Our garden, gardens visited, occasional thoughts and book reviews
Waterford, south-east Ireland, 12th June 2021 It wasn't the best of gardening weeks; the weather was against us and we even took two days off to go "orchideering", one to the mountains and the other to the seaside, and, though they were damp days, they turned out to be a very pleasant ones and gave … Continue reading All’s Well that end’s Well.
We miss our "days out" in these dark-clouded Covid days. Despite government easing of restrictions, we will not be dining out nor drinking outdoors, nor meeting up with others, but will continue our lives of being cautious and careful and, perhaps, a little fearful for ourselves. Days out were always something we enjoyed a great … Continue reading Rain, Bees, Wasps and Northern Marsh.
Waterford, south-east Ireland, 5 June 2021 That's the way it goes sometimes; not straight and narrow but off-plan, a little askew, a little bit wibbly wobbly. But, you know, a bit of wibbly wobbly fits in very well in the garden, especially a garden in a rural setting. Stiff formal would not suit out rural … Continue reading A Little Bit Wibbly Wobbly
Tom Stuart-Smith has deservedly earned recognition as one of the great British garden and landscape designers. His reimagining of the box parterre in the walled garden at Broughton Grange where the hedging was organised not in a traditional geometric layout but following the cell pattern of a leaf as viewed under the microscope brought him … Continue reading Tom Stuart-Smith: Drawn from the Land – A Review.
Lismore Castle is on the banks of the River Blackwater in west Co. Waterford. I highly recommend a visit and indeed a full day out as the town itself is very beautiful and interesting. There is a very pleasant walk along the bank of the river and returning via woodland and small roads to your … Continue reading Lismore Castle Gardens in Photographs.
Waterford, south-east Ireland. Saturday, 29th May 2021 For the most part my seeing red this week has been of the very best kind, the red of striking flower colour with the flowering of an especially liked tulip, Tulipa sprengeri, a species tulip which I am delighted to say has found the conditions in our garden … Continue reading Seeing Red.
Waterford, south-east Ireland. Saturday, 22nd May 2021 It was a week of ins and outs, of starts and stops of dark rainclouds and rain bursts, of wintery winds and occasional sunny spells - that last phrase sounded like the consolatory comment regularly added by the people delivering the weather forecast. By Thursday morning we were … Continue reading The Old Man is Snoring!
Do we gardeners give a little more importance to plant names than is necessary or sensible; are we obsessed with names? Few things spike a gardener's attention as quickly as the mention of a new plant name. There may be nothing especially good or beautiful about the plant but it is NEW! And we simply … Continue reading No Need to Name It!
That time of fulness has arrived in the garden; that time of the first lushness of the year; that time when plants which were small individuals only a few weeks ago have now come together, shoulder to shoulder, to cover the ground and fill the beds and borders; that time which tells us that unquestionably … Continue reading In the Fulness of May.
In a way it might seem incongruous that a graveyard would be a place of wonderful life but it is often the case. An eagle-eyed friend in our little orchid circle spotted some orchids growing in a churchyard close to where she lives and investigated further. As it turned out she had spotted a small … Continue reading A Safe Refuge.
