Visit to Knox Gass Garden
This is a relatively new garden and is already overflowing with interesting plants. Knox has grown quite a lot from seed or cuttings with stunning results. Every habitat of the garden has appropriate species from the Gunnera at the bog garden to the house gables covered with Fremontodendron, Roses and Hypericum in stunning yellows. […]
Visit to Tourin House and Lismore Castle
Many thanks to Sara Whelan who was part of the IGPS Munster outing to Tourin House and Lismore Castle on Saturday, 20th May, for forwarding these photographs from the day. This first group is of Lismore Castle: And this second group is from Tourin House:
Annual General Meeting, Birr, 2017
Reports are coming in on the A.G.M. weekend in Birr with some members posting images on Facebook with their comments. It would seem there was some rain but that this did not dampen spirits and that it was a very enjoyable weekend. Certainly some of the private comments on the garden were simply gushing in […]
How Will He Be Remembered?
Will it be as a politician or as a gardener? Michael Heseltine has an established reputation as a long serving politician in the United Kingdom while his significant contribution to English gardening may not be as widely or as popularly known. Hopefully, “Thenford” written by Michael and Anne Heseltine and describing the development of their […]
Heritage Irish Plants Launch: Opening Remarks by Martyn Rix
On November 22 2016 the Irish Society of Botanical Artists and the Irish Garden Plant Society had the great honour of welcoming Martyn Rix to the National Botanic Gardens. Martyn had generously accepted the invitation to come to launch Heritage Irish Plants – Plandaí Oidhreachta. As the time for speeches approached, the crowd of attentive […]
Catching up!
I have given up! I try to be diligent with my books – read one and write a review – but my routine was broken and I have failed to recover. Earlier in the year my laptop went on the blink for about a week so there was reading time but no facility to write […]
Mount Congreve – A National Treasure
IGPS Munster hosted Paddy Tobin with his talk on Mount Congreve Gardens at their new venue at Northridge House, St. Luke’s Home, in Blackrock. There was a very good attendance and the talk will certainly entice people to make the journey to Waterford to visit these excellent gardens. Mount Congreve Gardens are hosting the Rare […]
What were they thinking?
How often have you looked at a designed landscape and wondered what had inspired the creator to develop the area in this particular way! This book has been both a revelation and a comfort as there are times when the source of inspiration may be clear and obvious – for example, when the garden is […]
Roy Lancaster: My Life with Plants
Roy Lancaster’s first interest in flowers was in the wild flower of the countryside around Bolton where he was born in 1937. He began work with the Bolton Parks Department, spent two years in Malaya as a national serviceman, two years at the Cambridge Botanic Gardens as a gardening student and 18 years with the […]
Planting Design for Dry Gardens – Olivier Filippi
Though it might not seem immediately relevant for Irish gardens, the more I read this book the more I enjoyed it, for the philosophy of its approach, the beauty of the book itself and, believe it or not, for the many ways in which this approach to gardening might be applied in an Irish garden […]
The Story of Blarney Castle
Adam Whitbourn at the Old Courthouse in Antrim. Photo from Barbara Kelso About 80 members and friends thoroughly enjoyed Adam Whitbourn, Head Gardener at Blarney Castle, telling the story of the Castle’s gardens at […]
Primulas – The Plant Lover’s Guide
Our beautiful native pale yellow primroses announce, “Spring is here” more effectively than any other plant. It is no wonder we love them and delight in seeing them each year. They have a simple beauty which endears them to young and old, to gardener and non-gardener alike. Beyond the native species of our own country […]
Irish Heritage Plants – A Review
It was a delight to read this review of Irish Heritage Plants – Plandaí Oidhreachta from Fionnuala Fallon in Irish Arts Review If you haven’t yet purchased a copy of Irish Heritage Plants you can do so on the website of the Irish Society of Botanical Artists .To find out more about the Irish […]
Things That Turn Nick Macer On!
There was a large turn out of IGPS members and guests for Nick Macer’s talk on the 24th of January in Cork. Nick has travelled extensively in search of new and interesting plants and has introduced many of these through his Pan Global Plants Nursery. He presented his plants in groups “Small”, “Big”, “Bigger” and […]
Colin Crosbie – “Shady Characters”
Thanks to the kind invitation of the Alpine Garden Society, Northern members had the opportunity to enjoy a lecture by Colin Crosbie on ‘Shady Characters’ on the afternoon of Saturday 21st January. It was entertaining and informative, full of useful recommendations for good ‘doers’ in shade, whether dappled or deep which, as he pointed out, […]
Irish Heritage Plants – A Review
A very nice review from Kevin Hutchinson in Irish Forestry. And I’m cheating on my blogging – as I have not written in a while – by using somebody else’s material. The holiday season, visitors, illness and computer difficulties have all intervened but I’ll soon get back to it. The break did allow great time […]
The Bay Garden – A talk by Frances McDonald
A report from Maeve Bell on a very enjoyable evening in Belfast! There was a packed room at Malone House Belfast on Wednesday 7th December to hear Frances MacDonald, so much so that there had to be a short delay while extra chairs were fetched and installed. Frances delighted the audience with her account of […]
The Extra Room – A Review!
Armchair gardening is hugely popular. We have regular garden shows, garden festivals, books, newspapers, magazines, television programmes and eternal reruns on YouTube. There certainly is no lack of inspiration for the novices who wishes to create their own green paradise, their own room outside, their own Extra Room and who better to guide them along […]
The Breathing Burren – A Review
The Breathing Burren by Gordon D’Arcy It is wonderful to pick up a book and have the immediate reaction “Oh, this is beautiful” – comfortable in the hand, attractive in size, print and illustration – and there is an immediate longing to read. This is how it was when Gordon D’Arcy’s “The Breathing Burren” arrived […]
Plandaí Oidhreachta – Irish Heritage Plants Launch, 12 November 2016
Martin Rix, editor of Curtis’ Botanical Magazine, officiated at the opening of the Plandaí Oidhreachta – Irish Heritage Plants exhibition of works by the members of the Irish Society of Botanical Artists and the launch of the associated book at the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, on Saturday, 12th November. There was an exceptionally good attendance […]
