Month: March 2014

This has got to be my very favourite Pulmonaria. It looked gorgeous today with a backdrop of primulas which aren’t terribly visible in the photo and dropped scarlet leaves from Photinia. Maybe the photos will pass the ‘Andy’ test. LOL

Even though it was a horrible day, as i was in Malahide i called into the 2 gardens and had a privite stroll around as no one seemed to be mad enough to do that. their was even lightening overhead. the west garden will be lovely when its matured a bit and the bluebell wood will look good when its bulked up. not a good day for pics or ‘strolling’, but i loved it anyway. im a regular here anyway.

I was at Hunting Brook today for the March class of the plants person course.

I did this course last year but missed March, so today was a “catch-up” day. Despite the biting cold as well as some rain, sleet, hail, snow and with a bit of sun here and there, I thoroughly enjoyed walking around the garden and learning about new plants (or remembering what I had learnt last year!), and came back with a few fresh ideas for my garden…

This morning we had a really enjoyable talk by Oliver Shurmann from Mount Venus Nursery, who also came with some plants, so I bought two small woodland plants: Isopyrum thalictroides and Hepatica nobilis, which will go in the front garden. I only learned about Hepaticas recently and was delighted to get one of these.

The only sad part of the day was that with that class, I finished the course! I will definitely go back to visit however.

They say that Idleness is one of the seven deadly sins. Guilty! But then I had my daughter and grandson over today to amuse me. 

When they left for home, I nipped outside, albeit very briefly, to see if anything else has opened.. It was such an awful day all day. 

Can’t remember the name of the first camellia. Not ‘Donation’ or ‘Anticipation’, I think. And the label on it is so old it has completely faded. Maybe someone can remind me please.

The second photo is my C. ‘Berenice Perfection’ once again. But I noticed today that a lot of the flowers are actually opening back to back. Hmmmm, never noticed that before. Still beautiful though.

And of course, you know who the third photo is of. 🙂  Bless his heart, we had another creative session this afternoon. Beats getting soaking wet and cold, doesn’t it!!!

My sister had bought me this from Deborah last year, I was delighted with it and put it in the ground but it almost immediately “died”. But I was thrilled to see it looking beautiful and green and healthy about a week ago and now the flowers have opened. It is a beautiful colour and I love the unusual shape of the flower, I have only ever seen these in shades of blue.

Here are some rhododendrons currently in bloom.

The first is incorrectly labelled by me.  Is it Rhododendron augustinii?

I think the second is correctly labelled as Rhododedndron leucaspis.

The third is also, I think, correctly considered to be Rhododendron ‘Hino Crimson’.

I usually love getting out into the garden and doing whatever I can. That wasn’t the case this past winter, unfortunately.  I could blame the weather, but if I really wanted to I probably could have worked outside anyway.  But hopefully my mindset has turned a corner and I’ll be outside a bit more now.  Thank God for the blooms that brighten up any day!

I hope you all have been more successful in the garden than I have!

Here’s to a more productive spring!

Dana

As the sun was going down yesterday evening, the light caught the pergola in such a way that the whole structure actually looked like it was made from metal, instead of wood. Strange altogether.

Photo quality not great – sorry.

Yes it’s cold and yesterday was no exception. 

After a beautiful start to the day it turned very cold in the afternoon and of course the rain appeared. 

I’ve had the grandchildren for the past two days so not much happening garden wise. 

But once they went home yesterday I took to my little greenhouses. Plastic they may be but what a relief to have somewhere to go when it’s so cold. 

They are placed at the North facing wall so the wind was ‘behind’ me and the greenhouses sheltered me from that blasted wind. 

Did a bit more potting on , as that’s a much as anyone could do in that cold. Also went through my seed box. I collected a lot of seeds around the garden last year. 

I planted up a variety of Cosmos, great plants to have to fill gaps. Also Coreopsis, Ipomea ‘Star of Yelta, Poppies, Mimulus, some unknown seeds!!!! , Laburnum, and some more that escape me now. I spent about two hours doing the seeds and it was so relaxing. Problem is I’m running out of space. 

Also planted up some Lillium bulbs and Gladoli in pots. 

Tidied up the green greenhouse as this is where I store all my tools, pots, lawnmower and other garden paraphernalia. So that’s a bit tidier. 

Hoping to get out in the garden for a while today. I need to look for my Hostas and see if they survived all the abuse the garden took  while the wall was being built!!! We live in hope 🙂

have a great day everyone. 

Pictures are of my Alliums making an appearance. 

