Friday Fences - or Irish Garden Walls

Earlier this week I took you on a tour of Bantry Bay in County Cork Ireland for Watery Wednesday to visit the fabulous gardens of Ilnacullin on Garinish Island. Also promised more photos of the gardens for Friday Fences. Sl`ainte!

There are all kinds of fences, walls, and gates in Ireland--dry stone walls separating fields, simple stone walls or picket fences around brightly painted thatched cottages, or thrifty wattle(woven sticks) fences around the family vegetable garden. And then there are ornate ironwork fences or stone walls around some of Ireland's most well-known estates, gardens,and castles. At Ilnacullen we saw this impressive stone wall with its massive pediment gate which was designed by landscape architect Harold Peto in the early 1900s:

Once you walked through the garden gate, this is the stunning view, consisting of twin mixed shrub and perennial borders. The garden walls protect these sometimes fragile plants from the rough weather off Bantry Bay:
And here's a closeup of the most beautiful shade of pink hydrangea, one of the many flowering treasures in this border:

For more fences from all over go to Life According to Jan and Jer for a list of players.

Watery Wednesday - Across Bantry Bay to Ilnacullin

Still in Ireland for Watery Wednesdays in March--photos from a gardening tour. This week it's County Cork and scenes of Bantry Bay which we crossed by ferry to see Ilnacullin, a famous garden and historic site on Garinish Island. This is the first view of Bantry Bay coming off the Ring of Kerry:
At the holiday town of Glengarriff we boarded a ferry in the harbor for a short trip across the bay:
A bonus for the trip--a seal colony on one of the small islands in Bantry Bay. Did you know that seals actually bark?

Another view of Garinish Island:
This is the Italianate garden at Ilnacullin with its graceful reflecting pool:
Come back on Friday and I'll show you some fabulous flower-covered fences/walls in gardens at Ilnacullin.

Want to see some more "watery" photography? Click here for the players.

Signs of Spring in the Dark

When I stepped out the front door this morning at 7 a.m. into Daylight Savings Time darkness saw the first signs of spring in the viburnum by the front steps.

Willie hates Daylight Savings time. He could barely see his way to the newspaper box at 7 a.m. And worse, couldn't see well enough to make sure that unauthorized dogs had not been in his yard overnight:
What about you? Is Daylight Savings Time to your liking or not?

Friday Fences -in County Clare

This month I'm featuring fences of Ireland like this wonderful red picket--and bonus thatched roof cottage in County Clare. This photo was taken by my late friend Lydia Wells on her '09 trip to the Emerald Isle.

For more fences from all over go to Life According to Jan and Jer for a list of players.

Watery Wednesday - Ireland's Mount Usher Gardens

It's March when everyone is a little bit Irish, so I'm celebrating with "watery" photos from a gardening tour of Ireland that I went on about 10 years ago. These three photos feature the River Vartry in Mount Usher Gardens in County Wicklow. The gardens are Robinsonian in style because of their naturalistic design. William Robinson was a late 1800s Irish garden designer who departed from the more formal plantings of the time and emphasized a more natural plan where many species of plants from all over the world are planted closely together. In the last two photos you see that the plants and trees almost meet over parts of the river creating magical shadows and reflections on the water.

Want to see some more "watery" photography? Click here for the players.

Untimely March Snow

When I stepped out the front door at 8:00 a.m. this morning this red cardinal was perched obligingly on a snow-covered tree branch in the front yard. A beautiful sight, but not surprising because this is what was happening at 3:00 a.m. this morning right before I went to bed:

Summit Court is in a little cul de sac and on a corner. Here is another view from my front door. You can see that this is a fluffy snow that's not going to last long, but is quite beautiful with the sun glow while it does: And finally, this is the sunrise view over the trees in back of my house. I photograph many beautiful--and sometimes dramatic--sunrises from here most days. This is the first snowy one of the season:
I called this post "untimely snow" because this past Friday devastating tornadoes touched down in Kentucky and neighboring Indiana and Tennessee. Small towns have been destroyed and 21 people lost their lives in Kentucky alone. While we marvel at the unexpected beauty of a late winter snow, those communities must see this as a piling on by Mother Nature.

First of the Month - Creek Abstracts

This year I'm focusing on Louisville's wonderful public parks for the First of the Month photography meme. In January and February I featured Cherokee and Seneca Parks. After an extremely violent weather day yesterday with high winds, rain, and tornadoes, I decided to stay in my neighborhood and see what was interesting in the park where Willie and I walk. Frankly, it wasn't very appealing except for these shots of a small creek that runs through the park. I was trying to shoot at a terrible time when the light was all wrong--almost high noon.

Still, was lucky enough to get what I'm calling "creek abstracts". In this one the sun was making sparkles on the water and rocks:

Here I was hoping to get shots of some moss covered rocks with water running over that I'd spotted in the last week or so. Unfortunately, it rained just enough to muddy the water, but still I was pleased with the result:


And finally, I spotted some wildlife. . .
First of the Month: the idea is that we look at our surroundings and record the changes from month to month. The host for this meme is Jan at Murrieta 365 .