August is blooming (and swimming)!

Posted on August 5, 2023 by Mominthegarden

Hi there! All of my pictures today were taken in the two minutes of sunshine that we were blessed to have! 🙂 I hate to make the weather such a terrible topic, so I’ll just mention that the rain has persisted. Oh sure, we’ve had some breaks here and there. I even managed to go on a fairly dry bike ride the other day. But boy has it rained in between! You know who loves that, right? HYDRANGEAS! They are looking mighty fine. The roses are the main flowers unhappy with the wet situation.

The sunflowers continue to bloom and show off their beautiful faces. The dahlias are starting to pick up the pace of their blooming (not all have bloomed, yet, though). Three of the blooming varieties (American Dawn, Totally Tangerine and Copperboy) were planted specifically for creating sunflower arrangements. I used them for the first time today and was delighted with the result!

Otherwise, I’ve been trying to get in and tidy up the garden, a little at a time. I’ll get there – eventually! Do join me as I partake in the Six on Saturday meme, hosted by Jim at Garden Ruminations.

I hope you enjoy the tour!

In Peace,
Dana

1 – Dwarf little lime hydrangea. These guys are so happy with the wet weather we’ve been having! They do not get big, which is exactly why I chose them. They start out white-green, then go more lime and they now have shades of pink. They did not look this nice last year, when we had very little rain and they were being watered by me.

Clockwise from top right: Buddleia BUZZ 'Dark Pink' Butterfly Bush, Delphinium Shelby and Monarda Fireball (bee balm)

2, 3 & 4 – (from top right) Buddleia BUZZ ‘Dark Pink’ Butterfly Bush, Delphinium ‘Shelby’ and Monarda Fireball (bee balm). I gave the dwarf butterfly bush a super hard pruning this year. I was doubtful for a while whether it would bloom. But blooming it certainly is! It is a lovely fuchsia color, offset nicely against the yellow potentilla flowers. I know I’ve mentioned the ‘Shelby’ delphinium before, but it is still blooming beautifully, so I had to give it another shout out. Finally, the Monarda ‘fireball’ is a new favorite. It smells lovely (I have a thing for scented plants!) and attracts bees – hence, it’s nickname ‘bee balm’. The color is supposed to be red, but it is more of pinkish hue of red.

A flower arrangement of sunflowers and coppery/orange dahlias in a pottery container

5 & 6 – A flower arrangement of sunflowers and dahlias. How fun is that? And what a great use of a pottery biscuit jar (we’ve never put cookies in it). The other flower I hadn’t mentioned is the Verbena Bonariansis (groups of tiny purple flowers with long stems). Dahlias: Totally Tangerine, Copperboy and American Dawn. The coloring on the American Dawn is a lot more coppery than the coral I was expecting – but I do love it! I like to grow sunflowers that have smaller flower heads, which are more manageable in arrangements. There is a nice mixture of sizes here, and colors. And both sunflowers and dahlias have a nice long vase life!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Did you have any favorite flowers?

A turbulent July is nearly gone

Posted on July 29, 2023 by Mominthegarden

Hi there! And I must say that we are quite happy to say goodbye to the soggy month of July. Thankfully, it did pass quickly. I’m full of hope that August will be nicer!

Speaking of bad weather, the rain also rather messed up my lavender schedule. There were many delays in harvesting it, due to the rain. Thankfully, I was able to harvest most of it. The good news is that it dried out really quickly and I’ve already made a couple of lavender wreaths. 🙂

The other news for July is that my dahlias are finally starting to bloom! They have grown big enough for me to stake the area and provide supports for them. I did this after some strong winds completely broke off one of my plants at the base, leaving it useless for this season (and with loads of teeny tiny buds on it!). I had everything set-up to do, but didn’t think they were big enough yet… Lesson learned.

I’ll be joining Garden Ruminations for our Six on Saturday meme. I hope you’ll enjoy the tour!

In Peace,
Dana

1 – Lavender wreath. I’m going to say that all of my wreaths are bespoke, because no two are alike! They tend to come out a bit quirky, swishing here or there. One thing I definitely do, is completely cover the wreath in lavender. I like to use a huge amount! This one took a few hours to make. I used floral pins to keep the lavender in place on the straw wreath.

2 – Delphinium ‘Shelby’. This is such a lovely two-toned blue with purple. They are short stems, thankfully. This has helped them with our windy weather.

