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Some Light in Sight
31 December 2022 Each year I have been delighted to see my Camellia Reticulata ‘Inspiration’ start to flower in early December. It usually continues to flower until May. Sadly, it was blown down in a gale in 2022. Luckily it has started growing from the base of the tree and I have high hopes for…
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Halloween is on the Way
The garden is now thirteen years old. The view in the background gives you an idea of the landscape in which it was developed – an open rocky hillside with small patches of flat deep, acidic soil. Many of the plants have been much more successful than I could have imagined, so a major overhaul…
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Nature’s Way
22 July At this time of the year the air around these two willow trees is humming with the sound of thousands of swarming wasps. They are attracted to a translucent sticky substance called honeydew which also drops onto the leaves of the hydrangea and hawthorn trees. This honeydew is created by large willow bark…
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A Long Hot Summer
For a number of reasons I am unlikely to pose a threat to the local organic vegetable growers. I have been happily having a medley of young vegetables for my evening meal only to discover that my ’baby spinach’ is actually pak choi. Even worse I have no idea where the spinach has gone. I…
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Midsummer
Having decided to take a rest from new projects I have immediately started another one! This area is under some pine trees and I have not had much success in growing anything so close to them. However, the space is now almost totally protected from the winds by a maturing hedgerow and shrubs, so I…
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A Late Christmas Present
Great excitement as I finally got my Christmas present to myself and had it assembled in the copse. It was made by the very talented Nick Iain who has a stall full of lovely plants and pots in Skibbereen market. It adds a bit of dignity to the garden at a time when the wildflowers…
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Rejuvenation
The mating season for foxes is supposed to end in February, but there is no sign of this here. My sleep is still interrupted on a regular basis by a cacophony of sounds, including screeching foxes and an apoplectic Millie (my collie terrier cross), who sees it as her duty to ‘raise the dead’ at…
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From Furry Slippers to a Bad Hair Day
My Mount Aso willow is still providing me with a lot of cheer on these windy days. The furry slipper catkin changed to a very dignified deep wine/pink and then it opened up to this grey, orange and yellow creation. However, it remains a furry slipper at heart and in its last throes looked like…
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A Storm
by Any Other NameAfter weeks of some of the worst storms in decades it is both a relief and a surprise that this lovely young pine cone is one of the few casualties despite the trees being buffeted without a break during a week of storms. I am so pleased that I had them thinned out by professionals…