Peep, Peep, The First Glimpses!

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 …

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The Consolation of Wildflowers!

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 – …

Altamont and Hardymount – A Day Out!

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 …

The Fantastic Mr. Frog

Some plant names are simply quite dull; others applied for good reason while some are purely fanciful. “Common Spotted Orchid” does not evoke images of anything especially beautiful or even interesting. “Early Purple Orchid” is, likewise, an uninspiring title. Other names are functionally descriptive: “Early Marsh Orchid”, “Western Marsh Orchid” or “Northern Marsh Orchid” come …

A Good Orchid Day

The journey from home to Gortlecka Crossroads, in the heart of The Burren in Co. Clare, takes two hours and forty minutes according to the directions from Google maps and to drive there and back in one day would be a hard day indeed. The offer of travelling part of the way and taking a …

Shredding it!

I'm not one for "boy's toys" but a recent arrival in the garden has made me a happy boy. My garden shredder/chipper of almost ten years gave up the ghost and needed to be replaced. The new model was simply the same under a new name and with a different colour. Otherwise, it was more …

I am People!

I had not previously realised my plurality nor the multiplicity of my personalities but, it appears, It has been the case for some time. What brought it to my attention was a chat with Mary, my wife, about an hydrangea in the garden – Hydrangea ‘Hot Chocolate’. This is a cultivar of Hydrangea aspera, a …