The garden is like a scene from Venice at the moment as large parts of the wood are under water from all the excess water coming off the mountain due to the almost month long rains we have had in Ireland . Water always looks nice in garden photos and in the meantime it won’t do any lasting damage to plants . The hellebores are at their best right now and have many more weeks of blooming left in them . There are still no daffodils in flower just now but they are ready to come on the scene in another week but there is still colour in the garden […]
My Gardening Week ….. St. Brigid’s Day !
At last I am back digging in the garden after a brief spell under the duvet during the recent awful wind and rain and I was kicked into action by the kind of gift every gardener loves ….. several boxes of plants dug up and divided by another gardener . My gardening friend brought along some of my favourite plants which have become congested in her own garden , dermera and giant primulas which will go into some wet areas and a beautiful geranium which I had admired in Altamount Garden in Wexford during a visit there last summer . There is also a huge clump of geranium which I […]
My Gardening Week ….. January 28th 2014
I have been concentrating on the specialist golden willows this week first by admiring their deep golden and red bark colour which really stands out in deepest winter where there is little leaf colour around and it is now that the willows and dog woods come into their own and earn their keep . But I am also examining the branches and shoots for any sign of willow blight which disfigures the plant and it is now that the third part of the pruning mantra …. dead , damaged or diseased … the three D’s as it is called comes into effect . On willows especially the golden and deep […]
A Walk in the Garden January 16th 2014
All these photos were taken in a thirty minute spell on a sunny day in mid January and my purpose was to highlight winter colour at a time of year when the sun is low in the sky but with the right light and particularly if water is included in the composition you can forget the biting wind and the freezing temperature !!
My Gardening Week January 18th 2014
I bought some nice primroses in the January sale at Johnstown Nursery this week , the new irish bred chocolate green type as distinct from the common olive green leaved native to Ireland and the UK . This new variety has been on the market for the past three years and has been a marketing sensation, the variety has been patented so the plant can only be produced commercially under licence which has made the individual plant expensive at seven euros each ….. seven euros for a primrose or cow slip as they are known locally and which grow wild along ditches and hedgerows ? Which is why I resisted […]
My Gardening Week December 31st 2013 ….. looking forward to a new year’s gardening
As this is the last day of 2013 I have already moved on and am looking forward to a New Year in the Garden ! I always regard January as a time to walk around the garden taking in ideas as to what needs to be done before the growth begins again in earnest in March . Everything is dormant with all planting reduced to a skeleton outline which I find very beautiful particularly in hard frosty weather . Of course as gardeners we are always watching the weather , too frosty and we worry about another big freeze like the winters of 2009 and 2010 when plants were frozen solid […]
My Gardening Week December 24th … Task Force Snezana
This week Santa sent me a helper all the way from EULEX in Kosovo and it was a case of have a Happy Pruning Christmas ! Snezana as I have said previously has a deep aversion for learning the latin names of plants but is a demon for hard work , so give her a pruning shears and a slash hook and point her in the direction of overgrown brambles , trees in need of cutting back etc. and afterwards it is like the avenging Passover Angel has walked through the garden ! This week I targeted an area that had got out of control over the past few years […]
My Gardening Week December 14th 2013 … Silver Birch Jacquemontii
The unusual spell of dry weather these past four weeks has meant that I have been able to spend a lot more time in the garden and as a result am way ahead of my normal schedule but the combination of the dry summer coupled with this mild autumn has meant the leaves have stayed longer on the trees but when they started to come down …. they came down with a vengeance ! Normally I am not phased out by fallen leaves and have had no problem leaving them pile up and have accepted it as natural and always wondered at the fixation other gardeners had about clearing and […]
My Gardening Week December 7th 2013
There is still some nice colour in the garden and only two weeks to Christmas . This week I finished tidying up the gunnera by folding the blackened giant leaves back across the crown of each clump which will protect from the worst of the frost of January and February and I like to think these piles of folded giants will provide a warm snug shelter for any passing hedgehogs for the next few months . For the past three weeks I have mislaid my secateurs somewhere in the garden , my familiar red handled Felco one which I have had for the past ten years and no doubt […]
I never promised you a Rose Garden ….. Garden I Pod Country Play List
This my current I Pod country music Garden Play List together with personal notes on the songs as to why they feature . I have borrowed the title from Lynn Anderson’s 1970’s hit as it gives the right gardening vibe but have not included the twee song itself as that would be a vibe too many ! Don Gibson – Oh Lonesome me …. always a favourite of mine recorded in the 1950’s , written by Gibson , a two hit wonder as he also wrote and recorded Sea of Heartbreak and with those two legendary songs to his credit why bother anymore ! Alabama – Speed of the sound of […]