Month: March 2014
Gidday all,
had to get outside rain or not,surprised to see the amount of seedlings that have shot from the previous plants most of them are self sown.They originally came from a cottage garden packet of seeds,the current conditions apparently suit them,they,ll be transplanted into the beds I,ve opened up adding some colour to beds that have,nt seen it in the past.
regards roofy
actually spent most of the day in the garden, i have not been out really for the last 2 months or so as december january is our 2 busiest months and i have other interests too. so trying to keep all the plates spinning. and taxi for the college run also :-). i caught the sun creeping on the berries on my heavenly bamboo, and love this crocus. and delighted my echium webbi made it through this winter also. it was a beautiful day here and tomorrow also i hope, back in work sunday.
I liked the way the sun caught these tropical pitcher plants on my window sill yesterday.
A bit wet out but it could shape up to be a nice day.
I’ve added the last of the February photos to the album…
And the reason I extended (slightly) the North-facing border today was so I could finally plant out the plants that are in the pots around the Lower Pond – Cotoneaster ‘Coral Beauty’, Malus ‘Red Sentinel’ and Phormiums ‘Sundowner’ and ‘Alice Blackman’. I just hope the phormiums don’t bulk out too much. The Cotoneaster and Malus make good companions as they both obviously have lovely red berries (but of different sizes). The plants in question are on the top left of the photo.
I want to do away with these pots, as the whole point of the Lower Pond is so we can actually see it when we sit out at the patio on a summers evening. And it will give it a less-cluttered appearance. I also intend doing away with the existing netting around this pond, but hope to construct some kind of low fencing (maybe a foot in height) just to deter any perusing herons.
I know I have mentioned this other years but just a reminder for anyone living near it. The crocus avenue was just wonderful this morning when I went for my walk and well worth visiting.
I at last remembered my camera ! at the top of the park there is a path through a woodland area and they have planted lots of hellebores I have been meaning to take photos. However, I found hunkering down to get the photo was not great on trying to keep a steady hand but it will give you a flavour! So dont miss this path!
Today March 1 i began the potting of tomatoes Alicante. The pot is a Yogurt container, bigger than normal.
here are my primula zebra blue purchased last sunday and got another one today
Despite keeping an eye out for that extra old steel watering can needed to finish the colour plan in that area,still no luck.The plan was to match the early stages of the garden colour wheel of red,orange,yellow,green,and blue.
Apart from the red,the yellow green and blue combine well,but on a summer’s day with the sun going to shine at its best,and a watering can needed in a serious way then !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.Only problem is,getting that sun first.
At the end of the day it’s not a steel can at the bottom of the colour on the pole,but it will fill in.Time to draw up some plans for the week ahead..
Or at least, very close to it.
Present at Christmas 2012 from Niece. It has grown and show catkins. To day was lovely, a good day for the garden. Most of the work was tidying around flower beds. The temperature was good in the greenhouse and the vent was open for a few hours.
A few days ago, Jackie uploaded photos of her many cute garden ornaments, and after seeing that, I thought I should write a journal about my ONLY garden ornament… Actually I am not sure it even qualifies as it is not strictly speaking sitting in the middle of the garden, but just beside the patio door.
When we were in Japan last year, we saw these funny little creatures outside many houses, some very small, some quite large (up to about 1 metre tall!). They are called “tanuki” and we were told that they were a symbol or good luck and prosperity, which is why people had then at their door. I thought it would be nice to bring a small one back as a memory of the trip, but despite my best efforts, I could not find any shop that sold them, so we left without it.
A few weeks later, when my friend Yuko came back to Ireland, she brought this little one back with her and gave it to us. It turns out that a few days after we left, she and her husband went on a day trip, and discovered that it they were in the place where these tanukis were manufactured, and the town had shop after shop of them, so she bought one for us!
During the recent storms it got toppled over on a few occasions, after which it spent a few days inside as I wouldn’t like to see it broken given the trip it took to come here, but now it’s gone back to its place, looking at us with it’s funny little round eyes as we go in and out of the garden 🙂
I may have mentioned it before, but I LOVE arches! This is a trait I inherited from my maternal Grandmother who legend tells us made many attempts to construct arches in her garden were very temporary – usually constructed by herself using whatever was available.
I mentioned in a previous journal that I constructed a new arch along the path where the rather battered arches from a couple of years ago. My plan is to have a series of arches along this path – I have visions of these arches covered with frothy displays of Clematis clothing these arches.
The pipes I used to reinforce the old arches gave me the idea of constructing the new arch from the same materials. The construction is more or less completed now. The two arches are continuous pipes but they are secured to good strong posts – already in place to hold up the netting fence along the path. They were still inclined to curve too soon so I added some tall bamboos lashed to the pipes to where I wanted the curves to begin.
I was surprised at how stable they were once I put the little bamboo struts crosswise to hloe them the same distance apart.
The final touch was to cut several lengths as crosspieces.
