A Beautiful Day!

For a moment there was the temptation to make the title, "A Beautiful Day at Last" but that "at Last" would allow a certain negativity into the moment and, while it certainly has been a while, a very long while, since we have had such a wonderful day it was without doubt a carpe diem …

Mount Congreve Gardens

Mount Congreve Gardens are on the outskirts of Waterford City and are one of the great treasures of Irish gardening. They were developed by the owner, the late Mr. Ambrose Congreve, with the ground work, design and planting in the hands of the wonderful Mr. Herman Dool, a Dutch landscape architect and gardener. Facebook threw …

The Optimistic Sundial

Waterford, south-east Ireland, Saturday 27th February 2021 I saw this optimistic sundial in a garden in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, while visiting with other members of the Irish Garden Plant Society. The garden was Knockmore, that of John and Ruth Isabel Ross, and though Ruth Isabel will be known to an older generation from her many …

A Total White-Out!

Waterford, south-east Ireland, 20th February 2021 The snowdrop season is in full swing, indeed settling into the downswing as the weeks move along. The common snowdrop, Galanthus nivalis - both the single and the double form - has been in full flower for the past ten days or so here and is now beginning to …

Zooming through the Week.

Waterford, south-east Ireland, 13th February 2021 Zoom, Zoom, Zzzzzzoooooommmmmmmm! That's how the week went! Now, of course, you have imagined that the week simply zipped past but this was not the case at all. In fact, it was a slow week, a very slow week with very, very little gardening at all. I did an …

Slippers and Sunsets

It is, perhaps, that as the body ages there is a clear and undeniable need for slippers. I have been a barefoot about the house man and have always found that a comfortable manner of living. However - the old age bit is coming now - I have found recently that the skin on my …

Despite my Lack of Effort!

Waterford, south-east Ireland, 6th February 2021 Despite very little input from the Undergardener, there was a good display of flower in the garden this week and isn't that the very best return on labour - no work, yet lots of flowers! My only worth-mentioning work of the week was that I power-washed the tarmacadam around …

I’m sharing a post: South Carlow schools’ ‘An Fraughan’ Drummin Bog book celebrates World Wetland Day and UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration —

There is great excitement in the South Carlow national schools of St. Brendan’s, Drummond, Scoil Moling, Glynn and St. Michael’s, Newtown this week as the “An Fraughan” eBook is launched. The eBook commemorates the ecosocial art project also called “An Fraughan” that ran in the three schools in 2019. Funded by Creative Ireland with the […]South …