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From Paradise to Paradise
Three to four times a year I have a visit from pair of bullfinches who come to feast on the berries of the spindle trees and the seeds of the Sow thistle. It is possible that they may visit more often, but I tend to see them when they are by the house where there…
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At Least the Rain has Stopped!
16 January 2023 The last leaf in the garden against the backdrop of winter heather. It is hard to imagine how this has remained on the tree throughout all the gales but the colour is a bright spot on a dull day. The heather in all of its glory. I still have to look carefully…
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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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An Indian Summer
At last, we have had some rain and the garden is beginning to recover from the long hot summer. Even better I no longer have to lug gallons of water around the garden every evening. This hydrangea Madame Emile Moulier struggled in the dry weather despite growing in the shade and required careful nursing unlike…
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Winter Berries
for the Birds26 December 2020 Storm Bella is on the way and I have been providing the birds with double rations of bird food to help them through the next few days. My five-year-old hedgerows are providing some shelter, but many of the small birds seem to live in the acres of gorse and brambles on my…
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Bugs, Bees and Butterflies
August 2020 West Cork has a number of famous and beautiful gardens where their owners have combined native specimens with exotic plantings from around the world with great success. Once I had developed a basic shelterbelt around the garden here, I had intended to do the same. In the meantime, I would bypass the unusual…