22 April 2025
This willow is one of my favourite trees in the garden proper. Its shape has been honed by the endless gales that have battered it for at least thirty years. Each spring I await the first catkins with trepidation as I am never sure if it has survived the winter. So far so good.
There are times when I read about the progress in more sheltered gardens than mine with envy. I have lost a number of shrubs this year. All have been blown to the ground by freak gusts of wind. The camellia blossoms were late and the ceanothus that always starts flowering before Christmas is only just producing flowers. My rhododendrons are still trying to decide if they will flower this year and the chances are that they won’t. Two of them look half dead (literally half of each plant has died). The severe winter exposed my ‘sheltered’ spots and I am still trying to work out how to reinforce them. The saving grace as usual are the crab apples and ornamental cherries whose blossoms make a mockery of the cold and the wind.
Malus ‘Dark Rosaleen’ against a backdrop of furze and blackthorn.
My tulips struggled this winter and many did not even emerge above ground but those that did are still very attractive despite being ‘past their best’.
I resorted to buying some tulips in Skibbereen market for the house and these from Tomas are particularly dramatic.
These are the only mushrooms that have appeared in the garden this year. They seem to have benefited from a good supply of bark mulch. As usual, I am not sure what they are but they make a nice photograph.
I have always been fond of clematis and enjoyed watch them grow across my dry stone walls. Then they went rogue. Almost overnight they invaded every surrounding tree and shrub and threatened to rob them of light. Here they are growing through a quince bush and while they look attractive together the quince does not stand a chance. A month ago, I uprooted two of the most invasive plants and relegated them to the dry fence in the field. I assumed that they would not survive. Instead, they are flowering happily but at least they can do little damage where they are.
The same clematis taken from an upstairs window overpowering the quince and a neighbouring hedge. Drastic action is required and it is likely to join its companions by a dry hedge on the driveway.
Horsefly heaven continues to be the most fertile part of the garden with excellent soil and good shelter. It is a pity about the horseflies.
The bank behind the house is starting to fill out with wildflowers. A few years ago, there were just a few bluebells but they are multiplying rapidly. The violets have spread into large clumps and have been flowering for months. They make an attractive paring with the dandelions and greater stitchwort.
Camellia ‘Spring Festival’ is always the last to flower and at the moment it is the only one in flower in the garden. It extends the season by at least a month and is well worth the wait.
I did a lot of clearing this year despite the weather and my mossy dry stone walls are visible again. These are the oldest in the garden and it will be nice to be able to see them for a few years.
This has been one of my most distressing finds this winter It appears that all of the trees that were planted by the previous owner were surrounded by large amounts of plastic covering large areas of what appeared to be lawn. I have only discovered this as I start to plant new areas by the drive. The plastic is so embedded that it will take me some time to remove it all.
I wonder if anyone knows what this is. It appears to be some kind of cocoon although there is no evidence of life in it. Regardless, this tulip is not going to open anytime soon!