Bloom in the Park!

I am pleased to say, this is a bank holiday weekend in Ireland meaning a much needed extra day off work! This weekend always marks the 'start' of summer for me as Bloom is held in the Phoenix Park. 

Beauty Full - Silver Medal

Beech Park Gardens

Bloom is Ireland's version of the Chelsea flower show, it's a big garden extravaganza! You can find out more and check out last years visit here.

Calor's Coast Garden - Bronze Medal

Cetriz Summer - Bronze Medal

RTE's Supergarden Winner - Silver Gilt Medal

While the weather was not exactly summer-like, the show provided so much garden inspiration. Before I show you my 'best in show' here a a few pics of the showgardens...

Contemporary Expression Garden - Silver Medal

Freddy Button's Garden - Silver Medal

'Darkness into Light'

Crumlin Children's Hospital Garden - Gold Medal

Atlantic Youth Trust - Bronze Medal

'Our origin is Green'

My absolute favourite garden was gold medal winning 

Yeats' Secret Garden in Sligo. 

I just love the concept behind this garden...

"This garden is purely imaginary. It exists only in the head of the poet; the private bolthole in his beloved Sligo that Yeat's dreamed of while living in smoggy, grey London. Peeking in, we are voyeurs, seeing a clearing on a wooded island, with the lake lapping on the tree-lined shore beyond. Nothing is perfect - Yeats hasn't tried to tame or tidy his secret hideaway. He has just built himself a makeshift cabin amongst the trees, and grown a few vegetables and wildflowers. His grandfather's bee skep lies abandoned in favour of the new 'Modern' CDB bee hive, but this space is primarily for writing and being at peace in a landscape he loves. He has scrounged discarded items from family and friends, laboriously rowing them to the island, along with a few sentimental treasures. Together they make a garden that is his inspiration."

This was my favourite garden for so many reasons.  Firstly it's a style of gardening that I love; wild, native and unkempt. Secondly, Sligo has a special place in my heart as my Grandfather was born there. But most importantly it's combines gardening and poetry. Poetry by one of my favourite writers, W.B. Yeats, whose face adorns my walls. And one poem in particular which I learned in national school is brought to life in this garden; 

The Lake Isle of Innisfree.

'I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattle made:

Nine bean rows will I have there and a hive for the honey-bee;

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,

Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;

There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,

And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;

While I stand on the roadway, or the pavements grey,

I hear it in the deep heart's core'.

 

Homemade Irish Moss Topiary

This is the third instalment in the 'things I want but can't get a hold of' series. I'm not saying that I couldn't get these in Ireland but I don't want to spent €150 for a pair of them! 

So I decided I was going to have me some made by my own fair hand!

These were all the things I needed....

Two rustic looking clay pots from my local garden centre, €12 each.

Foam balls (x2), foam bricks (x2) and some moss pins (free) from the florist, €26 of total extortion.

PVA glue and a couple of bamboo sticks which I already had.

Lots of good old Irish moss from the bog which I dried in my airing cupboard! Totally FOC!!

I started by cutting one of the foam blocks in half and carving both halves up a bit so they were a really snug fit in the pots. (I actually only needed one and used half in each pot.) I gave it a smattering of PVA glue and sat a little moss on top. 

I covered the foam balls in PVA and wrapped the moss around them securing in places with a couple of moss pins. I did this in two stages, sitting them on a bowl to dry before turning over and doing the second half. The moss worked really well because it came off the bog like a piece of carpet!

Once dried, I pushed both balls onto the bamboo canes which I trimmed to size and inserted into the pots ensuring both were the same height.

There you have it, homemade Irish moss topiary. 

They are rustic looking. The moss is not as perfect looking as the Finland moss you can buy in the florist but I'm not in Finland. And I think it's in keeping with the rustic pots. 

Apologies for the photos, it was dark by the time I had finished. I like how they balance out this little vignette on my landing. I needed something on either side with a little height that wasn't a lamp. I love how they've turned out. They complete this little ensemble which has been in my head for so long. Best of all they cost me less than €50 for both.

 

Snow Day!!

We woke up this morning to this...

I know for some of you it's a regular occurrence but it is still a rare thing in Ireland.

The local primary school appeared to be closed and all the children were out in their hats and scarves making snowmen.

Mr. Auburn commutes to the capital for work but decided to work from home today, a welcome break from the usual long and early morning journey.

The combination of said snowfall, Mr. Auburn being at home and a nasty fall yesterday convinced me to take a day off from work.

Before I left the house yesterday, I went outside to feed the birds. On my way back through the kitchen, I had a spectacular fall on the tiles when my wet boots went from under me! I managed to injure the entire right side of my body!!

So today I decided to give my body a rest.

We had a late breakfast. 

Then wen't for a stroll across to the park with my new camera.

Had a little Bailey's coffee to warm up afterwards. 

Watched The Grand Budapest Hotel.

All in all, a lovely relaxing snow day!

Horse Chestnut Series - Round Up & Chestnut Decorations

The beautiful Horse Chestnut Tree started out 2014 stark and bare.

By March the buds had appeared.

By the last day of April it had burst into leaf.

In May it was flushed with flower.

By July the pollinated flowers had turned to fruit.

In September the leaves began to change colour and fall.

By October the ripened fruit had fallen.

On a frosty December morning the Horse Chestnut stands bare once again.

Our Horse Chestnut Tree has given it's all; 

buds, leaves, flowers and fruit and so the cycle begins again.

This Christmas I wanted to use the lovely shiny conkers to make some tree decorations. 

The colour scheme in the bedroom includes hues of orange and browns from the Connemara wallpaper. 

For the first time this year I put a small tree in our bedroom.

 I wanted to keep it inexpensive so purchased a small fake tree for €12 and tried not to buy any decorations apart front the LED lights.

I made these by drilling holes through pieces of cinnamon, threaded them onto a ribbon, tying a loop at the top and finishing with a lovely shiny conker.

I dried orange slices slowly in the airing cupboard and made bows from ribbon left over from some curtain tie-backs. I bought the bird and the orange glitter ribbon to make bows and everything else was repurposed including an old bracelet!

I'm really happy with how it turned out and it's nice to have a bit of our Horse Chestnut Tree on our Christmas Tree!

Wishing you all a very happy and healthy New Year!