Collage of dahlias clockwise from top right: 'Creme de Cassis', 'Wizard of Oz', 'Hartenaas', and 'Totally Tangerine'

3, 4, 5 & 6 – Dahlias! Clockwise from top right: Creme de Cassis, Wizard of Oz, Hartenaas and Totally Tangerine. It’s still early days for them, but I’m so excited because they are all just so lovely! Some of the plants are relatively short, too, so I’m hopeful they won’t be damaged in poor weather. I can’t wait to work these guys into some flower arrangements! Stay tuned!

Thanks so much for stopping by. Do you have any favorite dahlias that you think I should add to my collection? 🙂

When your lavender is ready but you are not

Posted on July 15, 2023 by Mominthegarden

Hi there! That’s right, July is the time to harvest lavender. I also know this from how many visitors I’ve had to my ‘Step by step instructions to make lavender wands‘ blog post! After our trip last week to Nashville, Tennessee, for my daughter’s Irish dancing, I arrived home to lavender perfectly ready for harvesting. But I was too tired! And then the seemingly non-stop rain began. It became a case of second guessing when the rain would stop, when the lavender would dry out enough after the rain stopped, and then when to actually cut it. I’m happy to report that I was finally able to harvest quite a bit of lavender. There’s still more, but the rain has returned again and has been relentless.

I’m so thankful to have had the chance to go to Nashville with my daughter, and we had a wonderful time (and same with our trip last month to New England). But boy do I feel that I’ve missed so much in my garden this year. I’m glad we had a couple of days where we were able to get a lot done to tidy it up. And all of my plants have been happy about the rain! Hopefully, we’ll get some more time to enjoy our summer and time in the garden. I think everyone’s fingers are crossed that the good weather will return!

I’ll be joining Garden Ruminations for the Six on Saturday meme. I hope you enjoy the tour!

In Peace,
Dana

harvested lavender and a lavender wreath

1 – Lavender! The picture on the left is what I harvested to make the wreath my daughter is holding. Funny enough, the row of lavender in her picture is a different variety, and is actually a few shades darker. I did not harvest that because I really like the look of it in the garden, and honestly, it peaked while we were away. Maybe next year I’ll take a section or two.

2 – Sweet pea. A staple in my garden. This scented posy was actually picked last week when the sun was visiting briefly. The picture I took of this week’s posy was so dark, I opted not to use it!

3 & 4 Lichfield Angel David Austin Roses and pink Oriental lilies. Most of my roses are now taking a bit of a rest. But the Lichfield Angel roses still had quite a few flowers on them. They are a very pretty creamy off-white color, and as they age their tips turn pink. I decided to cut them and bring them inside, because the branches were quite weighed down. The great thing about these roses is that their stems have no thorns! The pink Oriental lilies are heavenly scented (my personal opinion)! On Instagram I talked about the red winged scarlet lily beetle that I thought was going to destroy my lilies completely. I was constantly squishing either the beetles or their yucky slug-like larva. I’m glad that the lilies survived, though, even if their greens don’t look very nice. The lesson is to be on the look out for lily beetles from the very start of the season!

5 & 6 Delphinium and Coleus. The delphinium is Blue Ocean. It is two toned and very pretty. I’ve learned that their stems are very fragile! I have to be extra careful when I cut them for arrangements. The coleus situation is somewhat disappointing. I planted them from seed in March. But they would have needed special attention while I was away during our heat wave, and they definitely suffered. They have finally made a comeback, but it’ll be the end of the summer before they are at their prime! I’ve made a mental note to start their seeds in January next year. 🙂

And that’s it for this week’s Six on Saturday. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Summer Solstice behind us now

Posted on June 24, 2023 by Mominthegarden

Hi there! The summer is well underway now, and I am still trying to catch up with all of the growth (read: weeds!) in my garden from when we were away. Ireland has had an amazing stretch of warm weather the past six weeks. My roses have absolutely loved it, and they are the highlight of my post today.

I’m joining Garden Ruminations for the Six on Saturday meme just to get back into the swing of things here. 🙂

In Peace,
Dana

Boscobel, James Austin and Olivia Rose Austin roses

1, 2, & 3: David Austin Roses: Boscobel (salmon color), Princess Anne & James Austin (bottom middle and bottom right, a bright, deep pink), and Olivia Rose Austin (medium pink). They’re gorgeous and they are fragrant. I love ’em!

