Category Archives: Gardening

English Lavender in full bloom = Lavender Wands!

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Lavender Wands.

It’s July and my lavender is in full bloom.  Just brushing past it gives off a wonderful scent. This usually happens in the evening as I’m pulling off slugs from the neighboring hosta and lilies, so it’s a welcome reprieve from such yucky work!  I came across lavender wands a couple of years ago, and have decided I really like making them.  It’s fun to work with my hands, and it smells so lovely during the weaving process.  It’s not difficult to do, either.    I gather a handful of stems, tie them together, fold the stems over the blooms, weave the ribbon, and finish with a little bow!  🙂  Here are a couple of pictures of the process:

I like my wands nice and full, so I usually collect between 19 and 23 stems. Look for stems that have some flowers open.   Inevitably, one stem will break in the folding-over process, so I’ll end up with 22 which works well for the weaving since I work with them in twos.

Tie a ribbon at the base of the flowers (not too tight or you’ll break the stems).

After you gather your stems and peel off any greens, line up the blooms and tie a ribbon at their base.  You can use 3mm, 5mm, or 6mm size ribbon. The wider the ribbon the less weaving you’ll have to do.  I think 5 mm is perfect. I figured this out after making lots of wands with 3mm!

Folding stems over the flowers.

Next, hold the flowers in your hand and fold two stems down (gently, so they don’t break), put ribbon either over or under these two, and bring two more stems down. I use two stems, but you can use one or three. I found one to be too much work. Then repeat the process, bringing the ribbon over and under the stems.

I had a lot of fun making these, and putting together a rainbow of colors.  You could hang these in your closet, or put them in your dresser drawers, or leave them on the window sill of the bathroom!  Because I have so many, I have mine in a vase in my family room.  They will last for years.   I am going to try and sell them at a fair coming up in a few weeks. We’ll see if there is any interest for Lavender Wands!

English Lavender in full bloom.

I can’t be 100% sure of the type of lavender I have since I didn’t plant it. But I believe it is an English hybrid (Lavandins), probably Abrialii.  This variety blooms after English lavenders finish their blooming and it lasts to mid summer.   They really have a strong fragrance, and are great for drying too, since the flowers are easily removed from the stems.  After the blooms are finished the stems should be cut by about a third to promote fullness for next season.

I really appreciate having such a lovely and fragrant plant thriving so easily. What a bonus to be able to bring some of it inside and enjoy it all year long!   What do you think, would you use a Lavender Wand?

Dana

A visit to Tallanstown, Co. Louth, Ireland.

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Yesterday was a great day to go for a family bike ride.  The weather was dry and mild which equals perfect!  Our littlest one is 8 and well capable of keeping up with the rest of us.  We decided to visit our neighboring village, which is called Tallanstown.   It was a beautiful and easy 10 minute bike ride.  It was fair day in Tallanstown, with lots of people, music, animals, and different fair attractions.  We enjoyed walking around, seeing the sights, and catching up with friends.  I confess that I didn’t take pictures of the fair (just my kids!).  I think the history and beauty of the village are more interesting.  I had taken some sunny day pictures of the park previously, and today I went back and captured some of the historical side of the village.  It was raining while I took my photos today. Bucketing rain.  But I had this blog post in my head, and that was that!

I enjoyed learning about Vere Foster (1819-1900), a man of wealth with ties to Tallanstown, who lived his life helping others less fortunate than himself.  The statue is fitting, displaying books, since his efforts brought about great change in the Irish education system. He did this to improve emigrants chances of success in America.

The park in Tallanstown is a lovely, peaceful place.  It has pretty paths with so many different plants and trees.  I loved all of the different textures, and sizes of plants (that’s what I go for!).  It is very well maintained.  They are currently putting in a new herb garden.

It came as no surprise when Tallanstown won the national Tidy Towns competition in 2010. The village is pristine and beautified with flowers, lots and lots of flowers!  There is a great deal of pride in the community, and it shows.

We really enjoyed our afternoon out and about.  We arrived home just as the rain started.  Great timing!

