There will be days like this!

It was a scorcher of a Sunday, with temperatures in the high 20s, and after a two hour drive we had a thirty-minute walk up a hillside in the Glen of Aherlow, Co. Tipperary, in search of the very rare Small White Orchid. There are scarce records of sightings in north Co. Tipperary and there …

The Secret Eater!

We have a secret eater! Food is prepared and served and when checked later it has gone but the eater has not been observed and is nowhere to be seen. A secret eater! It’s nothing very dramatic but interesting nonetheless – I have a hedgehog in residence. It’s a case of enforced residence for this …

It’s a Blooming Sad Story!

I enjoyed my day at Bloom this year, a very pleasant day, some very good gardens, some nice plants purchased to bring home, met and chatted with friends but there were also reasons to grumble – perhaps gardeners are a grumbling lot! Some gardeners/horticulturalists of my acquaintance, amateur and professional, have expressed a disappointment with …

Éireannach – Celebrating Native Plants of Ireland

Éireannach – Celebrating Native Plants of Ireland The short history of the Irish Society of Botanical Artists (established in 2014) is one of boundless ambition and super achievement and their latest project has topped everything to date. Their first undertaking was “Aibítir – The Irish Alphabet in Botanical Art”, an exhibition portraying a selection of …

Coffee Pot Gardening!

This may be more widespread but I have not heard of it outside of my own garden. It is not something one normally speaks of and those who practice this rarefied form of gardening rarely admit to it. It would appear not to be contagious as I have been unaffected though it has been part …

Paddy Picasso!

Art is in my blood; it courses through my veins; it lights my life and enriches my gardening. Yes, the time has arrived again to paint the timbers of the raised beds in the vegetable garden and I have chosen a subtle shade of Cuprilol Fencelife called “Tudor Black”. It does what it says on …