Hi Sally, the Lonicera you sent me is doing great and busting out in new leaf at the moment. I have noticed that leaf shape seems to be chaging. I never noticed theses shape leaves last year. I love the leaf anyway, but this shape just adds to it’s beauty.

Thanks again, hoping for flowers this year 😉

Really pleased with the bloom on this one, this year. It was a little disappointing last year and I was watching it closely in case it was not happy with it’s position.

Lokks like it has settled in now and will just get better and better.

Gidday all,

               the latest purchases are all in the ground mother nature can look after them now until spring except for the cottage garden seed which will be up in about 2 to 3 weeks.

Some spinach seed Viking & the english medania plus red&green salad lettuce were put into punnets with my own version of a propergater.:)

I seem to recall saying the patch becomes dorment this time of the year,well this year that,s not happening.

We,ve just had another storm cell come through plenty of noise & lightning but only 2ml of rain,have to get Jacinta off the crutches & dancing again.LOL.

                                                                                                      regards roofy.

 In my current copy of The Irish Garden among the many photos I noted how many of them were of plants I lost.  Last year I think I lost more than in many previous years, especially trees and shrubs.  Some were due to cutting out, some due to storms, but, in spite of the wettest few months on record, the drought last summer killed several plants.  But some of these may be still dormant and may suddenly perk up.

But on a positive note the garden is now more open and in a sense (perhaps) has improved.  In the recent sale in Lidl I got some new plants, including magnolias (stellata and liliflora ‘Susan’), which may be good replacements for the lost material.

I know some people have had them in flower  for a week or more, but my first tulips have only opened now.

They are the kaufmanniana type called ‘Giuseppe Verdi’ and they have been going strong in the ground since I planted them in 2010.

Other tulips are popping up around the garden and in the pots but they will be later to bloom.

I got out to the garden in the early morning and caught some nice light for photos.

The first erythroniums are also up but they were in shade when I took the photo so had closed their petals.

I did some more potting but the weather was very changeable.

I bought Allium karataviense  ‘Ivory Queen’ last year, thinking that the emerging foliage looked so much like Vetatrum (a plant that had been on my wish list like, FOREVER)!!!  Today, it was looking so gorgeous with a massive glob of rainwater in the centre.

I managed to buy Veratrum last year, thanks to Rachel having one put by for me. Have yet to see any sign of it though. Maybe a bit early?

I am the only one here who really eats courgettes! Actually, there’s not a lot I DON’T eat!!!  So I usually only have one or two courgette plants on the go for myself, getting about 5 or 6 courgettes to each plant. Don’t know what I was thinking when I sowed this lot. I think I just wanted to use all the seed up THIS year, as this packet of seed is about three years old.

Steve better get to like them this year as I can’t possibly eat them all on my own.

Need i say anymore about the day.Im sure the black clouds will win.Today was also quite cool to add to the problem and as i walked out the gate earlier on today,winter was being thought of thanks to the weather.

That will all pass though,in a few days with Spring getting on our sides in the gardens.We all hope so.The water holding areas need seeing to as the enclosed tanks are all full.

I hope to get some more jobs done in the tunnel tomorrow.Maybe with some trays that need special moving on.The young roots in some areas show well underneath the trays, and if the tiny trays could shout out,then i am in trouble for leaving them there to long.

About an hour ago i wrapped up some of the tiny visitor trays in the greenhouse,as touches of frost (yes frost) are in the air.

This morning started out promising but sure as eggs are eggs it deteriorated as time went on. 

Didn’t get much done today. Whenever I decided to venture outside, I was greeted by squally cold showers. Lovely sunshine in between, but never for long enough to get anything noteworthy done. And anyway, the legs wouldn’t take it today. Was at physio this morning and as my good leg has been over-compensating for my bad, both are pretty sore and swollen at the moment. So I’m back using a crutch. Lots of rest in the next few days. The weather isn’t to be too good for the weekend so maybe that’s a sign.  Feeling a bit sorry for myself at the moment. So selfish of me, when I know there are people out there who are far worse off than me. So, apologies for the moan.

I managed to get a few photos today, that’s it. Lovely to see the Spring growth on my Rowan.

It is amazing how fast time flies. Recently I was looking forward to seeing the snowdrops and then the crocuses, these came along with the hellebores, but now only the hellebores remain.  Other plants have come and gone, and recently near us magnolias are looking great, and we still have a lot to look forward to.

I have just put up a nice long Journal and it just vanished , same last night ….I went out to the garden to take some photos of the morning sun so will not be putting them up again as time is the problem….just one .

Have a good day it is cold but dry ..am going for breakfast to Jurgitas this morning …with Fran …see you soon Jurgita…