I am still figuring out the best way for me to display photos in my blog.  I’m trying a different way today. The pictures are small, but if you click on them it’ll open up a slide show.   Please feel free to let me know what you think!  Is it better to have less photos (I put more in today, to try this out!) enlarged in the blog? or more in a slide show?  Thoughts and comments are always welcome!

Enjoy this little tour of our neighboring village!
Dana

 

Our bike ride to Tallanstown. (Picture taken while biking!)
Our bike ride to Tallanstown.
Failte “Welcome” to Tallanstown.
View coming into Tallanstown.
Water feature in Tallanstown.
Water feature behind Tidy Towns plaque.
Tidy Towns National winners in 2010. They were presented the plaque by then president Mary McAleese.
Vere Foster: A man of great wealth, who put the well being of others first. After he discovered that Irish emigrants were having a tough time due to lack of education, he sought to rectify this. Through his efforts, a much higher standard of education was brought about in Ireland. His statue is here due to his ties to Tallanstown.
The life of Vere Foster.
Center of Tallanstown.
Former National School. There is a sign on each side of the building: one saying “Male School” and the other “Female School”.
The Maguire family’s donation helped fund the park.
The park was partially funded by Program for Peace & Reconciliation.
In the park looking towards the front gate.
New paths in the park. This is being made into an herb garden.
A view of the green within the park.
Cut out stone pathway.
Beautiful stone double seat.
Lots of shapes, textures, and colors (ok, different shades of green!) in this sheltered garden.
Mom’s three kids.
Mom’s three kids being really good 🙂
Mr. Tayto, an Irish Icon for the Irish owned Tayto Brand crisps (potato chips). There is a Tayto theme park that is quite popular (http://www.taytocrisps.ie/park/).
This is a beautiful home garden in Tallanstown. The back flowers are all white calla lilies! It was bucketing rain when I took this picture, unfortunately, so the view isn’t as clear as I’d have liked.

Weeding … and new blooms in the garden!

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Weeding, it’s like housework, it just has to be done!  I confess to much preferring being outdoors and weeding to being inside doing housework, though.  Today I had the privilege of listening to my kids play on the trampoline with their friends while I was pulling weeds.  Lots and lots of weeds.  Funny how the kids never want to pull weeds with me.  We could make a game of it; something like “let’s see who can pull the most weeds!”.  I’ll have to give that one a try tomorrow…

I’ve mentioned that our garden is in a constant state of change as we grow it, learn, and figure out how we want it to look eventually.  The area of our “fruit orchard”, I just have to put that in quotes since the area is so small we call it that affectionately, is not the shape we want it just yet.  We discovered this year that we’ve planted too close to the fence, so we’ll have to bring that area back a tiny bit.  That lovely black carpeting (read: ugly)  is where we’ll have stone paths eventually.  We planted more asparagus this year, so that space was expanded.  We’re planning on two rows of peas for next year, too, since they are growing so nicely.  When we get the shape and size finally right, we’re planning on enclosing the area.  I really want a small white picket fence.  Can you just see the pretty pink climbing roses along the fence with white hydrangea?  I’m sure I’ve pinned something like that from pinterest!

Back to reality, and our current garden!  The first of my Dutch Iris is blooming, and I think it is so pretty. The first of my roses has also finally bloomed.  The sunlight this evening captured it so brilliantly.   The mess in the middle of my front yard is my next garden project.  I have to kill the grass (with newspapers & cardboard). I’ve also put the sod which was dug up from other places in the yard there, to incorporate it into the new garden.  There’s no point in wasting perfectly good sod!  I’m glad my husband is a patient man, and doesn’t mind the mess involved with killing the grass the slow way.  Good things come to those who wait 🙂

I hope you don’t have too long to wait for blooms in your garden!
Dana

The above picture  is the “before weeding” look of the fence line.

Now you can actually see the hedge!

A look at the “orchard” at sunset.

I thought the peas looked so pretty!

I am looking forward to eating our zucchini!

O.K. that’s a lot of pictures for one Dutch Iris … but it feels like I waited forever for it to bloom!

Finally! Roses in my rose garden!

I discovered these in my garden … I think they were given to me, and this is their first year blooming!

We grew a bunch of Calendula flowers from seeds and they are just now showing us how pretty they are!

This is as close as I’m going to take a picture of the big mess in the front yard!  At least the sunset is pretty 🙂

The country life for me.

