AGM Weekend Westport, Co Mayo. 16 &17 May 2020 Booking: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/agm-westport-16-17-may-2020-tickets-87794103527 The AGM weekend is, for many of our members, the highlight of the year. This year IGPS Leinster has organised something very special….. For the first time ever, the IGPs is heading to Westport https://www.destinationwestport.com/on Clew Bay in Co Mayo. Six […]
Author: Paddy
Newsletter, January 2020
The January 2020 issue of the Society’s newsletter has been sent to members. It is an excellent issue with a strong emphasis on Irish plants and gardens – interesting plant portraits and news of Irish gardens. Well done to the editing committee for producing such a top-class newsletter! Contents: Welcome A Note from the […]
The Scentual Garden – A Review.
Fragrance lost its importance in our gardens. We drifted away from an appreciation of scent; became more visual in our judgement and selection and nowadays rarely include scent in a description of a plant. We have fallen out of the practice of appreciating one of the central and important aspects of our gardens, the fragrance […]
Bringing the Mediterranean into your Garden – Olivier Filippi
Olivier Filippi – Bringing the Mediterranean into your Garden. Paddy Tobin Book Review December 10, 2019 This is a remarkable book, a book of extraordinary depth and of marvellous inspiration. Olivier and Clara Filippi have run a nursery, specialising in Mediterranean plants, in the south of France for over thirty years. They have travelled the world to […]
T. J. Maher at Malone House – How to get the most from the Smaller Garden.
On Wednesday evening, around 100 members and guests attended Malone House, Belfast, and enjoyed an inspiring lecture ‘How to get the most from the Smaller Garden’ by artist T.J. Maher from Patthana Garden, Kiltegan, Co. Wicklow. T.J.’s photos of his 1/3 acre garden were wonderful, with his fabulous plant selections and colour combinations. There was […]
Great Talk in Cork!
Many thanks to Colm O’Driscoll headgardener at Airfield Estate for a wonderful lecture to IGPS Munster last night. An excellent talk, very interesting and greatly enjoyed by all in attendance. Photograph thanks to Margaret McAuliffe.
Reading Suggestions for Christmas!
Have a look at the Society’s Blog page for a list of books to read this Christmas – with Jimi Blake’s “A Beautiful Obsession” topping the list.
Reading Shortlist 2019
The Shortlist 2019 Paddy Tobin General Interest November 30, 2019 The Shortlist 2019 It is the end of the year, Christmas is approaching, and it is a time for gardeners to treat themselves and to be treated and few treats are better than a good book. Here is my selection from books published this past year, a […]
Scent Magic – A Review
Scent Magic! Paddy Tobin Book Review November 3, 2019 Isabel Bannerman describes scent wonderfully: Witch hazel has a clean sanatorium smell of pure alcohol and Elastoplast. The crushed gourd-shaped seed pods of Wintersweet, if crushed, smell of dusty cloves, spiced wines and the depths of unused drawers. The rose, ‘Rosarie de l’Hay’ smells of cucumber, tea and laundered […]
“Adventures on the Road” with Shirley Lanigan
In the Northern region we were delighted to welcome Honorary Member, Brian Duncan, 60 other members and about 20 visitors, to our lecture on Thursday, 24th October, at Antrim Old Courthouse when we all thoroughly enjoyed Shirley Lanigan’s account of her “Adventures on the Road” over the past 20 years as she criss-crossed the island […]
A Radical Shift in Perspective
A Radical Shift in Perspective Paddy Tobin Book Review October 3, 2019 Instead of engaging in a constant battle to adapt our gardens to suit plants would it not be better to search for plants that suit our gardens? This would require a radical shift in perspective which has much to recommend it and Olivier Filippi’s book, The […]
Growing Native Orchids
How to Grow Native Orchids Paddy Tobin Book Review October 5, 2019 How to Grow Native Orchids in Gardens Large and Small Enthusiasts of our native orchids might well fear that a book on growing these precious and nowadays scarce plants in the garden is simply another threat to numbers in the wild but the very first […]
A Wonderful Start to the Winter Lecture Programme in Cork
Christopher Moore delivered an outstanding lecture to IGPS members in Cork this evening, a wonderful start to the winter programme: “Arcadia: Can we achieve it? Realistic inspiration – a critical look at some iconic gardens and how they have influenced our horticultural inspirations.
Northern Region Plant Sale 2019
The Northern region had a very successful plant stall at the Autumn Plant Fair at Rowallane Gardens, Co. Down last Saturday. The tables were groaning with an eclectic selection including Irish cultivars, house plants and fashionable succulents, garden-worthy plants in all stages of development, a colourful range of dahlias and, in pride of place, a large […]
Beth Chatto: A Life with Plants – Book Review
Beth Chatto: A Life with Plants – A Review Paddy Tobin Book Review September 26, 2019 There is a photograph of Beth Chatto on page 8 of this book, a black and white photograph, which I imagine is of her in her forties. She has that lean-towards-the-camera pose which was so typical of her. Her bright smile and […]
Great Gardens of London
Great Gardens of London gives an insight into a selection of the horticultural jewels of the capital city of what is probably the greatest gardening country of the world. England is a treasure store of wonderful gardens and it comes as no surprise that the capital city, London, is home to a significant and most […]
Visit to Terry and June Irwin’s Garden
There was one of the largest ever attendances at a garden visit locally when more than 70 members and their guests visited Terry and June Irwin’s garden in Belfast on Saturday 31st August with everyone thoroughly enjoying its thoughtful design and subtle colour combinations. A huge bonus was that our tour of this good-sized (one-third of […]
A Beautiful Obsession – Jimi Blake and Noel Kingsbury
A Beautiful Obsession Paddy Tobin Book Review August 6, 2019 In his seventeen years at Huntingbrook Garden, Jimi Blake has cut a dash through the traditional herbaceous border, the shrub border, the woodland garden and is leading the way in Irish horticulture with his innovative approach to gardening, with his new plant trials and introductions but, most […]
From Huntingbrook to Lismacloskey
The Society recently organised a very enjoyable visit to Jimi Blake’s garden, Huntingbrook, and we are most grateful to him for his kind gift of Geranium ‘Mount Venus’ for the Lismacloskey Rectory Garden at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. It was a perfect summer day when Barbara and Maureen arrived with the geranium for […]
The Lismacloskey Rectory Garden
It’s high summer in the Rectory Garden at the Folk Museum in Co. Down with some of our Irish plants putting on a colourful show. In full bloom are Hypericum ‘Rowallane Hybrid’ with a carpet of Osteospermum ‘Lady Leitrim’ underneath; the vibrant Lilium henryi is giving height at the back of one of the borders while Penstemon ‘Evelyn’ […]