I always feel the garden is dreary in December , the old leaves are still hanging on the trees and clogging up the ground and while normally I would be on top of this with the leaf blower however this December I am on crutches for a few weeks recovering from a hip problem so am more conscious of not being able to actually do a clean up … depressing ! December in Ireland has been full of unusual rain , heavy persistent H2 O bucketing down on a daily basis and the poor people in the west of the country have had an almost biblical Noah’s Ark flooding . […]

A Walk in the Garden earlier this morning . Gardens never stand still and constantly evolve be it through neglect where the garden just reverts to an overgrown jungle or just changed over the years as the owner or owners hand it on or if the property changes hands . In the case of famous gardens which are created like  in the UK say Hidcote in the early 1920’s  or Sissinghurst in the 1940’s and which then are taken over by the National Trust and remain continually open to the public , a decision has to be taken as to whether to continue with the style of their famous owners […]

Late October is the month all the garden writers say we should enjoy for the berries and the autumn colours … it is the time of long nights drawing in , smoke from open fires and the clocks going back at Halloween … well they would say that wouldn’t they as they have copy to fill for editors and don’t write anything depressing etc !! Well for me I walk around the garden and along with the great autumnal colour I also see death with the plants hunkering down in advance of the harsh winter winds and knowing we are looking at below zero temperatures and realising that the optimism […]

The September 2015 issue of The Irish Garden featured a six page illustrated article on the garden written by Shirley Lannigan and needless to say we were thrilled to see it publishe. We had known of course for some time that  Gerry Daly as editor of the magazine had it in mind but nothing was definite even after Shirley came to the garden in July and interviewed Snezana and myself nor indeed were we given any advance notice until a friend rang early on the morning of August 21st  to say the September issue of The Irish Garden was in the shops and Petrovska garden was in it ! After […]

A few weeks ago on a visit to the Clonmel Garden Centre Snezana fell in love with two pots  which had only come in the previous day ….. lucky for us as these pots , greek amphora style with handles , are difficult to source and are of a type I have been searching for over the years but never came across since I last saw one for sale in Dublin in the late 1990’s when I was between gardens . They are show stoppers and immediately found their place in the garden … careful positioning  needed as I like pots not in your face but to come subtly into […]

It is July when traditionally gardens are at their peak , the perennials are in full flower , shrubs in blossom and the trick is now to keep it going until the first frosts in November ! Rodgersia and hostas are at their best in July and although both like damp conditions I have these planted in dryish soil in the front garden although I water regularly on hot days . Well the new paths in the lower field have been inspected by Snezana who is currently home on leave from OSCE duties in Eastern Ukraine …..and who reluctantly conceded that the finished project which had gone ahead without her […]

Early June and gardens are approaching their peak and if you have chosen the proper tress and shrubs for leaf colour now is their time ! Even though it is mid summer you still have time to plant for autumn colour with either wild flower seeds of cosmos or nigella both of  which if sown directly into the soil now will give god flowers from September to November and you can also inject some instant leaf colour into your borders by buying in some pots of cannas or even the exotic Ethiopian banana and placing them in between established plants as I have done here with some purple canna and […]

Early April in the garden  is hosta time and by that I don’t mean that they are in their full classic pomp with huge leaves …. no far more important than that as it is the time they first start to show above the ground when the new leaves peep out and there is an entire army of hungry slugs all lined up for their favourite meal of young hosta leaves ! At this time I patrol the garden each morning to see if the new shoots are coming up and then douse them with a slug killer like slugtox …… this statement is usually met with howls of indignation […]

We have an ongoing project in the woodland area where over the years we have been thinning and tidying up the conifers planted by the original owners of the land back in 1985 and a few weeks ago in March we had Peter with his chain saw for two full days …..  back breaking stuff as the blocks and cut branches have to be collected and stored . Poor Peter who is more used to dealing with me when working here and Irish style has plenty of tea breaks and chat however the wood is and has always been Snezana’s project (which she is very proprietorial about so hands off […]

It is early March and suddenly overnight the front garden has erupted with the first crocus’s of the year and they are hot on the heels of the snow drops which kicked off last week and almost ready to break into flower are the miniature daffodils , tete a tete , so from now until end of April will see a succession of bulbs coming in to flower …… now is also the time to mark out mentally the empty spaces between bulbs so that you can plant up next autumn with extra bulbs for next  Spring . This morning the first frog spawn of Spring arrived overnight in the […]