A is for annual membership of one of Ireland’s world class great gardens open to the public. Examples include Blarney Castle in Co Cork (12-month adult pass, €100, blarneycastle.ie); Mount Usher in Co Wicklow (€40, mountushergardens.ie); Killruddery in Co Wicklow; (killruddery.com from €60-€100); and Mount Congreve in Co Waterford (from €70, mountcongreve.com).
B is for botanical art workshops hosted by Irish artist Mary Dillon, whose exquisite watercolour of a parrot tulip features on the cover of the art historian Patricia Butler’s latest book (see last week’s column). To be held in locations in Spain, France, Greece and South Africa throughout 2024, they promise to be a wonderful combination of learning and relaxation. See marydillonbotanicalart.com for details
C is for candles, especially the garden-scented kind. I love the description of Galway-based Cloon Keen’s handmade “Gooseberry Leaf Candle”, where “ripe gooseberry currants are enhanced with crisp citrus oils and a hint of hedgerow fruits” (€45, cloonkeen.com), as well as Dublin-based Clean Slate’s equally delicious, environmentally-friendly offerings, a range that includes signature scents such as Lavender + Eucalyptus, Tomato + Vetiver, Oak + Green Leaves, and (this one I love in particular) Petrichor, described as a “strong, earthy aroma featuring plump green tomatoes, layered with the leathery balsamic base of vetiver in damp soil”. Yum. (cleanslate.ie)
D is for design, something which transforms the way we interact with our gardens and is a topic always at the heart of the Garden & Landscape Designer Association’s (GLDA) annual seminar. Hosted by Stephanie Mahon, the Irish garden writer and editor of Gardens Illustrated, 2024′s event Space to Grow takes
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Most gardeners would agree that the best pastime for cold winter days is looking through seed and plant catalogs imagining the growing season to come. With that in mind, consider these four strong summer blooming perennials for the midwest when you are ordering plants in the coming weeks.
DIY Holiday Decor from the Garden If you're looking for a budget-friendly way to add decor for the holidays, start by looking in your own garden for seasonal accents! Create your own holiday decor with elements from the garden
As an experienced and respected professional florist, Róisín Godfrey has spent the last eight years working alongside some of the biggest names in the industry in the UK and Ireland, a career that has taken her to some of the most beautiful private houses, hotels and art galleries in the world.
From when I was a child, I’ve always loved gussying up the table for Christmas. Lots of candles are a must, in order to give that necessary festive twinkle, ideally placed at different heights (nightlights, low candlesticks, tall candelabras), to really make it sparkle. Nice table linen and glassware are important too. But the table arrangements really wave the magic Christmas wand, providing that all-important bit of theatre to memorably mark this special day of the year.
Few plants generate more revulsion in the garden than junipers. The mere suggestion of planting one often musters a similar reaction to that of saying a dirty word. Maybe we’ve grown weary of their use as evergreen blobs in foundation plantings. Perhaps the thought of meticulously shearing them into the perfect shape sounds daunting (see pruning tips). It could be an early memory of an itchy rash from an up-close encounter with a juniper’s prickly branches. Or it could be boredom with the sea of creeping blue rug junipers (Juniperus horizontalis ‘Wiltonii’, Zones 3–9) planted in every big-box-store parking lot. Although junipers are a midcentury-modern garden staple, generations of gardeners have since decided they have had enough of these controversial conifers. While it’s easy to dismiss them for their deeply ingrained negative traits, junipers have many merits that make them worth reconsideration.