J. and K. McCarthy had their wedding photographs taken in Coolwater Garden this summer. We wish them a full life full of happiness together. Here are some of the shots that were taken.
J. and K. McCarthy had their wedding photographs taken in Coolwater Garden this summer. We wish them a full life full of happiness together. Here are some of the shots that were taken.
Main pic above is of a Hollyhock standing straight and proud beside the pond in the Water Garden.
And here is Penny in the pond keeping an eye on the flowers.
Agapanthus “Charlotte” with a good display this year in the Alpine Plants House. I know it’s not an alpine plant but Hey! Ho!
Sedum “José Aubergine” is a herbaceous perennial that is a mega attraction for bees. Today, although not seen in the pic, it was being jostled by enormous bumble bees. A long time since I’ve seen bumble bees so large.
Cheerful as ever, Bunny Ears Opuntia in the Arid Bed.
A prostrate Gaultheria, which delivers late summer every year.
One of three Mangaves, which we now have.
New top of the wall pots being placed. There’ll be eighteen of these eventually, all with succulents sheltered under a polycarbonate roof.
Main picture is of a four-petalled Tigridia (They normally have only three petals) and below one of our miniature Nerines in our Alpine house. These nerines in the Alpine House always flower much earlier than the ones in the open garden.
Agave american “Mediopicta” in the Arid Garden, a dwarf agave americana, which has a striking appearance.
Pelargonium endlicherianum from Armenia, a pelargonium, which can survive outside all winter here, provided it doesn’t get too sodden.
A lovely Pulsatilla from the Tian Shan flowering out of season, as they are a Spring flowering plant.
Papaver “Pacino”, a short-stemmed poppy, that flowers for a longish period.
Everyone seems to like the colour of this Corydalis, Craighton Blue, which needs acidic soil.
A limestone boulder in a one metre diametered trough completely overwhelmed with this Sedum. This sedum has Genghis Khan ambitions.
Main picture is of one of our Agave americanas, which are now eight feet tall and below a Diplarrena moraea from Australia, with its white flowers in the Water Garden.
Above, a gorgeous lily and below an unidentified cactus, which I had picked up earlier in the year just because I had liked its shape. It’s been flowering its socks off for weeks. If anyone could identify it for me, I’d be grateful.
Three shots of the Water Garden. The prominent white flowers are Meadowsweet from the bog around here.
Carnivorous Sarracenia from North Carolina busily digesting unfortunate flies, that have been lured into its pitchers.
Alstroemeria hookeri, a delightful miniature alstroemeria from Peru.
May was a little warmer than normal and the flowers in the garden eventually responded despite the not nice Spring holding them back originally. All except the water lilies, which flowered three weeks later than usual. We couldn’t blame the wet Spring for their lateness, though, could we? 🙂 Above pic is one of the Oxalis.
Above is Edrianthus pumilio from the Balkans, a lime lover.
View down the drive with Sedums growing on top of staddle stones. In the round black pot is the smallest Elm tree in the world. I believe, that when it reaches its maximum height, it’ll be a towering eight inches! 🙂
Japanese painted ferns ensconced in a round trough. These need acidic soil.
Another round trough with alpine plants growing in tufa, no soil. Erinus alpinus is the purple flower.
One of our water features in the West Garden. Unfortunately the water had been turned off when the pic was taken.
An Irish cultivar discovered in 1905, Berberis “Corallina compacta”.
A lovely Dodecatheon in the Alpine House near the Water Garden.
Rhododendron “Graffitti” in the cabana.
Foxgloves seed around the garden and are very welcome. The apricot ones always seem to revert, though.
His royal highness, Emp, keeping an eye on things and making sure we don’t step out of line. 🙂
Above is one of the rhodanthemums, outside the Copper Pagoda.
Finally the persistent rainfall stopped towards the end of April. It has in fact been raining almost every day in the garden from July last year to the end of the third week this month. Probably some sort of record. Anyway, the plants, apart from the succulents, didn’t mind. 🙂
April was tulip month in the garden, whilst Clematis marmoria, an inch high plant, excelled in the Alpine House.
Above is a Ramonda from the Pyrenees in a cleft in one of the troughs, while another trough contains this Sanguinaria canadensis.
Newly emerging fronds of Dryopteris affinis are always a delight to see in the Spring with Bergenia cordifolia joining the party too. And, below, Viburnum plicatum, in the West Garden, spreading its wings.
And last but not least, a Nectaroscordem tripedale flower from Armenia starting to open.
A little bit about “hardware” additions to Coolwater Garden this month. We’ve painted some of our wooden chairs a bright red: maybe some would say, “an eyeball scorching red”. 🙂 You can’t fail to miss them walking around the garden.
Then, we’ve also acquired a tree stump from a neighbouring farm and have inserted it into the end of an old heating oil tank. We’ll be planting up on top of the stump next month.
A new pergola has been erected over the coombe in the West Garden. A slightly difficult job as it is on a slope and also curves in the shape of a C.
We’re thinking of not painting it as, “Once you paint, you always have to keep painting from thereon”.
A selection of climbers are waiting to go in. The junipers will be removed and replaced with mostly Mossy Saxifrage, as it is quite shaded there.
We’ll still call this area “The Coombe”, even though the bottom of it has been concreted now and water flow stopped.
This is the month of the Hellebores in Coolwater Garden. The latest hybrids tend to have their flowers not so hidden.
Below is a new rockery under construction, formed with Visean period carboniferous limestone rocks sourced locally.
And then I found a holy rock to stick on top. 🙂
Here’s the position of the new rockery behind the Mura ki te Rangi sculpture.
These are some of the rocks, which we use in our Alpine troughs in Coolwater Garden. Acidic rocks for plants requiring a low ph environment and alkaline ones for those plants needing a high ph. Pic above is of a silica rock formed after material had been explosively ejected from a volcano vent. Below is a piece of yellow sandstone from Co. Clare.
Below is a piece of Burren limestone obtained not from the Burren but from the same stratum, which showed above the ground elsewhere.
Mudstone located from Co.Cork.
Shale from the Ballyhoura Mountains, which was interspersed with red sandstone conglomerate.
Namurian mudstone from Co. Kerry.
Slate from the Graves of the Leinstermen in Co. Tipperary.
Metamorphic rock from the Barna Gap.
Here is Ballyhoura Mountains shale being used in a revamped trough in the garden. The rain will wash the stones clearer in time.
Cold and wet in the last days of December in the garden but, between the nasty showers, some of the troughs are being revamped. Maybe some time before they’re completely planted up, though, as most alpine plant nurseries are closed until the end of March.
Azorella looking for world domination on this piece of tufa.
Decaying shake from the Ballyhoura Mountains has been used to revamp this trough. Will have to wait a while before it can be fully planted, though.
More Ballyhoura shale, together with 10mil pink granite, making an environment for acidic-loving plants.
Sausage plant flowering in the Alpine House.
Physoplexis comosa, from Lake Como, flowering completely out of season in the Alpine House.
Daphne bholua “Jacqueline Postill” now coming into full flower, with a far-reaching scent that extends way beyond Coolwater Garden’s boundary.
