concrete jungle I was amazed at the variety of plants shrubs and flowers found in many places. 2 places stood out for me. The first was NY Botanical Gardens..  It was vast and one could spend days wandering around it there was so much to see.

The second was a beautiful garden restaurant called ‘Harvest on the Hudson’. The car park was lined with apple, pear and peach  trees laiden with fuits( thinking of Jacinta here).  You were met at the entrance with tall sunflowers   and all the tables were surrounded with beds brimming with veggies, fruit, herbs and flowers all over looking the Hudson river. I have never seen anything like it!

Will post albums of both shortly

I have had holiday blues since I have come back.. My own garden is like a jungle.. I know I should be cutting back and tidying up…but we’re having such lovely weather at the moment i just wander around the garden  and enjoy  it for as long as possible.

I received this beauty as a small seedling from Fran earlier in the season and planted it below a climbing rose on a south-facing wall. It has done well and gives me much pleasure as it triggers off holiday memories from a long time ago!

I first saw Rhodochiton on a visit to Hever Castle (onetime home of Anne Boleyn) while spending a holiday in Kent, England many years ago. On that occasion I picked a seed from the plant and managed to grow it in my garden the following year but, unfortunately lost the plant over winter.

So its lovely to have this plant in the garden again and to recall the pleasures of a great holiday!

 A belated “thank you”, Fran, for this lovely plant and the added pleasures!.

i took a pic of this bud on a fatsia as i had read that you can save seeds from it, was just wondering if it is a seed head or a flower bud? and do the seeds come after the flowers? i would love to try sowing and if any one has done it i would be delighted to know. i have googled it but it doesnt show you where you take cuttings from and do they need heat? 

i know there is a lot of questions in that request sorry in advance.

also does anyone know what this plant is thought i planted a helenium there last year after a trip to tullamore but this aint a helenium, i think it was fran that put up a pic of this in a recent journal

Sunset photos from my garden.

sitting out in the arbour this evening, the last of the sun rays caught the heavenly

bamboo and it looked so well in that light.

out on my usual stroll in the garden i spotted one of my perennial asters flowering away, not all fully open but what a treat.

i cant believe that i got these hostas to grow from seeds yipee. 

the annual asters are just lighting up this bed and the photo doesnt do them justice 

UP GALWAY TOMORROW

“Queen of the Night” (NIGHT BLOOMING ORCHID CACTUS – Epiphyllum)

I got little cutting of this interesting cactus in March. Planted it and waited…. at least for some growth 🙂 But it was very life loving cactus and not only grew some new leaves but also showed some strange bud… Which grew longer and bigger every day. I was told it will be something I never seen before… so I was watching very closely, checking it every night (with camera ready for action!)… as it suppose to open at night time… and die… when the first light of the sun lits the room.  So there it is!

p.s. the scent is gorgeous! Kind of complicated to explain, not like a rose, not like a jasmin, not like a tulip…  but very much like Queen of the night! … 🙂   

This area of the garden has been doing well this year, probably because of all the rain?!! I had a couple of ferns planted just before the two harsh winters of 2009 and 2010 and they never really took off until this year, and I even thought I had lost them at some point, but now they seem to have recovered well. I love the different shades or green, with a bit of colour also with the Japanese painted fern and Koidzumi’s wood fern.

love seen them around and with a load of buddleias and sedums there are aload of them around and even come in to visit regularly there isnt too many days that i  dont have to go around with a tea towel to bring one outside again. while i was out yesturday eve in the front garden there was three on a sedum and three near beckys bedroom window tried to get a photo but only captured one butterfly.

a bit dreary here today, have loads of clothes to dry as soon as i put them out it made a huge shower, sods law.

in a previous journal i asked for help with a fatsia would really appreciate it

Butterflys are loving my sedums.

And a rose just for its colour

Having done very nicely from the bargain bench in the Glanbia Garden centre kilmeaden on friday, solanum and grasses and alpines I genuinely meant just to look around Johnstown as we had to go to naas on Sat. After a nice cup of tea and a cake  I went around the plants. Then I thought i might just get a small packet of St Patrick’s day daffs, some aconites and possibly a small whipchord hebe. But then i saw them Gladioli Callianthus (used to be called Acidanthera murielae) and i was smitten! beautiful arching elegant white purple centered flowers on large elegant green stems-and the perfume, across between Sweet Pea and Lily, a little stronger than the first and not as pungent as the second. Daffs and aconites etc. faded immediately!

And then a lovely white Liriope was quite near them. Anna saw i was smitten and encouraged me ‘Get two! Ill make you a present!’. I ended up getting two Gladioli Call. and one Liriope! Its funny how easily one can be bowled over. We managed to get them home without breaking the stems and I know where they are going. Apparently they are a bit tender. A lovely present!

Oh Can someone tell me please. I bought two Clematis in Aldi recently and they flowered well. Now the heads are gone and the seedhead tassels are left. They were trained up on a cane. Does anyone know what I do next-do I wait for the leaves to wither and then cut them back to the ground? The labels say Summer clematis Lightly prune in early spring and another says prune if needed after flowering. Are they deciduous. Excuse my abysmal ignorance of clematis!

Thrilled with this Hedychium ‘Assam Orange’ which I only have since May and as you can see is in full flower.  Will  make sure to put it in the glasshouse for the winter.