Peter Donegan Garden Design & LandscapingI rumaged through the archives to find some images that may help you a little better along the way in getting some ideas for your garden.
Like one… dislike another… you might just find that little bit that may make your smile a little brighter 🙂
all over Dublin at this moment in time, the Laburnum is in full flower draping over the park rails of Dublin City Centre. The yellow long draping clusters that you see are those of the often called ‘golden rain’ tree – the laburnum.
Of the leguminosae [the legume or the pea family]/ papilionaceae family. The funny thing is these deciduous trees are classed as poisionous [if ingested] and because of this they generally get left out of the loop.
To put into context the first [that I remember] seeing was [one might say] its half sister the +laburnocytissus adamii, of which I’ve only ever planted maybe 5; of the Laburnum I’ve only ever planted maybe about 10. I’ve found it hard to purchase them in a mature state… and maybe for its poisonous listing I don’t think I’ve ever seen it used in a design specification. But around Dublin City… you simply can’t miss them.
Say what you like, think what you may… no matter what the tree maybe it is pure beauty and one of *my* all time favourites. I even have one planted in my front garden….
The most common listed varieties in Ireland seem to be the Laburnum x waterii [L. alpinum x L. anagyroides] which can grow up to 8m high… but its flowers [racemes] are 20″ long and the Laburnum vossii whose racemes are 24″ long.
Go get one. Be inspired. And enjoy.
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Today is the start of National Tree week. There are loads of events on – some are free, some will be extremely boring – some will be great for the family.
Either or it is amazing the bargains that always existed in this department.
Trees don’t have to grow huge. They can also be a ‘small tree’. They can fit on your balcony. They’ll cost about €10-15. And that includes the compost and the pot. If you need for a specific place and you are unsure just leave a comment here.
In the picture I have two trees. One died 🙁 but it’s staying where it is. I have plans for that…. 😆 So I planted a fig tree in front of it. I guess I didn’t want the garden to look bare.
Fig Trees
can be grown in a wide range of soil as long as it’s well drained. They are ‘usually trained up against a wall or fence. [This one won’t]. They are self fertile and easy to grow. I chose the Brown Turkey variety. It cost me €12.
it is so very true… One may wonder why but it is in fact very necessary.
So that I don’t bore you to absolute tears – I’m gonna break this post up into two/ three parts. But I’ll try and keep it short and to the point. The first will give you a general gist; there’ll be some links to government articles if you wish to delve a little further and then more info after if you really get into the groove 😆
Back to it and to quote the Department of agriculture [in brief]
The main objective of the European Community (EC) plant health controls is to prevent the movement of quarantine harmful organisms into and throughout the EC.
Not all plants do require however. And this can make it mildly confusing. A full list of plants that do require passports is available here. And a plant passport should appear on the plants tag as per this example:
EC plant passport/IRL/DAFF/ 1234/ wk32 qty1 plant ZP b2
Cotoneaster ‘Hybridus Pendulus’
So what relevance does this have to you the consumer? The point I make is to be careful. Sometimes a too good to be true offer is simply that. It can also be just as good an absolute bargain. But this is legislation. And although it maybe a plant – the legislation [in this case] is there for very good reason.
For example in cases of fireblight – [fireblight wickipedia] the mandatory action is the burning/ destruction and/ or quarantine of all related stock from a nursey and/ or a particular regio/ a certain radius of all plant material within that vacinity. But one could literally lose an entire stock holding in one very quick swoop. What are the options? If you do suspect or detect a case you should contact your department of agriculture.
Back to the the plant passport… A plant passport in one simple tag therefore should contain the following information
That wasn’t so bad… 🙂
Blog posting #300 🙂 March 1st – 7th 2009 is National Tree Week. It’s a cool week. There’s loads of tree events on – literally all over the country. There is no excuse not to get involved. I have some posts on trees, trees, trees and trees here to get you in the groove. That said if you don’t want to plant a tree yourself – you can always sponsor a tree – and it will be planted for you.
The trees don’t have to be huge – they even don’t have to be expensive – but they are important and if we did plant one tree each [that’s over 4 million!!] can you imagine how beautiful the country would look. If where you live is ‘not as green as it should be’, if you want to give something a little not so expensive and don’t want to look like a cheap-skate or if you haven’t seen a bird in your garden since you moved in…. You could… and you really could, make a difference.
Go on plant a tree. And give it a hug after 😆 but of course!
