Why I Oughta...

The gardens at Muckross House include a traditional walled garden (with espalier) and an arboretum, a lake, the formal lawns and some informal gardens.  One of those features a colony of giant Gunnera.  And...I mean...GIANT.   We were walking back to the bus from the Arboretum and spotted this patch of large, green foliage that almost looks like it is too-big-to-believe.  This is Gunnera. With foliage that is bigger than just about anything you'll ever come across in a garden (Hand for size): It grows tall, too.  KoTBTs for size: While super interesting, it appears that Giant Gunnera is invasive in Ireland - particuarly in the West side of the country .  

Go away for a couple of weeks in August and you hold your breath that nothing catastrophic happens back home.   Drought damage.  Rabbit Damage.  Insect Damage.  We had all three.  Plus two burrows of baby bunnies birthed in our yard (one in front, one in back).  While we were out of town, we saw ZERO rain.  None.  Not a drop.   So that meant that despite my efforts to set up *some* irrigation via timer(s), some things suffered.  I've worked over the past few days scurrying around trying to get everything back watered-in, and only think that I lost a few things while others had mere setbacks.  But, the insects?  That might be a problem.  The dahlias on the southside of our house have been attacked by something.  I'm no expert, but after doing some research I've narrowed it to one of two things:  mites or thrips.  Pretty sure they're mites.  When I examined the plants, the foliage was 'bronzing'...

At one of our stops on a recent trip to Ireland, we stayed near a mixed perennial garden that felt A LOT like our Zone 5b (or 6a) and included plant material that I've come across in some of the garden centers, big box stores and display gardens around the Chicago Suburbs.   In that garden, they used an upright, lime-green foliage shrub in a repetition across a long, linear bed that backs up to a hardscape patio.  The bed was more than one-hundred-feet-long and the gardener planted a series of upright Japanese-Maple-like bright green shrubs about ten-feet-apart.  Mixed in amongst the upright shrubs were hydrangeas and other perennials.  Below are a couple of photos showing these upright, lime-green shrubs in the garden bed: Here, below, is a closer-look at one of them: What are they?  Pretty sure, we're looking at Golden Tower Elderberry. From Wilson Brothers : A striking addition to the landscape, the Golden Tower Elderberry forms a tall, lush column of so...