Venetia McEllin’s successfully propegated Papaver commutatum (ladybird poppies).
Summer is a-comin’ in (sort of)
Flower Garden
Venetia McEllin
We gardeners are an optimistic lot! Buoyed up by pictures in magazines of waving prairie planting, colourful, ravage-free bedding, disease-free roses and voluptuous vegetables, our imaginations run riot and memories of cold wet winters, arctic winds and gardens that look like bomb sites are happily consigned to history.
Seeds are sown, beds are manured and we wait once more for our gardens to turn into beautiful warm, leafy, idyllic spaces that we can contemplate with satisfaction from deckchairs, or while pulling the odd weed here or there.
Well, so far for me, it hasn’t been like that. Individual successes, like propagating my ladybird poppy (Papaver commutatum) from one bought at Hampton Court last year, the first bud on my peony, and of course the roses, which always seem to be able to produce wonderful blooms, give me a great thrill. But for the rest, it is still a bit of a pipe dream.
I am not competitive by nature, but everything I grow always seems to be smaller, later and more attractive to slugs and disease than those grown by others, and therefore a wee bit disappointing. A bit like beating your own record running a race, but still coming last! I’m not complaining – the act of gardening is what I love, whatever weather, bugs and disease throw at it.
My hot border, which should be a riot of oranges, reds and yellows, is still a month behind. My calendula are at last looking good – you may remember Seán and I saved them from the arctic winds in May by putting slates in front of them to protect them. My Knautia macdedonia is just beginning to flower with its lovely claret red buds, and my apricot candelabra primulas (divided last year) are doing well. I have put in my dahlias, but they are quite small, and the rudbeckia which should be growing well now, is still only up about six inches. I have planted out three types of sunflower, astrantias and cimicifugas, so theoretically, it should be looking good – we just need patience and a bit of sun!
An enemy I have encountered this year is bindweed. When we had topsoil delivered, the rain was teeming down, and Sean was trying to level it as quickly as possible. I kept ejecting white roots which I felt could be troublesome, and indeed I now have plenty of perky bindweed shoots. I have tried spot spraying them but after killing two echinacea tangerine which I bought for the border I have decided the best thing is to try and dig them out whenever they appear. More hard work!
But as I said, gardeners are an optimistic bunch, and yesterday, the Ballinrobe Garden Club members went on a trip to Helen Dillon’s garden in Ranelagh, Co Dublin (www.dillongarden.com). We were completely inspired after visiting her wonderful garden. Of course, her delphiniums were three times the size of mine, her dahlias were in full flower and the whole garden was a riot of colour – or as she described it, ‘like a packet of smarties’. But then I reflected that she has been working on her garden for the last 40 years. I’ve only got another 38 years to go then!
Venetia McEllin is a member of Ballinrobe Garden Club, which meets on the first Tuesday of the month at 7.30pm in Tacú Resource Centre, Ballinrobe. The club is on a break for the summer, but meetings will resume in September.
