February is the month the garden comes alive for the new seasons of growth Spring right through to November and what were spindly insignificant little shoots barely above ground in January are now transformed into flowering beauties with the daffodils , crocuses and snowdrops leading the way . Nothing beats a dry day in February in the garden , winter is still hanging around but optimism is in the air and I always remember the early months in the garden back in the late 1970’s when I had my first garden in Rosslare and the sheer joy and amazement that you had actually got something to grow , it was […]
A new year and away we go again in the garden and what we do first in these unappetising cold wet and windy days is not important , what is important is that we get out there in the first place ! Like everybody I have to force myself out in these early days of January but after a few days I snap back into focus and for me I tend to ease my way in (and my muscles !) by some pruning of the willows and dog woods and over the following few days I move on to the grasses and then each day I see what needs to […]
December is more about Christmas preparations and family than actual time in the garden however when the weather is dry I like to get out in the garden as often as time allows in the festive season , most of the leaves are gone and you can see the garden in it’s bare outline and get an idea as to what needs to be added or pruned back . Also if you have planned for the garden to have winter colour it brings the silver birch and red dogwoods into their own and personally we would not be without either in the garden at this time of year . And […]
November has been a savage month in the garden here , rainy , depressing , wet and fallen leaves everywhere and I have had to kick myself some days just to go out and do essential tasks … valium anyone ?!! Of course the leaf colour is fabulous at this time of year but the older I get the more I enjoy autumn colours from inside a window and I am not choosy that it be it from the house or from inside the car ! Still the sight of a birch or maple tree in full autumn colour is stunning and as I write in late November our single […]
There is always for me a touch of sadness as October comes to an end in the garden as from now on trees and shrubs as well as plants are shutting down for the winter having given their best shot throughout the spring and summer … but nothing stands still in the garden and November is the time to prepare plants such as gunnera for the frost and cold and of course we can start the hard pruning of the willows so no time to sit back ! October colour in the garden I was looking through my web page on the pots we have in the garden going back […]
The plants have plenty of life left in them before they too kick the proverbial bucket and both perennials and annuals are still putting on quite a show . September is the month where the garden is getting past it’s best ,where the first signs appear that trees and shrubs are preparing for winter and as such it is a time of sadness that the year’s growth is over but winter is not that bad but hope is always there as we have next Spring to look forward to … I enjoy the winter months in the garden but it is the hanging around that I don’t like between now […]
Where did the year go , already the end of August but it is a great month in the garden with growth at it’s height if slightly past it’s best and autumn still to look forward to ! I keep coming back to roses which I have said I don’t grow apart from the semi wild rosa rugosa but looking at the photo of Mary O’Donovan from the July piece which mentioned her passing and featured one of her favourite photos that I took in her garden Fairy Hill a few years ago and which I had taken in front of a faourite rose of hers , rosa rubrifolia and […]
The end days of July and after the few weeks drought you can see the garden wilting a bit and in need of a few down pours and we are busy delivering water to pots where even a bucket can revive in hours a shrub in distress . It is Jurassic Park time in the July Garden with the gunnerras ! Garden Visitors from Co. Antrim in Northern Ireland We were away for a period during the first weeks in July and came back to a mountain of work in the garden in order to get it ready for visitors from the Maghera Garden Club from Co. Antrim in Northern […]
There can be no doubt but Irish gardens look their best in June ! The patch of ground at the entrance to the lower garden has been idle since Snezana tackled the Japanese knotweed there two years ago and after clearing I sprayed with round up at three week intervals throughout last year and we seem to have got rid of the knotweed . I have been slowly planting the sloping area with ground cover geranium slips and a few weeks ago decided to tidy up with a small edging of natural rock and I started with five nice pieces and as always with rockeries I let the stones decide […]
The end of May is the best time here in this garden as everything is reaching maturity and is full of fresh growth especially the hostas which are my favourite perennial along with rodgersias and darmera but it is total war out there where the hosta is concerned as from the first time the leaves pop up in early April you have an army of slugs lurking but you have a chance if armed with slug pellets and by choosing big thick leaved plants such as the seiboldiana varieties , Elegans , Halcyon and Francis Williams which the slugs seem to leave alone . I have planted a new variety […]
