Gardening in Ireland, our own garden, gardens visited and book reviews
Pheasants have been part and parcel of our garden for several years. We kept hens and ducks for years and it seems that their presence attracted them to the garden. When we began providing food for them they continued to visit and even became quite tame, some even eating from the hand. They seemed to … Continue reading Peep, Peep, The First Glimpses!
Just Doing It! We may be daunted by the ever more dire warnings about the damage we have caused to our environment, global warming, decline of wildlife etc and it can seem beyond us as individuals to do anything to remedy the situation. We may admire people such as Jadav Payeng who over thirty years … Continue reading We Made a Wildflower Meadow
The National Garden Scheme provides a wonderful resource - either online or through their Yellow Book - to garden visitors to the United Kingdom. Before any visit to the U.K. I check the online listings of NGS gardens open in the area we are visiting. These can be extraordinarily interesting gardens and very often gardens … Continue reading The National Garden Scheme at Little Ash Bungalow.
There are things which irritate me when I visit gardens - but, I must confess, that I am easily irritated. Nonetheless, oftentimes, these are things which could easily be avoided and it is the fact that it would not have taken any great effort on the part of the garden owner or gardeners to remedy … Continue reading It Irritates Me!
In his seventeen years at Huntingbrook Garden, Jimi Blake has cut a dash through the traditional herbaceous border, the shrub border, the woodland garden and is leading the way in Irish horticulture with his innovative approach to gardening, with his new plant trials and introductions but, most of all, in the manner in which he … Continue reading A Beautiful Obsession
There was a report on Facebook last week of a finding of one of our more uncommon native orchids. Hammarbya paludosa, Bog orchid, had been found on John’s Hill, outside Bunclody, Co. Carlow for the first time since it was last recorded in 1990. It is a tiny orchid which requires very specific conditions – … Continue reading The Consolation of Wildflowers!
The Carlow Garden Festival goes from strength to strength with each year and attracts large attendances for all its events. Some attract big numbers because of their high profile but each event has its attraction and I attended two very enjoyable events, the first at Altamont Gardens in the morning and the second at Hardymount … Continue reading Altamont and Hardymount – A Day Out!