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I love living in the country. It’s beautiful, peaceful, and relaxed. I’ve been fortunate enough to live in a few wonderful places over the years. I’m originally from the Hudson Valley region of New York State, a town called Poughkeepsie.  It’s beautiful there. Yes, it is! 🙂 I also lived for many years in upstate New York, in a lovely village called Manlius.  So maybe that is why I have an appreciation for living in the country.  Let’s just say that I am thankful for being able to live surrounded by such beauty.

We live a mile from the village where my daughter goes to school.  Our youngest is our last one at the primary school, as her brother and sister have now moved on to secondary schools outside of the village.  This is the final week before summer holidays.  The weather was so nice yesterday that we decided to walk to school.  What a treat!  On our way home, we met up with our neighbor.  He is such a gentleman.  He also happens to have 3 sheep in his front yard.   I joke that they are the token sheep, since the area we live in is called “Sheepwalk”.   Tootsie Wootsie (what a great name for a sheep!) happened to be near the gate while we were chatting, so she came over to say hello.  She is huge and very friendly!

We had some dry days this past week, so I made great progress with painting our front fence.  I enjoyed chatting with some neighbors as they’d pass by on their walks.  It’s a lovely area we live in, including the neighbors.  It was a great feeling to finish painting the front section of the fence!  The next few days are supposed to be wet, so the good news is that I get a bit of a break from painting.

In the meantime, I’ve been working on garden planning.  I’m very grateful for my husband’s help and input with our garden, especially all of the digging parts!   Last night we went over some “new” plans of mine and between the two of us have come up with some really good, workable ideas.  I’m appreciating the time and patience that goes along with gardening, especially with creating new gardens!  We’re making progress, one small step at a time.

I hope your garden plans are growing along nicely, too!
Dana

Our littlest one on our walk to school.

Our lovely neighbor and his sheep “Tootsie Wootsie”.

The road back from school to our home.

Two beautiful copper beech trees at the entrance to the church (next to the school).

The fence almost completed.

I managed to finish the fence just before the rain came!  Such a difference to have some sun in the picture!

Yes, I had to share all of my hard work with you!

This sunset was earlier in the week.

An unsettled sky, but a beautiful sunset.

Nursing Hydrangea Selma back to health.

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Now that is a gorgeous hydrangea.  Hydrangea Selma, to be exact.  Even the leaves are a beautiful burgundy color.  I took this picture when I bought it, just as it was going in the ground two years ago.  And that is the last time it bloomed. Even the leaves haven’t really grown well.  I’m stubborn, though, and I refused to give up.  Recently, a shock treatment of compost seemed to give it some life, but it still didn’t seem quite right.

Nope, the above picture isn’t what it looks like now.  This is what it looks like now:

Oh yes, it is not very pretty!  I spoke with someone at a nursery this week, and finally decided to take some action.  We (I mean my wonderful husband!) dug a circle around the plant, and lifted it up with as much of the roots as possible. Then we dug out a circle 3 feet across and 3 feet deep.  Just as suspected, the soil was very heavy clay, wet, and in need of some air.  We made a mixture of 60/40 topsoil to  peat/compost and added that to the hole.  Then we replanted the hydrangea, adding some more compost.   I will be keeping a close eye on our patient.

My husband hard at work digging in the above photo.

After we finished with the hydrangea, we planted a few more plants that I happened to pick up at the nursery.  (Ever go to a nursery and *not* buy something?)  They are rather small, but I really liked their personalities!  The first one I call my silver plant (official name Convolvulus Cneorum).  I saw it and wanted it. Plain and simple.  The next little round one is Chamaecyparis p. “Boulevard”.  It is difficult to see in the picture, but the branches have a lot of texture, and the color is a little unusual greenish bluish yellowish (unofficially).  The third plant, well, I didn’t get the name of it.  But I will be returning to the nursery soon and I’ll get it then!

This garden, unnamed at the moment, gets a lot of wind.  It just whips around the house right at this point.  Our Japanese Maple has suffered terribly from this.  It is completely naked.  Not one single leaf.  It needs either a lot of wind protection here, or to be moved.  I’m planning that we’ll move it this fall.

