Private – Peter Donegan Garden Design & Landscaping

As always you can rss the podcasts via iTunes or direct via audioboo

To all things Bloom, once again, I quote myself from last year:

To only mention the gardens is, maybe, what I should be doing…. but, as a garden builder and designer at Bloom – they are all [seriously] amazing and I simply can’t be pushed to just pick one. Anyone who designs and/ or builds a garden here is a genius in my eyes I will however give an over view of the entire Bloom experience & some of the interesting people I met on my sabbatical

My Recommended Bits And Bobs:

As per the podcast…. here are the links to those I mentioned

Shawna Coronado – she’s @shawnacoronado on twitter and will be in the garden expert area. A must see.
entertainment tent [#20 on the map]- ice creams!
imaginosity – loved it last year. Even better this year.
Craft demonstration area. Remember the blacksmith Michael Budd and Kathleen from the basket makers association – even more crafts this year.
Agriaware area – see the pics below
Chefs Kitchen. Nevin will be mobbed 😉
Go say hi to Dawn Ashton [she helped on my Niall Mellon gardeners day out] in her garden. All plants there were supplied by my good friend Pat Fitzgerald – remember him from last year…
Show times dates and how to get there are below the pics other than that see the bloom website
And finally – don’t forget to upload your pictures to the Pix.ie Bloom Group – where you can see the rest of my bloom images

How to get there:

BY CAR: google maps directions and sat nav co ordinates – click here
don’t bring the car unless you need to!!
CYCLE: hire a bike! book early
or bring your own bike
GUIDE DOGS: are welcome – other than that no!
see here for further details

Show times and dates:

friday 4th June 10am – 6pm
saturday 5th June 10am – 6pm
sunday 6th June 10am – 6pm
monday 7th June 10am – 6pm

The Lavandula [labiatae/ lamiaceae]

A genus of about 25 species, this fragrant beauty is an absolute must in any garden. Particularly high in nectar and therefore extremely attractive to bees, the answer from a domestic point of view is to be careful where exactly they are planted. A case of beneficial versus pest, possibly?

Often used in rockeries, as low hedges, in herb gardens, en mass planting or as a border plant… they really are [once again] a must have/ no garden should be without plant.

My main note of advice if choosing to plant lavenders is that they are cut back every season. The problem is that when they aren’t, they do go leggy, the flowers and foliage only appearing on the lasts couple of inches of the stem and the lower [soft] wood becomes almost like a moist cardboard. This leaves them very prone to a soft woody fragile rotting at the base which breaks then quite easily…. which is great for garden centres and people like me…. but not for you 😉

To cut yours back, use a good, clean sharp secateurs. Grab a good tuft of the plant and cut straight across. In a two year old plant for example this will remove the most recent seasons growth.

Of course this all depends on the variety and the varying external conditions. But as a general rule cutting a plant back to half height is no harm. When you’re done give it a good ruffle. Trim up the loose ends and clean around the base of the plant.

However you chose to do it…. even though it might look like a sheep shearer just gave you a bad haircut [at the time] but it is well worth it in the long run 🙂

If you are thinking of cropping the flowers for pot pourri, do so before they open fully.