Lichfield Angel roses, alstroemeria, and delphinium

4, 5 & 6: Lichfield Angel David Austin roses (cream), pink alstroemeria, and blue delphinium. I made an arrangement with these lovelies earlier this week. The Lichfield Angel roses tend to be a bit floppy, so I used some wire to keep at least one of their heads up. Some floppiness is ok, but it’s really nice to see their smiling faces, too!

Quite a quick one this week. I hope you’ve enjoyed it nonetheless!

Here’s to enjoying our gardens in peace and harmony with our surroundings. ❤️

Planting out the seedlings

Posted on May 13, 2023 by Mominthegarden

Hello! Well there certainly was some excitement this week when the rain finally stopped and the sun shone brightly for two days in a row! I celebrated by planting out most of my seedlings, including sweet pea, pumpkins and sunflowers. Now the fun part starts: keeping the slugs away!

I want to back up a tiny bit and talk about the seedlings. I’ve learned the hard way that the stems of pumpkin plants are fragile. One snap and that’s the end of the plant. My typical ‘flip the pot over’ into my hand ended in disaster last year. So I’m happy to report that there were no snapping of stems this year. The main reason is that I no longer flip them. 🙃 That’s just not the best way to get them out of their containers. It also helped to grow them on a couple of weeks longer, so they were definitely stronger.

The sweet pea were also started a tiny bit earlier this year. They grew long and leggy quite quickly, so I kept pinching them back which seemed to strengthen them and encouraged them to grow more stems.

The sunflowers were an interesting bunch. I have several different varieties, but they have not all grown equally well. I have my hunch as to which ones will perform the best – those that from very early on had multiple leaves and a strong stem – but I will give them all an equal shot!

The biggest issue I now face is that of slugs. They can destroy all of my work in a very short period of time. I’ve already removed several from the beds and from some of the plants. They come out in the late evening and early morning, and they camouflage perfectly in the soil. And don’t be fooled by size, even the teeniest of slugs can do serious damage! Hopefully, I can get the plants all settled and growing before the slugs do major damage.

I’m joining Garden Ruminations for the Six on Saturday meme (because it is fun to do so!).

Enjoy the tour of my garden!

In Peace,
Dana

image of pumpkin plant, sunflowers and sweetpea

1, 2 & 3 – Pumpkins, Sunflowers & Sweet pea. I’ve placed eggshells around the plants to deter the slugs. Honestly, I don’t think it works, but I feel better having at least tried it. One side of the arch will be covered in sweet pea, while the other side will have pumpkins growing on it. That’s the plan, anyway!

4 – Slug. Yup, I took a picture of a slug. This guy was quite long and easy to spot. I also tend to look harder around the leaves that have damage done to them. I’ve found that ‘hunting’ them down, both morning and night, is the best way to deal with them – and always with gloves.

Full view of the raised beds with the new seedlings in.

full view of garden with narcissus and raspberries

5 – View of the raised beds from both sides (after planting). In the bottom picture you can also see the raspberry plants. The border includes lavender on one side, Rosemary on another, little lime hydrangea on the far size, and beech hedging with containers of hosta on the last. Seeing blue skies is such a treat!

6 – Cherry tree at sunset. I couldn’t resist taking this picture. I was working on the other side of the garden and the lighting was just so perfect here that I was enticed to come over. I’d like many more days like these, please!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Do you have any (organic) means to get your slugs? 🙂

When everything (isn’t) coming up roses

Posted on May 10, 2023 by Mominthegarden

Hi there! I know it is so much more fun to talk about all the wonderful aspects of gardening, but sometimes, it’s a good idea to cover the ‘ugly’, too. Today I’m talking about tulips and something called ‘tulip fire’.

Tulips are a bulbous herb, that are planted in the fall and flower in the spring. They are considered perennial, as they should return every year. In truth, I have found that only in rare instances do they return year after year. It isn’t uncommon to have them dwindle in numbers as time goes on. In the worst case, they come down with tulip fire. Here’s what I’ve learned about that:

Tulip fire is a fungal disease of tulips caused by Botrytis tulipae, which produces brown spots and twisted, withered and distorted leaves. It is so named because in severe cases plants appear as if scorched by fire.
The Royal Horticultural Society

My experience is that the leaves look terrible and they don’t actually produce flowers, or if they do, they are of very poor quality. The solution is to dig up the bulbs and throw them out (not on the compost). Also, it is advised to not replant tulips in that spot for at least three years.

