japanese pruning of cloud pines VIDEO

A short guide to pruning pines (growing in the ground), japanese stlye...

the burren, more images

Some phone camera images of the burren from last August...

trees and animals in the burren

These are a couple of native trees from the Burren area of Clare growing in one of the less wind exposed area, but still showing great character. Pictures are from last summer.

Whitethorn and Donkeys.

Ash and Horses.

and Cow...

the burren perfumery

A pleasant place to while away an afternoon...

Flowering Fuji Cherry

Spring is really in the air when yhe Fuji Cherry blooms open up....

Prunus Koji no mai

bud garden centre

This sunday last we opened our new Garden Centre in Bunratty, County Clare. We are myself and my old friend Andrew. We studied Horticulture together many years ago and followed different career paths until we came upon the idea of setting up a Garden Centre together last summer. 

Several months of hard work followed and Bud Garden Centre was born last sunday. We have a strong location right beside the popular Bunratty Castle. We plan to focus strongly on plants and gardening. 

We also hope to have a modest bonsai offering and maybe some demos and workshops. 

It will be a busy season, and hopefully a rewarding one.

phoenix, arizona

During my recent visit to the US, I attended my brother's wedding in Phoenix, Arizona. Our hotel was in Tempe, a university district and while the weather was quite hot, almost 30C, the early mornings were more comfortable for exploratory strolls round the area.

desert plants

shade sails over the vegetable beds

municipal offices of tempe, arizona

xeriscaping

wild west cactus, actually saguaro or Carnegiea gigantea

no boggy ground or bull rushes here...

three blacktail jackrabbit sculpture in tempe, the grass is rake but the water is real

tempe is a fairly pedestrian friendly area

at first i thought this was a modern sculpture, but its some sort of water pipe system

shade sails are everywhere in the phoenix area

stone cobbles in gabions used nicely to divide public / private space

major construction in tempe

notice all the solar panels on the roofs, there to power air-conditioning

arizona wildcats football stadium and car park, more solar panels

a beautiful mosque in tempe, looks like a scene from the middle east..

nice simple water fountain in a shady place

part of the shady garden 'under' the municipal buildings in tempe

more shade sails, i was studying these closely as i have to build something similar soon..

monster truck!

a rare thing in the US, public transport...

the oldest building in tempe, monti's restaurant, built in 1871

these trees were planted everywhere but i didn't find out what they were...

another public space with an emphasis on creating shade