Flowers

With so little posts this summer I want to give you a brief overview of lots of things that have been going on. The shop was very busy and the arts festival was a great success, it has just meant that I have had no time at the computer but there are lots of photos so bear with me. First I wanted to show you what my garden has been looking like the last couple of months….this is very exciting as it has been completely transformed since last summer with the help of Monica (a great local gardener who has put many hours of back breaking work into our little patch). So these flower beds are in their first summer and I am so pleased with how they look. I just received hundreds of bluebell, snowdrop and wood anemone bulbs today so that’s my work cut out for me over the next month or so……..

These are some of the new shots from the great photo shoot in shutterbug.  Blanaid pulled out all the stops with the styling and Moselle had some fun……..check out some more photos here.

Sorry for lack of posts of late,  summer always means no time to sit at the computer and beautiful sunny evenings definitely means no time or desire to sit at the computer……..the up shot is the garden is in full bloom and looking lovely and the house is full of summer displays. We have some gorgeous photos coming up from a shoot a couple of weeks ago and lots of new stuff so just bare with me and I will get them all up on line.

At last the daffodils are out…..these are the first of the year from my garden, brightening up the shop and looking great in Andy’s vase.  Andy’s work looks beautiful all on its own but introduce a few colourful flowers and its magic!

For the past month I have seen a transformation of my dark dated kitchen (which I have lived with since we bought the house over 2 years ago) into a beautiful light filled room that works perfectly. We did not do any structural work so the light is the same as before but its the difference that white surfaces can make. There is still a couple of finishing touches to be made and then I will show you some photos, but for now I just want to show off some beautiful pressies Andy brought me from my favourite shop in the States,  Anthropology………I can’t get enough of Anthropology its my idea of retail perfection (that comes from someone who is not into shopping) and it has brought spring into my new kitchen….

A wet and windy, overgrown garden is what I’m faced with. This year I promised myself more time at least one day a week when I try to keep house and garden in shape………..didn’t happen. The rain is a constant but even if the sun was shining I haven’t had any time at home in ages so I just went out this morning and cut lots of flowers. Its a great way to make use of my vast collection of jugs (I’ve always been more fond of jugs than vases for putting flowers into). If you cant get to the garden bring the garden to you.

The Wisteria is in bloom ( a large plant bought in a sale and it was supposed to be blue, when it bloomed it turned out to be white much to my disappointment, but with time I have grown to love the scent and it is thriving up against our stone wall) and I bought these gorges purple daisy’s last week, they just lift the front of the shop. The clymatis flowers didn’t last very long this year, who’d blame them, still I love the way the stems knot around each other so they are interesting all year round. I’m looking forward to the sweetpea and honeysuckle each side of the door, coming into bloom, then we will be the best smelling shop in Kilkenny ……..not to mention the prettiest.

What I want most from my garden is to have some sort of flowers or pretty foliage all year round, so I can keep a vase of fresh flowers in the shop and at home without breaking the bank. This is going to take a bit of time to get right……….at the moment things are a bit behind in the garden, with the weather so cold everything is slow to come out, the flowers above are stocks I bought. They not only look pretty in the shop but they smell beautiful. You can’t underestimate the joy a beautiful vase of flowers, brings to your day.

When I think that the rain will never stop and the grey skys are with us for good (today is one of those days), I’m going to have a look at these photos of the beautiful cherry tree in our garden, the photos were taken a couple of days ago…….look at that blue sky.

Yesterday it was so wet and windy I thought the cherry tree would have no flowers left by today so I brought some in where I can enjoy them for a few more days

What says Easter better than a bunch of daffodils? How cute are these egg warmers? they come complete with egg cup and look so funny lined up in a row, heads flopping in all directions………..

We are lucky enough to live in a very rural setting in the hills of Kilkenny, with some of the most beautiful views around, but underfoot wet clay soil. I’m trying to work with the soil and grow lots of plants that thrive in these conditions and one of my favorite flowers around this time of year are the foxgloves. There’s something kind of prehistoric about them and I think they look stunning in a simple vase in our shop………..definitely one of my top cottage garden flower, and it loves our soil…its a win, win.