Summer is not the best time to plant shrubs but summer has not arrived yet so I have given in to retail therapy and have been adding a few plants to the garden. I joke about the lack of warm summer weather but watering is really important with summer planting. Until the roots grow into the surrounding soil they can only get water from the original rootball and that will probably need watering every other day. So always dig a nice big hole, water the hole well first to soak the soil, dunk the plant in water for ten minutes so the roots are really wet, plant and then water so the soil is in contact with the roots. And then check regularly and water before the plant wilts. If it does you may have to lift the plant and dunk it again because the water will run round the dry rootball when the soil is watered.

So in a rather shady corner that has been a bit neglected until recently, I added a few things last month, a parrotiopsis and kirengshoma and this week I added a white hydrangea ‘Madame Emile Mouillere’. It is an old cultivar and quite big when mature. This spot only gets sun in the morning, shaded by a big blackthorn clad in ivy and honeysuckle in the afternoon and that should help keep the white hydrangea flowers crisp and clean – they burn or go pink in sun. Beside it is a leucothoe ‘Whitewater’ which was a bit of a risk but it has proved a success and is growing well. At the back are a couple of ‘Orange Dream’ Japanese maples which were shoved in to see what happened and they are actually doing well considering they were ‘tots’ in 9cm pots from a supermarket. The area is slowly coming together. In the past hydrangeas have struggled a bit in this garden but I think it was because I was planting small, home-grown plants. Where I have been less mean and bought decent specimens they have established so I have positive hopes for this one. Because this is a large hydrangea, expected to grow 1.5m high and wide, it looks very close to the edge of the bed. But the lawn here has a strange lump and I plan to widen the bed here so, if it grows as expected, it will be fine when I widen the bed this winter.

In common with many Irish gardens, dieramas do quite well here. I don’t have a huge selection and they have not started seeding around yet but I am happy they grow and bloom. I think you need to see them in bloom when you buy them because none of mine are what I thought they were though this ‘blue’ one is as expected. They don’t like disturbance much which is a problem with this clump which has been colonised with Arrhenatherum elatius subspecies. bulbosum, one of the worst weed grasses with bulbous stem bases. It is really difficult to remove the grass from the grassy dierama foliage. I have failed so far and I fear I will keep on struggling for some time to come.

One of the plants that makes me very happy is the metasequoia in one of the lower beds in the garden. It is soggy in winter and the soil is not great but I expected it to be OK. Planted at 1m high it has rocketed away and it delights me with its vigour and grace after four years. A self-sown rush at its base, beside ‘schizostylis’ is evidence of the poor drainage. When I planted the metasequoia I really wanted the bight yellow ‘Golden Oji’ (Gold Rush) but was worried about it growing well in the spot. So I chose the plain green which I hoped would be less demanding.

But, emboldened by the success so far, last week I took the plunge and at the other end of the garden planted ‘Golden Oji’ in a bed opposite the above hydrangea. The two can see each other so the newcomer will be able to get an idea of what it is supposed to do. From most areas of the garden the tree will have a dark background and it gets sun for most of the day, being further from the hedge.

It is still a bit scrawny but I have high hopes.

Nearer the house, a regular visitor to the bird feeders is a young starling. It is really amusing because he or she is a real grump and often just sits in the tray of seeds just stopping the sparrows and tits from feeding, pecking them if they dare invade its territory. Often a flock of other starlings come and go, parading around the lawn, but this one has set up home here. Quite often he comes and sits on the windowsill staring at us. Last week we heard a rustling in the chimney and, taking the wood burner apart, we found a young starling had managed to get in the chimney, despite the cowl on the top. I managed to catch it and let it out unharmed. It don’t know if it was the same young starling or not. If it was it was not put off and remains a regular visitor.

dierama, Metasequoia glyptostroboides golden oji