Below is my silver plant at the nursery, and then in my garden.

Below is a picture at the nursery. I loved the texture of this shrub.

Here is my tiny version.

I liked this taller one to have a variety of shapes in the garden.  It should grow to about 1.5m to 2m.

I know they are small now, but I like watching them fill in and grow instead of buying full size (read frugal gardener).

We have had a lot of gray days, and a lot of rain.  So I searched through my photos for a cheerful picture to share.  I found two pictures from when I visited “Fred’s garden”.  He is a friend of my husband, and has an amazing garden. His words of advice to me were to have a master plan on paper to start with, and grow it from there.   Here are two pictures of some of his beautiful poppies.

I hope you enjoy some sunny time in the garden!  And for all those Dads out there, I hope you have a wonderful Father’s Day today! (maybe in the garden?)

Dana

Matching Stone Walls at the Front Gate.

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I have a plan for our  garden.  A few of them, actually.  Implementing them is trickier than thinking them up though!  Then of course, there are changes that have to be made after the original plans don’t work out.  I’m experiencing it all while creating our garden!  Take our front gate, for example.  I planted two lovely hostas there that the slugs completely demolished last year.  Completely.  So this year, I’ve been on serious slug alert.  Every night I go out at 9:30 (it’s light here until past 10) and pick off about a half a dozen slugs from the two hostas.  Every night.  But it’s working and the hostas are surviving! I had also planted some prim roses opposite the hostas, but decided that they were too much work to try and save from slugs.  So today I dug them up and cleaned up that little garden.  I’m going to wait until the fall to plant something in the prim roses’ place, unless the perfect plant presents itself to me!   The climbing roses which I planted earlier this season on both sides of the gates are doing well.   Just as the rain came, I was finishing up a second stone wall, which I think closes off the garden (nicely if I can say so myself?).  I really like the stones and the fact that they are from the neighboring fields.  It was only after I was sorting through the pictures that I remembered that only one side of the gate fence is painted.  It’s been a busy time in our family and we’re looking at the fence painting be a summer long project!  Good things come to those who wait, right?

I hope you don’t have to wait too long for your projects this summer!

Dana

Here is a look at the painted side of the fence and the new stone wall.  There is a  small climbing rose plant on this side of the fence, while the peony plant is peeking through from the other side of the fence.  (The stone in the middle is covering our water pump cover.)

Looking at the new stone wall from our driveway.

You can see the raindrops on the stones.

The hosta & climbing rose plant (and unpainted fence!).

The second hosta and climbing rose plant (and unpainted fence!).  The little teeny guy below kept me company while I worked, despite our cat trying to play with him.

A look at the entrance.  I sure like the painted fence better than the unpainted!

The winds proved too much for my purple sensation allium.  So rather than leave them bent to the ground, I cut them and put them in my favorite vase.  I’m glad I still get to enjoy them for a wee while longer!

A summer peak at the garden: Peas, Potatoes, Parsnips, Carrots, Cukes, & Chard!

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When the weather is nice in Ireland, the weather is super nice in Ireland!  We were finally free to spend a full day in the garden!  I love working in the garden, everything about it: pulling weeds, gathering rocks, planting, weeding, watering (ok, this doesn’t have to be done so much here), getting rid of slugs, more weeding.  I just love being outside and being a part of a living, growing, and changing garden.    We’ve been “growing our garden” over the past two years.  It is in a continuous state of change and development!  There have been some learning experiences, too.  I have a few plants & trees that aren’t happy where they are and I need to find out what will make them healthy again, possibly just changing their location.

Our raised vegetable beds are starting to look productive.  I think the veggies are slow growing this year.  We could use more heat, for the plants and for me!  My shallots are the happiest! They at least look impressive.  Our potatoes are growing nicely, too.  I’ve taken some pictures of the baby growth of what I have so far.  I like tracking it from a young stage to full bloom.  You should see carrots, garlic, onions, and parsnips.  My other beds have zucchini & pickling cukes in them, but they didn’t get photographed.

