Month: March 2014

Evening all, the first photo today is of the lovely dark Hellebore, H.purpurea. The second shot is of the catkins on Corylus avellana contorta and the third photo is of flower buds on that lovely evergreen shrub, Drimys aromatica. All very different, but all three of them add to the garden.

Took the little ladies for a walk around the green at the back of our house this afternoon as it was such a mild day and dry too.

Teddy and dolly came too……and look what we saw…some beautiful Tete-a-tete’s planted at a lamp-post, looking absolutely stunning…..and at the next lamp-post we saw some crocus….I just love to see people taking an interest outside of their gardens as well as inside…..

I’m constantly looking at the back garden, walking around it, generally giving it a once over and then out planting……but I always seem to neglect the front garden for some reason.

Back in September or thereabout, I planted some Tete-a-tete, some tall daffodils and some crocus……and then whatever is in the garden after that is there since last year. Nothing too exciting at all. I did put in some snowdrops from clumps that I found here when we arrived, but I havent really had much interest in the garden. Hadnt noticed anything much happening though….well until……..

Today after collecting my eldest granddaughter from playschool, we had a little look at the flowers and I was surprised to see that the Tete-a-tete were actually in full flower and looking really lovely. And the crocus , well they are just magnificent….the photos really do not show their real colour of this beautiful purple crocus…and they are so big and lush looking. We had a little look around and Ive decided that this year I need to give some attention to the garden. It needs a bit of colour….not sure yet of what, but I will definitely make an effort!

So watch this space!

To day, I visited Woodies ans bought two trays of pansies. These were for the ceramic pots that i bought early in the year. Now the pansies are potted. I also bought one Lavender, one Rosemary, one Bellis and some nuts for the birds as well as seeds: Alyssum, Coleus and Tomato Faworyt (beefsteak) which goes down later than the ordinary type. The total came to €44.89 and I got €4.51 discount. The dearest item was the nuts @17.99 less €1.80. The pansies were planted as were the Rosemary and Lavender.

My Crocus are beginning to open up now- Luckily, i sowed loads of them at the end of last year  and they’re popping up all over now.

We have big plans for this ugly bit of terracing. It will have trellises, pots, a climbing rose, attractive paving and it’ll be a pretty outdoor dining room overlooking the pond. There will be a rockery at the edge with a trickling falls. But we have lots of other things to be getting on with so I have spoken severley to my gardening partner, who gets very enthusiastic about new projects before we’ve finished the last ones,  and informed him that we won’t be doing anything with it this year so he’s not to get distracted from other jobs. 

And then I saw a Zéphirine Drouhin climbing rose in Dangan yesterday. Just what I’d planned for the to-be-built trellis arch. Talk about impulse buy – if he’d bought it I’d accuse him of going about it all arse-backwards!

What can I say? 😉

Gidday all,

               something else that found it,s way into the shopping trolley.

   Sorry about the London bit.                                                                                                                                    regards roofy

ClaireE, Clara, JoanG and myself met in Enniskerry last evening to hear a talk by Bay Garden co-owner Frances McDonald.

It was on Herbacerous border plants, with slides of Bay Garden and gardens from all over the world. I enjoyed the evening. Sorry again for having to rush off Ladies, but what else are Dad’s for other than an acting Taxi driver LOL

Janet (of the Enniskerry group) thank you for posting this reminder on the site here, good to meet you at last.

Gidday all,

                Hebe-Oratia Beauty &Nandina domestica-Gulf Stream are the latest editions to the patch,resisted buying more this shopping trip.

The netting is to protect the vegie plants from a over abundance of White Butterfly-(cabbage moth) buggers are every where you look.

I apologise for the spider photo pretty dumb eh!!!.

                                                                       regards roofy.

Bought three years ago. And for a change I planted them out, rather than keeping them in pots. They always just rotted off and I discarded them. Until I bought these. They are flowering for the third year running. They are planted in a well-drained area on the Bank, so maybe that’s how they want to grow. Not bad for €3.99.

At work today i was finished my job early enough and on the way back to Cork I decided to call into a garden center in Dungarvan and saw this lovely Double Primula which i couldn’t resist and bought it. I tought quite expensive for a primula at €6.50 but the plant will divided into 3 maybe 4 plants so that will be money well spent then i think. It’s also another Jack in the Green primula, really like these ones.