While one way to prevent tulip fire is to ensure the bulbs are of a high quality, with no signs of the black mold on them, I have had the misfortune of tulip fire occurring on subsequent years after planting. For this, there are no preventative measures.

Playhouse with tulips and bleeding heart

Here’s my story of how tulip fire wiped out a full bed of tulips. In the fall of 2021, we planted 60 bulbs each of Tulip Mascotte (fringed tulips) and Tulip Lilac Perfection in front of our playhouse. They were amazing that first year!

Tulip Lilac perfection and Tulip Mascotte

They were truly fabulous tulips! There were so many blooms that seemed to last forever. And of course they made great cut flowers, too.

And now we turn to what they looked like on year two (this year) …

Tulips with tulip fire fungus dug up for disposal.

It was pretty heart breaking to go from 120 beautiful tulips to this dreadful mess, and in just one year. But there’s no point in dwelling on it. That’s just the risk you take with gardening. I have some tulips in the garden that have returned for many years, as well as tulips that seem to live by the moto ‘one and done’!

It’ll take more than one or two cases of tulip fire to keep me from planting tulips in different places around the garden, though. They’re just too pretty. Nevertheless, I’m now on the lookout for an alternative to tulips for this spot in front of the playhouse.

I hope you never experience tulip fire, but if you do, you know what to do. 🙂

In Peace,
Dana

Tulip season!

Posted on April 29, 2023 by Mominthegarden

Hi there! While we should be well and truly into spring at this stage, the weather has only been teasing us with spring-like weather. Despite this, the garden continues to come to life, with all of the tulips now up and blooming. As I mentioned in an earlier post, not all of my tulips have returned from last year. But, the ones that did are fabulous.

I’m joining Garden Ruminations for the Six on Saturday meme, where folks from all over the world give a peek into their gardens.

Enjoy the tour!

In Peace,
Dana

View of the apple, cherry and birch trees with a cloudy sky

1 – April sky. I thought this picture summarizes perfectly what the weather has been like! It is sunny, but there is also a black cloud, which brought rain. You can see the white/pink blossoms of the apple tree on the left, with the cherry tree in the center, and the five birch trees on the right.

2 – Pretty Princess tulips. These tulips are a lovely, bright and cheerful pink, with a dark contrast color in the middle of the petals. These particular flowers were planted this past fall, but they join other Pretty Princess tulips that have been in this bed for a few years.

Queen of the night tulips (dark) with some Pretty Princess below

3 – Queen of the Night tulips. I love this deep, dark burgundy color, in contrast to the brightness of the pink Pretty Princess tulips. These tulips are a few years old.

4 – Vincent van Gogh tulips. We planted these dark, fringed tulips this past fall, to tie-in with the Queen of the Night tulips, since they are across from each other. These have a beautiful burgundy – red tinge. Unfortunately, they are being surrounded (smothered) by poppies.

5 – Tulip ballerina. Aren’t these lovely? I had a lot more of these years ago, but every year less return. I’ve shifted my colors more to wine/pink/white, though, so I’m not sure if I’ll find a little nook to keep these colors.

6 – Fringed Tulip Honeymoon. These are just two years old, and the pack has thinned out. It’s a constant battle in this bed, though, with poppies and weeds, so I’m not too surprised they don’t return here.

I’m sneaking in one more picture. Here is ‘Kitty’ sitting pretty in front of the Cool Crystal tulips, which are still looking fantastic. Kitty likes to keep me company in the garden. 🙂

I hope you’ve enjoyed the tour! Any favorites?

A very pink start to spring

Posted on April 22, 2023 by Mominthegarden

Hi there! The garden has been coming to life with some very pretty shades of pink over the past couple of weeks. My magnolias are blooming, the aubrietia is still showing off, and the tulips, those that have returned, are looking lovely. I did have plenty of tulips that didn’t return this year, unfortunately. That does happen, which is why it’s good to have a variety of flowers blooming, and to not just rely on one. But I’m still very disappointed.

The weather has only partially cooperated this week, with mostly dry conditions but also rather cloudy and cool. The rains returned last night and they continue into today. Hoping for lots of May flowers given all of these April showers!