Now you may wonder how this edifice is held together – well yes, it is my old friends the Cable Ties but when I was getting a fresh supply the guy in the hardware store also sold me some extra long extra strong ones I think used by the local farmers! They are so strong that I’m convinced my arch will last. So the finishing touch will be to continue the netting across the arch. I planted two Clematis at the foot of the new arch – so I reckon I have a couple of weeks to get that done before the new Clematis reach the arch 🙂
The recent storm toppled the fir tree. It had been tethered several years ago with a blue rope. The saw cut shows how the tree had grown around the rope and gave the trunk a nice smile.
I’m sorry to have to show this cattleya hybrid again but it is my favourite orchid and I want to explain why.
This is Laeliocattleya C.G. Roebling ‘Sentinel’ and it is an intergenetic hybrid – a cross of the genera cattleya and laelia, hence the compound name of ‘laeliocattleya’, sometimes abbreviated to ‘LC’.
I love the shape of the flowers, with their wavy petals, the colour and the overall proportions of this tall plant. It is a hybrid but everything about it says ‘species’, as far as I’m concerned. Some cattleya hybrid flowers can be quite ‘blobby’ but I think this one has a lot of grace.
I have four flowering spikes this year, despite the plant being still in quite a small pot and I love the fact that it is not too hard to cultivate and flower.
Finally, Laeliocattleya C.G. Roebling ‘Sentinel’ has a delicate spicy scent, which comes in gentle wafts.
The funny thing is that I ended up with this plant by accident. It can be very hard to choose what to buy, especially when you haven’t seen a whole lot of orchids in reality and have no one to recommend. But I am very happy about this ‘accident’.
Clara posted a beautiful photo of some of her Hellebore flowers in a gorgeous dish yesterday.
A few flowers from my Camellias were lying on the ground this morning when I went out. But these Camellia flowers work just as well, I think.
Got this excellent looking piece of a tree trunk today out on a job from a very nice farmer. When on the job i saw loads of bits of trees broken or cut piled up around the place and asked could i have a look around and maybe take one home with me for the garden. Of course he was more than happy for me to take one and said whatever i want it’s mine but i just took the one not wanting to be greedy but it is a monster of one. My other two pieces in the garden are also from work, it’s amazing how nice people can be. I suppose there waste is my treasure. So happy with this, not sure where it will go yet but it will be planted with ferns anway i think.
Sean bought me this one for my birthday last year
But i am a little disappointed with the flowers! They seem to be in a cluster which i really dont like at all
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.
The heating oil is finished so it was as warm in the garden as the house today.
Liga always comes to visit in March, just after the heating oil runs out so I contacted her to see what her plans were. And, guess what? She said she had been thinking of a visit 😛
I only had about an hour in the garden today, determined to tidy up the bed which holds the early tulips. I got it done but the wind was whipping up nicely by the end.
I had to chase my kneeler down the garden before it disappeared for good!
This pleione opened today. Doesn’t it have a great name? It’s a nice little one too, with touches of orange to its hue.
One of my nephews gave me this for Christmas. I’m delighted with it.
Try as I might, I just couldn’t get this phormium out of the pot that it has been in since buying it about 8 years ago. And impatient as ever, I just couldn’t wait for Steve to come home from work as I wanted it planted NOW! So I had to take a hammer to it. It’s not as if I needed the pot or anything. But I do like BIG pots.
A lovely calm mild day! Perfect for doing a bit in the garden. That little weed with the white flowers (What’s its name?) is taking over a bed in the front – so I did a little patch there with the hoe- I do hope though I havnt taken the heads of a few things that are coming up! This is always a risk at this time of year.
But I was thrilled to see my 3 Fritillaria Crown Imperial Aurora and was careful not to put my foot on them. This will be my first year for these and I must remember to get the slug pellets round them in the morning.
I then decided a change of job would be good and went in to the shed to pot up my 6 little Salvia argentea and also my 5 Ipomea Star of Yelta. The little pots take up a lot more space than the seed trays! The window sills will be fully occupied as I have another tray of Salvia turkinencia to do, hopefully tomorrow.
I also finished off a job I had started another day – dividing up my pot of plants that I called my “Mediterranean Garden” I couldnt believe how pot bound they were. They each have their own pot now.
Looking forward to more days in the garden.
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!!!!
It would be to good if all went perfect everyday.As temperatures are up again and areas in the tunnel and greenhouse growing well,all is fine until our enemy the rain strikes.Makes the day almost impossible to plan for with problems from free showers etc.
I hoped to move on some more of the hardened off Legumes (Peas) to fill bed B3,but rain entered the plan.Still though i did manage to capture the sight of new growth on some of the shrubs as i exited after a late lunch,so all was not lost.
Im off to play cards in 20 minutes after the good side of water a quick shower,is called upon.No plans until later on tonight or before first light in the morning.
Most of you would know that this my Dads plant that I have been nursing back in health for years now. Last year I changed the compost and replanted it.
I have never seen it looking so good. It’s still a bit leggy, but I’m hoping the plant will sort that out itself all going well.
It will be feed a couple of times this year a treat for doing so well LOL
