Month: December 2023

Six-on-Saturday: End of Year

Páraig likes wine and winter flowers. He also looks forward to 2024 but not squatting and stooping to photograph the hellebores.

I do hope your Christmas was as wonderful as ours here in Dungarvan. The weather outside was frightful and several attempts to go cycling with friends were abandoned easily, bar one. Storm Gerrit breezed through on Tuesday night into Wednesday and there was very little time to grab a few photographs that would prove I actually did get outside.

Gaultheria

Featured recently, Gaultheria procumbens is a dainty little thing.

Camellia and Wine

The buds are appearing on Camellia, yet it’s the wine bottle that catches my attention. Similar to last week, Marion thinks I’ve lost my marbles. I have six bottles, all red, in various spots, put in place last May. Through the summer, they were soon surrounded and overgrown by annuals. Now I can see again.

3. Heather

Heather is in flower and leaves are gone to ground.

4. Hellebore

The first of the Hellebores are peeking through. As always I have to practice squats and forward stooping in order to photograph them.

5. Cyclamen

Cyclamen coum, one of the hardiest, is providing a small splash of colour. At this time of the year even a small splash is better than none.

6. Polyanthus

Plenty polyanthus flowers in bloom or ready to burst.

Summary

A quick dash around the garden and a time-pressed account to match.

Clockwise from top centre:

  • Camellia & vine
  • Heather
  • Hellebore
  • Cyclamen
  • Polyanthus
  • Gaultheria

Pop over to Jim’s Site to discover more Six-on-Saturday updates. Until next time, I hope you get to enjoy some time in the garden. Happy New Year to all.

About the author: Páraig likes wine and winter flowers. He also looks forward to 2024 but not squatting and stooping to photograph the hellebores.

Páraig is the author of…

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Casting My Mind Back To Christmas 2020

Nollaig Shona from me. I wish you all the very best for the year ahead. May your spuds sprout early and your snails drown in beer.

Here’s my Christmas 2020 post again. It’s on my old unused blog, still alive in the blog cloud. While I’m cycling and having trifle, it’s here for you if you’re not.

Six-on-Saturday – I’m Dreaming Of…
Click/tap to go to the old blog.

Memory from 2020: “I include in my thoughts those who have a home but are unable to be there because of travel restrictions. Even in a world of Zoom, there’s nothing quite like pulling a cracker.”

Nollaig Shona from us here in South-East Ireland. I wish you all the very best for the year ahead. May your spuds sprout early and your snails drown in beer.

You’d never guess that in 2020 we were three years younger. So we’re YOU. In any case, we love one another better now. You see we’ve had three more years to understand how loving works and we are committed for the long-term.

This message has been sponsored by Baileys

Nath Cainte Gaeilge – Irish Proverb

Bíonn gach duine lách go dtéann bó in a gharraí.

Everyone’s kind until a cow breaks into their garden.

About the author: Páraig likes dreaming of a white Christmas and reblogging old articles. He also likes his new book and some strange satire, but not late-sprouting spuds or cows in his garden.

Páraig is the author of…

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Six-on-Saturday: Christmas 2023

Do you like dry cold weather? What about evergreen shrubs and inexpensive garden ornaments? Yellow weather alerts, surely not?

Happy Christmas to one and all. I hope it will be everything you wish for.

Here on the SE Irish coast it was another mild December week with the added bonus of some rain by night. The cold front to the north of Scotland was firmly held back until Thursday, and then it let rip with a Yellow Wind Alert. Being honest, I don’t mind a cold snap. Rushing around crowded shops in mild weather is exhausting.

Thanks to Jim at Garden Ruminations, for hosting Six on Saturday. Pop over there to discover updates from participating writer-gardeners. In the meanwhile, here’s my six:

1. Crab Apple

Leaves are gone and the fruits are ripening. Blackbirds have been sampling, and they will return to feed at the right time.

2. Unknown

From my mam’s garden. Can anyone shed light on what it is? Nerine, I wonder?

3. Another Mystery

I’m going to hazard a guess that this might be Bachelor’s Buttons, known better as Feverfew and officially as Tannecetum. Even if I’m incorrect, the three names are correct for the plant I’m thinking of. I do love those skeletonised seedheads.

4. Conifer

Looking for evergreens, I took a shot of this conifer. About three metres in height, it is magnificent throughout the year, and especially now. Putting a trellis on the wall will happen in the spring.

5. Ornament

Garden ornaments are expensive, so I used this disused oil-boiler flue. I like it, despite the protestations of my good wife. I remind her that it’s my garden too. Recycle: repurpose items rather than dump.

6. Euonymus & Cotoneaster

Another evergreen, Euonymus ‘something-something’ pleases me also. The Cotoneaster ‘Queen of Carpets’ is hugging it beautifully. I’ve been able to get half a dozen rooted slips from it last year and more to come soon. It can run riot, but I’m thrilled to see it climbing the wall. The planned trellis will help keep it secure.

Summary

Clockwise from top left:

  • Crab apple
  • Nerine?
  • Feverfew?
  • Conifer
  • Free onamental flue
  • Euonymus

Pop over to Jim’s Site to discover more Six-on-Saturday updates. Until next time, I hope you get to enjoy some time in the garden.

