More Photographs From Killarney.

Here's some more photographs of our visit to Muckross gardens in Killarney county Kerry yesterday:

Rhododendrons in flower.

Dinosaurs food, Giant Rhubarb or even Gunnera.  They love damp and create shade. They originate in South America and their umbrella like leaves catch the Irish rain.

American Skunk Cabbage.  Originally from North America it was introduced to large gardens to be an ornamental but is now considered invasive and a garden escapee.  It's yellow flowers are said to give off a foul Skunk like odour.

Rhododendrons And Other Flowers Spotting In Killarney.

 We went to Muckross House and Gardens again to look at the magnificent Victorian planted Rhododendrons, Azaleas and other plants that are in flower at the moment. 

They are excellent mature specimens and originate in Asia.  They love the peaty acidic Irish soil at Muckross.

Queen Victoria visited the house and gardens put Killarney well and truly on the tourist map.  Killarney is still the most visited town in Ireland.

Parking and entrance to the gardens is free and the estate was left to the people of Ireland to enjoy.  If I lived in Killarney I would walk around the estate every week.  

More pictures tomorrow.

Bed Of Roses.

We woke up at 5.30 and it was throwing it down so we decided not to go to sell at the carboot sale.  There was no way that the car was getting stuck in the middle of a field and we would have to pay someone to tow us with a tractor.  Been there, got the T shirt! This was after we had spent half an hour yesterday filling the estate with trays full of my own propagated perennials.  Rain stopped play.  Never mind there will be other carboot sales another time.

 The sun and rain is great for flowers.  Two of the Rose's and some Osteospermums are in flower.  You can also see the yellowy lime green leaves of the Montbretia which is a pernicious weed in the West Of Ireland.  It originates in Africa and the other non native Fuschia originates in Chile.  I suppose they came on the Gulf Stream?

My late dad gave us the purple rose before he died and it always makes me a little sad when I see it in flower.   Do you have any sentimental plants in your garden?

It would be a good time to visit some gardens open to the public this weekend.  It's going to be showery but the verdant flowers will make up for any rain.

I saw them at "Monsters Of Rock" at Castle Donington.  Before the concert they flew over the biblical multitudes in two helicopters with Bonjovi emblazoned on the sides and waved to us all.  I don't think the support band "Wasp" liked their set being interrupted.  Happy days!

Cheap Veg and Fruit For The Pigs And For Us.

 That's a afternoon treat for the pigs.  There's bread which a bakery gave us a cardboard box of hard loaves and the fruit and veg was only 49 Cents a bag from the German garden centre and beer providers and supermarket in town.

I don't grow half the vegetables I use to do because they are so unbelievably cheap.  Even the big high street supermarket chains have started selling vegetables and fruit for 49 Cents.  Plus I have become something of a plantaholic and there is little room for the vegetables.

We buy pig ration and barley but we like to give our livestock a varied diet and it gives the meat a much nicer taste.   Yesterday I strimmed some of a field and took the grass to the pigs.  

People and newspapers and the radio and television news complain about food getting expensive.  I find the cheap supermarkets like Aldi and Lidl very reasonably priced.  I think it's because they source so much of their food from Europe.  There's a lot to be said for being in the EU and shopping in the cut price supermarkets. 

Two Bargain Tables At A Carboot Sale.

 See why I go to carboot sales?

Some of my hundreds of perennials that I have propagated myself and hoping to sell instead of just buying stuff at a carboot this very weekend.

A Bitter Rather Like Some I Have Sampled In Kent.

 You can't get bitter in Ireland these days.  There's beer from all over Europe but not good old bitter like they have in Blighty.

Perhaps the Irish don't like bitter like Newcastle Brown Ale?  My favourite off licence in Kerry says Brexit and import taxes makes it too expensive to source from Blighty?  

I never wanted Brexit and it's made our economies very  expensive.

I am always trying new beers stuff and a lot of it is like chemical soup or ditch water.

The other day I was in the German garden centre and supermarket and beer providers and found a bottle of bitter.  So I took one home to try. It's an Indian Pale, 6 percent ("Yep"), a craft beer made by The Crafty Brewing Company and specially brewed in Ireland for Lidl.

The beer is very fruity and hoppy and reminds me of the bitter I have drank in Kent in 2019 when I last saw some Prog Rock bands.  It seems like a life time ago.

The photograph was taken in the Lidl fridge not ours! It's better than you commercial lagers and I bought six of them to try after sampling the one above.  I drank it at home not in Lidl I might add.

I think it costs 2 Euros 39 a bottle.  It's a lot cheaper than paying 5 Euros for a pint of gassy lager in a pub isn't it?

A Bucket Full Of Dandelions.

 No not yet another name for a Prog Rock group or even a concept album title. Remember that tv drama 'A Bouquet Of Barbed Wire'?  I love brilliant titles. Not forgetting Susan Penhaligon.  What about Julie Christie in Billy Liar or Far From The Madding Crowd? 

A bucket full of Dandelions.

You know you have lost the plot when you find yourself hand picking Dandelions.  No I am not making Dandelion wine or Dandelion and Burdock.  

Oh for Blighty stuff like Dandelion and Burdock and Barrs 'Strike' Cola.  We use to call them minerals back in the day and we would take back the empty bottles to get our 10 pence deposit back from the newsagents or chippy.  They call it "the chipper" here in Hibernia.

Which nineteen fifties pop group is still going today? Ben Shaws! That's an old joke.  They are from Huddersfield.  

I picked the Dandelions for my piggy wigs and they loved them.  I suppose in yuppy pubs  they would serve Dandelion salad?  "Cassandra did you sprinkle them in Balsamic vinegar?"

Do you make Dandelion tea, wine or eat the leaves or feed them to your livestock?

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