I mustered short stints in the garden this week. The area around our raised beds, including the beds, is now all set for the season! I was a little surprised by how many weeds managed to grow in the hoggin ground cover, despite having cardboard and weed blocker fabric underneath. It is great to have it all cleared now. What a job that was! I have lots of sunflower plants in pots that are ready to be moved into those raised beds. We have another risk of frost this coming week, so it’ll be a little bit longer until I can move them out, though.

I’m joining Garden Ruminations for Six on Saturday. Feel free to join in.

Enjoy the tour!

In Peace,
Dana

1 – Pink anemone. I confess that I am unsure how I’ve ended up with pink anemone. I have quite a lot of purple anemone (mostly Mr. Fokker). It spreads, and I really like it. But this bright pink anemone showed up a couple of years ago and is ever so slowly multiplying. I am partial to pink, so I’m perfectly ok with it making itself at home here.

2 – Aubrietia and bee. I can see Aubrietia being in my ‘Six’ for a few weeks. Even the bees love it! 🙂

3 – Magnolia Heaven Scent. It seems there are only six flowers this year. This tree was planted just a couple of years ago, so I’m not sure if I should be concerned with just six flowers this year or maybe it needs more time to settle in. I’m going to be optimistic and hope for more next year. 🙂 Given the name, it is supposed to have a lovely scent. But the flowers are too high up for me to actually smell them!

4 – Magnolia Susan. This little shrub is about two feet tall, if that. It was nearly a give away at one of the plant sales I went to last year with my friend Susan. Given the pretty, dark color of the flowers AND the name, I had to buy it. 🙂

compost and worms from our tumbler compost bin

5 – Compost from our tumbler. WORMS! This compost is from one of our compost tumblers (we have two). It is mostly made up of our uncooked kitchen vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, egg shells, and toilet roll cardboard. I use this when I’m planting out plants (I moved some delphinium this week and added the compost to the soil). I also use it to add to the beds, making sure to work it into the soil – partially to protect the worms from the many birds in the yard!

tulips from last year, and same tulips, diseased, this year.

tulip Mascotte on left and tulip lilac perfection on the right (last year's flowers)

6 – Tulip Mascotte (left) and Tulip Lilac Perfection (right). Oh I wish I could say these are from this year! These beautiful tulips are from one year ago. The bottom image of the top picture is what they look like today (diseased greens with only a single flower). I will have to dig them all up, along with the soil, and destroy them. It is probably tulip fire.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have you ever had this ‘tulip fire’ in your garden? I had it a bunch of years ago, and dug all of the bulbs up and didn’t replant in that area. So I’m super disappointed to have it happen again, and in a different area. I’d love to know what your experience has been. Thanks! 🙂

A little sunshine does the trick!

Posted on April 15, 2023 by Mominthegarden

Hi there! We were away for nearly all of last week and the garden looks completely transformed. Thank God for warmer weather with some sunshine thrown in, between the showers, of course. It is great to see. It really lifts my spirits when the weather improves. Suddenly I find myself outside in the garden, not wanting to come in!

All is not perfect in the garden, though. I seem to have some issues with my hyacinth and some tulips. I’ll give the tulips a bit more time, but the hyacinth have already bloomed, albeit half heartedly. Such a change from last year. I’m hoping it is due to the very wet spring we’ve had.

Otherwise, the garden is looking good, with lots of growth and buds of things soon to come.

I’m joining Garden Ruminations for the Six on Saturday meme. Feel free to join in! 🙂

Enjoy the tour.

In Peace,
Dana

1 – Pink Aubrietia. This makes me smile every spring. Mine was more interested in growing into the bed than down the wall, but I think we’ll eventually get there. It is really quite striking! Last year I planted more in the second bed and it is already heading down the wall.

2 – ‘Cool Crystal’ (pink fringed, peony-like) tulips. These were planted just this past fall, in my newest bed. They haven’t all fully opened yet, and they already look very pretty.

3 – Helleborus Harvington Double Apricot. I know I’ve already shown these a while back, but I really think they are at their peak now. Wow! So many blooms, all with dainty double petals, in a delicate apricot and pink coloring. 🙂

4 – Primroses. These are also back for show and tell, again. I just can’t get over how well they’ve done (counter to all my previous primroses). I wasn’t able to capture them all in the picture, but I have red, purple, cream, light yellow, dark yellow, and dark pink. And I’m sure that they’ve spread from what I planted last year.

dark pink, light pink and purple hyacinth

5 – Hyacinth. The pinks are part of the Raspberry Ice Fusion collection. I don’t know the exact name of the ‘purple’ ones. These all did fairly well again this year. I’ve had these for quite a few years now, and I am always happy with them.