About the author: Páraig likes dry cold weather. He also likes evergreen shrubs and inexpensive garden ornaments, but not Yellow Alerts.

He is the author of…

Social Media stuff:

Imagine

‘IMAGINE’ is my latest discovery. 2023 was the year that ChatGBT5 was released and quickly spread to all areas of digital life.

Now, companies are piggy-backing off it to create an unknown world ahead. I’ve used IMAGINE to create these images. I started with my Cyclamen, photographed recently…

And thirty seconds later, I created this. When I say I created it, I mean it was a collaborative effort. I stated what I was looking for.

Image generated by AI.

Perhaps that brightens up your day, or scares the living daylights out of you! Strange phrase, that: ‘the living daylights.’

Explanation:

The phrase “scared the living daylights out of someone” is an idiomatic expression that is used to convey a sense of extreme fear or terror. When someone says that they were “scared the living daylights out of” them, they mean that they were extremely frightened or startled.

The phrase likely originates from the idea that a frightening experience might be so intense that it feels as though it has caused a person’s “living daylights” to flee or be startled out of them. “Living daylights” in this context refers to a person’s vitality or life force, and the phrase is a colorful way of expressing the intensity of the fear experienced.

In modern usage, the phrase is often employed as a humorous or exaggerated way of describing a frightening experience, and it’s commonly used in informal conversation or storytelling to emphasize the impact of a scary or startling event.

Six-on-Saturday: Day by Day

I like strolling the garden before breakfast to the accompaniment of music. I also like WeatherShot and cycling, but not too many plants in straight lines.

I’ve had an on-off love affair with WeatherShot. It’s a phone app, sadly no longer being updated. I bought a subscription several years ago but could not really justify spending €30 the following year because I had not used it as much as I thought I would. Recently, I renewed again in exchange for the price of two bottles of wine, and this past week I’ve enjoyed using it every bit as much as drinking wine. Life is rarely either/or.

Rather than half a dozen Saturday photos, there’s one per day. I may be tempted to continue going forward. Here on the SE Irish coast it was another mild murky December week, recorded here along with gardening memories. Thanks to Jim at Garden Ruminations, for hosting Six on Saturday. Rules is here.

Sunday

Instagram @thethreehairs

Sunday was wet and windy. I did manage to cycle about 70km but I needed a mince pie and coffee midway. Taken before I left, the pigeons, doves, sparrows and others are enjoying a hearty breakfast. Everything gobbled up by the time I returned.

Monday

It’s been my habit to spend a short few minutes each morning surveying the garden. I wear my headphones and have ‘The Garden Song‘ on repeat. I notice things and my advice to myself is: Notice everything, but do not touch. This photograph reminds me to rearrange the patio pots. Straight lines are not always the best.

Tuesday

These little annual Begonias are against the west-facing wall and they’re still in flower! The stone trough is topped with 2cm of loose stone to retain moisture in summer and heat in winter. If I told you these three plans survived last winter, would you believe me? You better believe it! They were planted in June 2022. If they survive again, they’ll need feeding.

Wednesday

Skimmia jap. ‘Temptation’ is doing OK, but only just. It would rather be in the ground. During the summer, it became much too dry. All life dies without water, and fails to thrive without enough.

Thursday

I think it’s obvious that I like Cordylines in containers. I’m told it’s a plant that does not do well if moved, but as they are in pots I can move them whenever and wherever I like. ‘Torbay Dazzler’ is out on its own, dead centre.

Friday

It’s complicated. I bought four red Christmassy pots, each containing one Cyclamen. Later, I took each of these lovely Cyclamen(s) from the four pots and put them together here. Why, you ask? Well, these are not winter hardy so the plan is to drape a towel over them whenever frost is likely. Can you spot the two chopsticks? You’ll know why I’ve put them in. I’m thinking that I have a touch of OCD, but these plants will bring me so much joy in these dark days.

Pop over to Jim’s Site to discover more Six-on-Saturday updates. Until next time, I hope you get to enjoy some time in the garden. 

Inch by inch, row by row,
Gonna make this garden grow,
All it takes is a rake and a hoe,
And a piece of fertile ground.

Inch by inch, row by row,
Someone bless these seeds I sow,
Someone warm them from below,
'Till the rain comes tumblin' down.

Pullin' weeds and pickin' stones,
Man is made of dreams and bones,
Feel the need to grow my own,
'Cause the time is close at hand.

Grain for grain, sun and rain,
Find my way in Nature's chain,
Tune my body and my brain
To the music from the land.

Plant your rows straight and long,
Temper them with prayer and song,
Mother Earth will make you strong
If you give her loving care.

An old crow watching hungrily
From his perch in yonder tree,
In my garden I'm as free
As that feathered thief up there.

About the author: Páraig is the author of…

Joy

Even the sharpest ear cannot hear an ant singing.

The proverb “Even the sharpest ear cannot hear an ant singing” is a beautiful metaphor that reflects the idea that some things are simply beyond human perception or understanding, no matter how attentive or perceptive one may be.

Instagram @thethreehairs

This Sudanese proverb suggests that there are limits to what we can perceive or comprehend, and that we should remain humble in the face of the vastness of the world and the limitations of our own senses. It serves as a reminder that there are aspects of life and the natural world that may elude us, despite our best efforts to comprehend them.

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