Walking away from the raised beds will bring you toward another part of the yard,  what we fondly refer to as the Fruit Orchard.  I was happy to see the start of apples and, for the first time, pears!  Our two year old blueberry bushes are also looking very good, and are full of fruit.   We’ve put a net over the strawberries in the hopes of keeping out the birds. I’m not sure if it is good enough for this job, but time will tell.    We’ve added bits and pieces on to this garden continuously!  I think it is almost at the right size.  Our plans include a  few more changes over the next year, and then it will be “done”!

Although called the Fruit Orchard, we do also have vegetables in this section.   We have Pacific Purple asparagus, but only 4 plants have survived over the past two years.  So we just expanded that section by adding 10 Grolim white asparagus.  I know it’s a long slow process with asparagus, but hopefully it’ll be worth it!  This year my husband planted peas for me.  He used some chicken wire and bamboo sticks for the plants to grow on.  Slugs love pea plants, by the way… I visit the plants every evening to save them from being someone else’s dinner!  We are attempting to grow some watermelon this year.  Ireland doesn’t have the best climate for this fruit, but I guess I have to prove that to myself!

The final set of pictures are just showing my boxwood hedging.  I finally cleaned them up a bit.  They really needed some trimming.  Actually, I just had to take some pictures of the beds that I had spent hours weeding!  My star flower of the moment is my Allium (purple sensation)!  I love it!  I’m afraid that the garden it’s in is not thriving. My hydrangea is only now showing signs of life after some compost shock treatment, and my Japanese Maple has been ruined by being in the line of our (gale force) wind path.  Big sigh, lots more work to do!

I hope you are enjoying steps of progress in your garden, too!

Dana

These are pictures of  our back yard, including the raised beds and potato beds. I have to say that the kids have really helped in expanding the stone pathway. It’s a tedious job, but I love how it looks! (and it’s character building, right?)

Here are some pictures of the vegetables growing in the raised beds: shallots, garlic, rainbow chard, onions, carrots, and a very fuzzy picture of parsnips.

Pictures from our fondly called “Fruit Orchard”: starting with apples, pears, blueberries, and strawberries.

Pictures of our Pacific Purple asparagus, and peas.

Picture of trimmed box wood plants (in Rose garden, which will hopefully have roses soon!) Followed by pictures of Allium (purple sensation).

A pretty “rain catcher” for our garden.

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Well, I think it’s pretty!  This is our new “Terracotta Look Water Butt” (rain trap system).  It’ll hold 245 liters of water.  It’s hooked up to our drain pipe.  We saw this when we were at the Dublin “Bloom” festival last year.  http://bloominthepark.com/   I like the idea of using rain water in the garden, and I think it looks nice too!  We aren’t currently charged for water use in Ireland, but they are planning on introducing charges in the near future.  Either way, I like the idea of “catching” rain water and using it.   Funny thing is, the price of the rain catcher has taken a big jump up this year. I’m guessing it’s because of the impending water charges.  That’s too bad.  We thought it was a reasonable price that we paid (160 euro).  It’s now 245 euro.  http://www.rainbarrels.ie/cascata-authenthic-terracotta-look-water-butt-p-843.html?osCsid=lbu9dkp336urikn9g3o1cq9sj7

I used it this morning to water the garden.  My watering can fits right under the water tap.  It’s nice and easy!

We are finally getting some real heat!  It was 22 degrees Celsius (73 degrees Fahrenheit).  By Irish standards, this was quite warm!  I have to say it really was a comfortable temperature.  The sun is what made it perfect.  Everything is taking a growth spurt in the garden (including the weeds)!  I’ve had a very unglamorous week of weeding.  I thought the two pictures below were pretty enough to show you.  I hope your garden is getting some sun, and you too!

Dana

Blue Geranium in the evening.  These were given to me by my friend Susan, and they have just thrived! Such an easy plant to tend.

I think my Hawthorne is really looking well in full bloom!

Ditch wall and our Hawthorne trees.

A wee stone wall at the front gate garden.

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It is sunny today!  And even somewhat warm (14 degrees Celsius, 57 degrees Fahrenheit) so out in the garden is where I was all morning.  I came across some really nice stones in one of our local fields recently.  The owner had a laugh when I asked, but he agreed to let me have as many stones as I’d like, so long as I didn’t disrupt his potato crop.  That was fine by me!  The kids and I hauled a bunch of stones  back to our place. There are big ones, small ones, flat and rounded ones.   I’m not exactly sure what I’ll be doing with them, but for starters I’m using some to finish off the front garden at our gates.  I think it’s a stretch to call it a wall, but for lack of a better name, that is what I’m calling it!