I bought a beautiful white Camassia a good few years ago. The second year I had it, the slugs and snails ate it to bits. Eventually all the plants around it grew so large that I could no longer see it. I thought that it had just perished. But after clearing a large section on the Shady Border today I noticed this growth that reminds me of Camassia foliage. Would I be right, by any chance? Or is it too early to see any growth? If it is a Camassia, VERY HAPPY DAYS!!!!

Got bits of shopping done very early this morning so I could get out to the garden nice and early. A bit dull, but at least it was mild and dry. Still working on the North-facing border today. I finally got the Cotoneaster AND the Phormium planted into this border, which I am delighted with. These were in big, really big pots, and positioned around the perimeter of the Lower Pond.

They were actually spoiling the view of the pond. Took a nice Carex buchananii from the end of the garden and transplanted it into this area too. I’m so used to having plants neck and neck together to get as much as possible out of my garden. But in reality, I’m not doing the plants many favours as they cannot possibly grow to their full potential in limited spaces. Slowly but surely I am learning from my mistakes. It’s about time too.

A lot of plants that I had taken out to facilitate the ‘make-over’ will possibly NOT go back. So I’m left with the dilemma of what to do with them. Very happy with the results so far on this border. Still a bit more to do. But my back can only take so much abuse. Feeling quite achey this evening.

But standing back and taking a critical look at my work, I am happy with what I see. The Carex was totally hidden down at the end of the garden. I can now even see it blowing in the wind from the dining room. And during my transplanting spree I spotted a couple of nice rocks completely hidden by plants. These were taken out and I will use them, and a couple more that I found elsewhere to embed into the Bank beside where the final pond will be.

Weeded and top-dressed my Acid Triangle, and it’s now looking great. Lots of new growth on my blueberry bushes.

Finally got round to sowing little Amorphophallus konjac bulbs that Rachel gave me, into horticultural grit, and they are now on a bit of heat.

Another nice day today and after lunch I decided to head out to the garden and do a little bit of tidying up.

Ive lots of pots hanging around. Some were from the get-together in January and others are plants that had to be moved when the wall was being built and the rest are bits and pieces.

I know in my head what way I’d like the garden to be and I know some people would put their plan on paper and stick with that. Me, on the other hand, its a hit and miss approach lol. I just go out and put in what I want, where I want and hope for the best.

So thats what I did today……I planted up some of the plants in pots and moved some around. As the trees and old shrubs are gone now I’ve lots of spare places to plant up and so much more light getting to the plants too. Bit by bit I hope to have the garden sorted out and I’m sure I will still be moving plants around that are either too big or just in the wrong place!

The worst part is the tidying up though…..and all those empty pots just waiting to be filled again!

I’m a hoarder by nature. Luckily so is Steve. But to accommodate all the junk we hoard, our double garage can’t even fit one car into it. 

However, today I noticed that our apples were going a bit wrinkly. So even though I had filled up the feeders earlier, I found an old colander and used this to put the chopped up apples into rather that a dish. Great drainage, and no mess on the grass either.

Just love these and so pretty at the minute. 

We have an ugly manhole in the garden which if left untouched is an awful sight.  It’s right outside the dining room window. 

So last year Jimmy decided to make a planter above it. It’s deep enough for some low growing plants but light enough to lift off if we need access to the manhole. 

In it I’ve planted some spring bulbs. I’ve crocus, tete-a-tete, miniature tulips, anemones, even a Lupin in the centre. 

Yesterday it was so sunny and the planter is just awash with colour. The photo really doesn’t do it justice.  But the tulips were wide open and the crocuses too. But my favourites are the anemones. They are quite tall now and some really lovely colours of blue and pink. 

I hope they last for so e time yet. 

I was given this very pretty Anemone a few weeks ago. It’s producing another amazing coloured flower. Very hard to capture the true blue in a photo but I’m so in love with it.

Thanks again, Jackie.

Have this Hellebore in the garden since last year and it’s bulked up nicely. 

Its a white hellebore or so I thought but recently I noticed it’s got some pink tinged flowers on it too. In fact more pink than white. 

Any ideas as to why this might be? It’s lovely all the same so not too bothered 

Gidday all,If I did,nt know better I,d swear it was Spring not Autumn,flowers breaking out all over the patch unusual to have so much colour.

The rain shower just after mowing the lawns helped the cause back to sunshine at the minute & quiet warm 23*C.

The spider is a Huntsman one of the resident fly catchers he do,es a great job too.

Happy gardening folks.                                                          regards roofy.