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Four-Legged Garden Pests
The yearly cycle continues as various small animals try to set up winter homes in my raised beds providing endless entertainment and exercise for my dogs. They don’t ever catch anything as the creatures are ‘savvy’ enough to pack their bags and move to safer headquarters. I used to try and stop the dogs but…
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Grumpy Weather
Old grumpy and I have a lot in common at the moment and I don’t think that I am the only one who has been feeling irritated by the weather. Despite everything, the rosemary continues to flower and seem impervious to cold. Notwithstanding the dreadful weather of the last few months, the garden is full…
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Winter Visitors
I am not a photographer, but sometimes I have a piece of luck and this was one of these occasions. This little blue tit was resting just two feet from where I was walking and did not stir when I took the photograph. Despite being next to the path it was just ten feet from…
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Daily Gifts
Despite another cold spell, the garden is full of surprises. After over eight years the Eleagnus shrubs have started producing fruit. This one is covered in thousands of fruits in every stage of development. It is interesting that almost all are growing on the side of the plant facing north where there is some protection…
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A Cold Run Up To Christmas
17 December 2022 The recent cold weather put paid to the last of the new hydrangea blossoms although the older double flowered ones managed to develop a new beauty in the frost. The last of the hydrangea flowers from the most resilient bush in the garden. The hydrangeas may have succumbed to the frost but…
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Taking Time
I discovered this plant eight or nine years ago in the bargain corner of a nursery. It looked like a small stick that was about to expire. I bought it and its companion for two euro with no expectation that they would ever come to anything. Years later they have grown to six or seven…
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Nemeses
This is the night time activity on the wall behind the house where all of my Hosta sit in pots in the shade. The snails are already shredding some of them and I presume that this one is on his way home for the evening after a satisfactory feast. I have tried everything to deter…
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A Frog By Any Other Name
Gardening at the moment is an exercise in dodging thunder storms, rain showers and wind gusts that can knock you off your feet in a very undignified manner. Everywhere there are hints of the jobs to be done and even the grass is growing despite the cold. So are the lichen as Fergus my frog…