There are two hostas in the front garden by the gate, and two newly planted climbing roses (Zephirine Drouhin 1868).  My hopes are that the roses will climb along the fence (we’ll see!).  I’ve put down wet newspapers to keep down any grass,  and then some topsoil.   I think by Fall I’ll have some more ideas of what I’ll want to plant here.

I also took some more pictures of life around the garden.  My Angelique tulips are really in full bloom now, and look so much nicer in sunlight!  The cherry tree, and maple tree are showing their beauty.  I wasn’t sure how my new Tree Peony would do when we planted it as there was very little of a root system on it. But it seems to have taken hold and is growing.   I didn’t take a picture of our Japanese Maple because it is completely wind destroyed!  We will be looking for a new location for that very soon.  My purple anemone have to be one of my favorite flowers this year  with their amazing color! (called Mr. Fokker).

There are just two days left to my swimming course this weekend, and then I can work a lot harder in the garden!

I hope you are able to spend some time outside in the sunshine!

Dana

The wee wall, hosta, and climbing rose plant.

Cherry blossom.

Maple leaves.

Tree Peony.

Double late Angelique tulips.

Mr. Fokker Anemone.

A peek at the garden in late spring.

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April 30th!  Where has the time gone?  I have really missed writing about my garden, and especially working in it!  Where have I been, you might be wondering?  I coach swimming for young kids and I absolutely love it.  I’ve been coaching for two years and decided it would be helpful to take a course for a higher qualification.  I’ve been completely tied up with that course over the past month.  It’s been great, and I’ve learned a lot so I’m very glad for having taken it.  This coming weekend is the end of the course, and well, I’ll be glad to have my old schedule back and some free time for gardening!

In the meantime, I’ve gone through my garden to see how all the plants are doing.   My pictures show very dry soil, but actually our area is very windy (super, super windy!).  So even though the top of the soil might look dry, just underneath it is fine.  Garlic seems to be the most eager to get growing, as it is coming up rather quickly.  The shallots are just starting to pop up.  The early spuds are doing fine.  Probably this weekend we’ll cover them with more soil (called earthing up).  I’m delighted with all of the blooms on our apple trees.  This is the first year our pear tree has blooms, so I’m hopeful that we will have fruit on it this year!  The blueberries & strawberries are looking really good, too!  So hopefully I’ll be trying my hand at making jam this year.

The blog has become a bit of a family project.  The kids like to know what I’m writing about and taking pictures of, especially if they are helping in the garden.  My 12 year old daughter laughed at my Rose Garden post since I hadn’t actually posted any pictures of the rose plants.  There really wasn’t any point in posting pictures of small little plants with no roses, though!  The tulips are much prettier!  So I did throw in a picture of one of the rose plants that is now coming along nicely.  More in the rose garden, my late tulips (Double late Angelique)  are blooming, too.

We haven’t really had a pleasant spring in Ireland. It’s been cold, windy, and somewhat dry.  I’m really hoping we get some warmth soon!  At least we have had some sun, which is always such a blessing.  One day I managed to capture a Goldfinch on our fence.  Since we have a cat I don’t get many opportunities like that!

I hope your garden is bringing you joy, and  coming into bloom too!

Dana

A Goldfinch sitting on our fence.  He has a lovely red head.

The garlic is coming up nicely.

Shallots.

The early potatoes “Colleens” are coming up.

Pear tree blossom.

Our two varieties of apple trees; Arthur Turner which is a cooking apple, and the second is an “eating” apple tree.

Our blueberry, raspberry and strawberry plants are growing nicely.

A couple different varieties of hosta.  Slugs love hosta, so I put some organic slug pellets around them (works ok, but daily checking is only sure way to keep slugs from devouring the plants).

Rose plant.

My Double Late Angelique tulips (in the rose garden).

I’ve planted some Senetti in a container.  The color is “baby magenta bicolor”.  A very cheerful flower!