Pileas, Begonias and Impatiens at Pépinière Vert'Tige (Nursey and Gardens) in Brittany.

The car will be very full coming home.

Petit-déjeuner et Stephen Parker

Lilium 'Mr Cas'

A ramble across the fields (and a few barbed wire fences) takes us here.

Hi gardeners, I'm looking for recommendations for gardens and plant nurseries or garden centres to visit in Brittany.
Jardin Exotique in Roscoff and Jardin Georges Delaselle on the Île de Batz are already in the schedule.

The sun put in a brief but welcome appearance yesterday.

Wonderful visit to Kilmacurragh in Wicklow this week, visiting their outstanding gardens. Less than an hour from Dublin & they are free (part of NBG Ireland) Dogs welcome on lead & fab cafe. It's a hidden gem! Can't wait to watch RTÉ Nationwide tonight which features them!

Planting out a little Irish treefern, dug up from a Donegal garden where they've naturalised.

Freshly picked, I even included some Gladioli, possums!

Hedychium yunnanense 'L633'.

This collection by Roy Lancaster from the Western Hills above Kunming in Yunnan is always obligingly early here, though this year it's a little slower off the mark than usual.

Given the atrocious 'summer' we're having, I'll forgive its tardiness.

At over 2m tall, Lilium 'Silk Road' is practically brushing the clouds.

I had to go back for this stunna.
Aeonium 'Zeus'

Accidental purchases.

Solanum dulcamara is also known as bittersweet.
The name comes from the fact that the poisonous berries taste both sweet and bitter when chewed.
Despite being deadly to us humans, they're a source of food source for many wild birds like the Thrush and blackbird.

I visited a this new garden recently where the Hostas were almost entirely unnibbled.
Mine are almost stumps at this stage!

Horticultural contrarians often ask me what this big weedy looking plant is

Weedy??!

So rude.

When I've managed to gather myself together, I inform them that it's a tree dandelion called Sonchus fruticosus from Madeira.
Their opinion of it lowers still further.

Philistines.

This is Ireland.
On a dull and cloudy day.

With a cast of plants from South Africa, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Southern Europe, Uruguay, Himalayas, China and Taiwan and Eastetn North America.

Lilium 'Viva La Vida' is providing a fiesta of colour!

I love this stuff, so mulch.
Ideally, it should be stacked (and covered) to allow it to compost a bit further.
I, however, won't be doing any of that.
I'll add organic fertiliser when I spread it as a mulch to counteract the fact that it'll remove some nitrogen as it decomposes.

Well, I've gone and done it now.
I've just spent the kids entire inheritance on half a tonne of composted green waste to mulch my garden