6 – Hyacinth Woodstock. Here’s my example of poorly performing hyacinth! The top picture of these pretty maroon-purple hyacinth is from last spring (they were planted that fall). They were full flowered and beautiful. The bottom picture is this year. They look terrible! I am hoping it was just because of the rain. I’ll give them another year before digging them up.

I hope your garden is faring well with whatever weather you have!

Thanks so much for stopping by. If you have an idea of why my hyacinth aren’t happy, please do share! 🙂

A March visit to Powerscourt House & Gardens (and Hotel)

Posted on April 3, 2023 by Mominthegarden

Hello! I think one of the main things people are talking about here, in Ireland, is the amount of rain we’ve had over the past number of weeks. Oh boy, has it been wet! Thankfully, we didn’t let the rain stop us from visiting Powerscourt House and Gardens. It was well worth the visit – and the rain held off while we were in the gardens!

I last visited the gardens in September a year ago with my gardening enthusiast friend, Susan. We decided to visit again now, to see the spring version. 🙂 On both visits, we managed to pick times when there were very few people about, which is great for taking pictures. The Japanese Garden was our favorite on this visit. Although, I have to say that I really liked the formal Italian Garden, too.

View of the Italian garden and Tritan lake at Powerscourt House and Gardens

I loved these flower urns with the cherubs seemingly smelling the flowers (violets). This view looks down on part of the the formal Italian Garden, with Triton Lake down below. Sugar Loaf Mountain in the background completes the picture!

Fun fact: The fountain in Triton Lake is based on the fountain in Piazza Barberini in Rome.

View of the Italian garden at Powerscourt House & Gardens

Here’s another view of the formal Italian Garden. Susan noted that the boxwood hedging around the rose beds that we’d seen on our last visit, has been replaced. We surmise that this is due to the boxwood blight going around the country.

View of the Italian garden at Powerscourt

I took this last picture of the formal Italian Garden to showcase the trees in the background which have daffodils alternating between them. We thought that this grouping is a lovely alternative to a straight row of flowers.

Views from the Japanese garden at Powerscourt House & Gardens

The main splash of color in the Japanese Garden was provided by this beautiful Rhododendron (top right picture). I loved seeing the wild garlic (bottom right picture) and I didn’t realize it would grow on a wall!

This interesting rock structure is covered in greens, with water provided by piping which is discreetly placed around the top. It is very pretty in person.

This is my favorite picture of the Japanese Garden. It is so serene and beautiful.

We walked to Tower Valley, which is where you can climb to the top of Pepperpot Tower.

Fun fact: Pepperpot Tower was modelled on a favorite pepperpot from Lord Powerscout’s dining table.

Dana and Susan at the top of Pepperpot tower

Susan and I climbed the 54 steps of Pepperpot Tower and enjoyed a view of the trees.

It wouldn’t be spring without a display of daffodils!

Powerscourt gardens view of the house and Triton Lake

Here’s another view of Triton Lake looking up to the House and the Italian Garden. The sky was quite gray, but we were happy it stayed dry for us.

We finished the visit off by enjoying afternoon tea at the Powerscourt Hotel. The food was delicious. Just look at those delightful treats! (We’d finished the sandwiches before I’d even thought to take a picture.) The view out to the gardens was beautiful from our table.

Despite the gloomy weather, we had an absolutely lovely day! And for shopping enthusiasts, there is a gift and plant shop as well as an Avoca shop, all on the estate – definitely something for everyone. It truly is well worth a visit.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed our visit to Powerscourt House & Gardens and Hotel! 🙂

In Peace,
Dana

Flower display in the Powerscourt Hotel lobby.

Mom in the Garden

Enjoying life. In Ireland. With my family.

Category Archives: Gardening

August is blooming (and swimming)!

A turbulent July is nearly gone

When your lavender is ready but you are not

Summer Solstice behind us now

Planting out the seedlings

When everything (isn’t) coming up roses

Tulip season!

A very pink start to spring

A little sunshine does the trick!

A March visit to Powerscourt House & Gardens (and Hotel)