It's Hydrangea Cuttings Time Of The Year

Remember the pink Geranium I bought a couple of weeks ago?  I made seven new cuttings from it today.  I paid 7 Euros for it at a garden centre.  So if mine all "strike" roots I will have 49 Euros of 🪴 plants for free.  

I mixed some grit sand with top soil and used the dibber to plant my cuttings in.  They will root from a leaf node and I cut back the leaves to reduce the need for water to them.

I reused my plastic bottle cloches from last year.  You can see my wooden dibber, scissors ✂️ and trowel.  That's all you need for your plant propagation cuttings kit.

 Seven new plants hopefully.  Now we are getting the heavy showers and rain and I will water them regularly.  They should be OK and not burn up.   It's good to feel a bit cooler and make use of the Saint Swithin's rainy weather.

Anyone else taking softwood cuttings at the moment?  I have made thirty new Hydrangea  cuttings up to now.  Perhaps Saint  Swithens is the patron saint of Hydrangea cuttings?

Flowers In Killarney.

 I always like seeing flowers in town centres.  Particularly shops that pay for floral decorations and patiently water and feed the flowers all summer.

Here are some of the floral delights we saw in Killarney town centre on Saturday:

Flowers over in the windows over the shops.

A nice floral display for a local bar.

Geraniums floral displays.

Hydrangeas next to the Pelican crossing.

Well done Killarney for your floral efforts.  Does your town or village or city put on a floral effort?

Costa Del County Kerry!

 We went to The Kingdom or County Kerry on Saturday morning.

The car temperature was reading 27 degrees 😳.  Unbelievable!

Instead of going for a stroll on a repurposed railway line we went to the beach instead.

I have featured Fenit on here before.  It reminds me of a English beach in the 1950s.  Something like Ma and Pop Larkin might visit.

It was absolutely such a perfect day.  The sun was shining down on us.  Bronte and ourselves had ice cream and God was in his heaven.

Here's some photos for your perusal dear readers:

Fenit beach in Tralee bay.

Bronte gazes at the sea view.

Do you think the bull can read the sign?

Bronte having a paddle.

"Time for an ice cream 🍦😋. "

Who needs to go somewhere out foreign like Portugal 🇵🇹 or Spain 🇪🇸?

The world and his wife enjoying the rays.

Almost Azure sea.

A lovely day in July 2025.

Make Hay While The Sun Shines.

 People often talk of the summer of 1976.  I can remember it even though I was only 12.

To me this year's got to be the best Spring and Summer I have ever known.  

Yesterday my friend and former work colleague text me and asked if I would go for a spin and collect 50 bales of hay with him.

I hadn't anything planned so I arranged for him to collect me and we drove to a farm near Baltimore and drove into a field full of small square bales of hay:

Small square bales that look like Weetabix in a field basking in sunshine.

We drove around the field and loaded the trailer with the winter feed.  Making hay is a sure sign that it won't be long to Christmas.

The rain returns tomorrow and the grass will grow again.  Such is the circle of life and our seasons.  

A Succesful Wild Irish Rose .

 Living in the  countryside next to the sea.  There are always wild roses or "briars" in bloom at this time of year.

Last late August early September when it's  still pleasant and warm but not short of dews and rain.  

I busied myself regular placing shrub and 🌹 cuttings in plant pots filled with compost and I covered them after watering with home made plastic bottle cloches.

Here's  a wild rose new plant 🌹 I noticed flowering this very week:

A beautiful pink wild rambling Irish rose.

Even the wild roses/briars gladden my heart.

Tying in with a suitable rock tune by U2.

I was 18 when I saw them in 1981 at a Christian music festival called Greenbelt on a gorgeous country estate in Odell in Bedfordshire in Ingerland.   I wasn't impressed with them apart from "Gloria" at the time.  It just shows what I know.

Enjoy the track:

Six Weeks Wait For A Rose Cutting To Root.

 

A successful  rooted rose cutting.

About six weeks ago I took a rose cutting.  I have had successes before trying to get them to 'strike' roots in a pint pot filled with our very own well water.

The leaves fell off some of the cutting and the water went green and murky.  So today I checked the cutting today and joy of joy my cutting had struck roots.

Anyone else have success with rose cuttings in a pint glass 🍺 of water?

Cheers Mother Nature.

Scruffy The Laundry Cat!

A cat's work is never finished.

 Scruffy is a Maine Coon.  Which is an American breed of cat.  You would not believe much one of these cats or kittens cost.  Please have a guess and leave a comment.   Thank you!

Scruffy shares my music taste.  Kansas are our favourite prog rock band and "Cat Scratch Fever" by Ted Nugent is her favourite track.

I have mentioned on here that I saw Kansas in 2014.  In 1988 I saw Ted Nugent and Krokus  at Manchester Apollo.

Ted is very outspoken especially about guns but he puts on an excellent guitar show and is brilliant live. 

This is a request for Scruffy:

Have you seen Ted Nugent live?