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A Sting In The Tail
I am too busy looking after my trees, shrubs and vegetables to plant a lot of annual or perennial flowers. However, who needs them when you have tiny wildflowers thriving in the cracks of the dry stone wall. This is one of the moon jellyfish occupying my swimming place at the moment. I believe that…
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Proof – If Proof Were Needed
I am becoming obsessed with the snails’ behaviour on my Hosta and started a small experiment earlier this summer. This is the result – the plant on the right lives in a pot outside the house where the snails have to traverse a gravel driveway and cement to get to their target. Child’s play apparently.…
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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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Waiting Impatiently for Spring
30 January 2023 I am not usually envious of other people, but recent visits to my local village have been turning me green. Here on the coast the winds are rarely benevolent and we are still having frosts and days when the wind chill can reduce the temperature dramatically. My camellias continue to hang back…
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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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Winter Colour
3 DECEMBER 2022 There are always surprises each winter when a few flowers appear out of season. These roses at the bottom of the drive are just some of the many blossoms that are popping up all over the garden. There is usually just one bunch per plant but it is enough to brighten up…
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December Blossoms
I always think that it is a minor miracle that I can find enough flowers in the garden to decorate the house for Christmas. I divide the sources into three categories – those shrubs that usually flower during the winter such as Camellia, Correa and Viburnum, those summer plants that keep producing one or two…
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A Kaleidoscope of Colour
I don’t ever remember Ireland being famous for its autumn colours and my memories from childhood are that leaves turned a dull brown at best before falling. Scotland had the perfect climate to produce dramatic autumn colours and I was pleasantly surprised when I first saw the vivid yellows of the ferns in the lower…
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Animal Helpers
Autumn has finally arrived. The wind is now from the north west and is bitterly cold. The dramatic sunrises and sunsets almost make up for the chill, but there are no more relaxing tea breaks in the warm sunshine as I go about my gardening chores. This month I am taking advantage of the offerings…