I know the neighbours despair of my nettle border and my overwhelming gorse mountain but I can’t resist including them all in my mixed up wild, cultivated garden. There are so many parts of the country where the verges and the hedgerows are devoid of life. Grass grows, but the diversity that is natural to our Irish landscape has been extinguished. I hate to see those burned patches of ground where farmers have sprayed pesticides. Luckily the immediate boreens around here escape. Most of what I photograph in the wilderness is within a 5 minute stroll of my back door. There are still lots of pockets of this natural beauty in between the lovely formal gardens which now dominate the country both in urban and rural settings.
A combination of hand weeding and mulching takes care of my “garden” proper, where I am trying to grow flowers and pretty things. They have to be protected from the creeping buttercups and the rooty strong grasses, but I am not too fussy about order and grow vegetables, flowers and “weeds” together. Yes I am a lazy gardener and I am pest friendly but I am rewarded by lots of bees, butterflies and other “pests”which make the garden a lively spot! A very chilled approach…….
This evening I am showing off my “garden” and neatly editing out the compost heap and the seeding nettles. Seriously proud!
What lovely colours! Your last pic reminds me I haven't seen the verbena this year, I knew something was missing.
A beautiful garden like I love them…
"Mille fleurs disent mille contes
A mille amoureuses tout bas "
Federici Garcia Lorca, 1935
Your garden sounds like a wildlife haven Caitriona, I bet it is beautiful. The plants you've show here are so pretty, love the light on those foxgloves!!
Yes, gorgeous pictures. Am just back from a holiday in the UK and there were foxgloves all over the hedgerows, beautiful!