Our AGM weekend in Blarney, Co. Cork.
Many thanks to the Munster committee of the IGPS who organised our AGM weekend in Blarney, Co. Cork. It was a great success and enjoyed by all. Our first garden visit of the weekend was to Blarney Castle Gardens where we had a range of wonderful guided tours and this set the tone of the […]
A “Thank You” to Martin Edwardes
To mark Martin Edwarde’s ten years on the Munster committee of the IGPS Bruno Nicolai, Chairperson of the IGPS Munster committee, made this presentation at the AGM dinner in Blarney
IGPS Stand at Russborough
There was a big turnout for the Rare and Special Plant Sale at Russborough House today and the IGPS had a stand there with Stephen Butler, Ricky Shannon and Kirsten Walker meeting people and promoting the IGPS. Mary and I dropped in to say “Hello”
Lismacloskey Daffodils
Ireland and particularly the north of Ireland has a fine reputation for breeding daffodils and the garden at Lismacloskey Rectory in the Ulster Folk Museum, which is planted and maintained by volunteers from the IGPS and the Museum, now has a collection of almost 40 different cultivars. The chilly spring this year has meant their […]
IGPS at the Clare Garden Festival
Bruno Nicolai had an IGPS stand at the Clare Garden Festival today – as well as presenting a talk to those attending. A great day was had, with lots of requests for an IGPS branch to be set up in the west. If there is anybody interested in helping set up a branch in the […]
The New York Botanical Gardens
The New York Botanical Gardens are celebrating their 125th anniversary and this book from Gregory Long, who has been president and chief executive of the gardens since 1989, outlines the history and development of the gardens using hundreds of excellent photographs, beautiful reproductions of rare botanical art and a text which is so informative and […]
A Display of Gems
Each year in April the Dublin branch of the Alpine Garden Society holds its show at the Cabinteely Community College and it is an opportunity to view the most beautiful plant gems imaginable and, of course, an opportunity to meet some of the people who are gems of the gardening world. A visit to the […]
A Woodland Garden
A large group of IGPS members made their way to Co. Meath on Saturday, 23rd of April. We were blessed with good weather, and everybody thoroughly enjoyed the visit. The woodland was planted with a great mixture of native spring flowers and choice woodland plants with an imaginative uses of ivy as ground cover. Photographs from […]
Pay Me in Tulips!
Tulips are the new currency it would seem! So, Frances McDonald explained to us this morning when we visited her in her garden, The Bay, just north of Ferns in Co. Wexford. Over the past weeks I had seen mention of Frances and Iain’s Tulip Extravaganza at the garden but only yesterday spotted that Frances […]
IGPS at Fota Plant Fair.
There was a huge attendance at the Plant Fair at Fota Island on Sunday, 17th April, and the IGPS had a presence there, sharing a stand with Blarney Castle Gardens to both promote the upcoming Blarney in Bloom Festival on the 10th of July and to promote the IGPS itself. Bruno Nicolai, Chairperson […]
A Visit to David Ledsham’s Garden – 9th March
It was a testimony to David Ledsham’s garden that we enjoyed it enormously despite poor weather conditions. We met with so many beautiful plants, so well cultivated, that is was a joy from beginning to end. Hellebore, trilliums and primulas were especially fabulous. Here are just a few photographs of plants which caught the eye. […]
Molly at Mount Congreve
A walk of the gardens at Mount Congreve with Michael White, the Garden Curator, always brings out great stories and connections. Michael walks at a gallop and talks at a gallop because he has much to do and his head is so full of information that it seems to simply burst from him. I recall […]
Mount Congreve’s Magnificent Magnolias
Mount Congreve Gardens must be one of the very best places in the world to see magnolias. There are three spectacular plantings of magnolias in the garden: the first and original planting was on the terrace below the house where we can see Magnolia campbellii, Magnolia veitchii and Magnolia sprengeri var diva among others, all […]
Narcissus ‘Countess of Annesley’ An Irish cultivar presumed extinct – alive and well
Narcissus ‘Countess of Annesley’ An Irish cultivar presumed extinct – alive and well Narcissus ‘Countess of Annesley’, a late nineteenth century, large early-flowered daffodil that originated at Castlewellan in Co. Down, Northern Ireland, and long presumed extinct, has recently been found alive and well in a number of Irish gardens. The discovery was […]
Rainy Days are Reading Days!
It is the first of April, the weather is dreadful but it has provided an opportunity to catch up on book reviews. There is always a queue of books to be read and often it is more pleasant to read the next one that write about the previous. This must be one of the busy […]
The Lismacloskey Garden at the Ulster Folk Museum
The volunteers at Lismacloskey Garden at the Ulster Folk Museum near Belfast are busy getting the garden back into shape after a very wet but mild winter. The weather obviously suited the Irish Primroses introduced by the Fitzgerald Nursery in recent years as they are putting on a great show in the long bed leading […]
Dedication of Escallonia ‘C. F. Ball’ – Tuesday, 28th June
Dedication of Escallonia ‘C. F. Ball’ This dedication is taking place at the National War Memorial Gardens, Islandbridge, Dublin. It is a free event organised by the Office of Public Works(OPW) and we would like to see a good number of IGPS attend on the day. Tuesday, 28 June 2016 from 14:00 to 16:00 AT […]
‘New and Exciting Herbaceous Perennials from around the World’ with Jimi Blake’
‘New and Exciting Herbaceous Perennials from around the World’ with Jimi Blake’, in association with Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council. The Northern Area Committee’s Spring Lecture, ‘New and Exciting Herbaceous Perennials from around the World’ with Jimi Blake’, in association with Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, was an entertaining and inspiring guide through Jimi’s favourite […]
Heritage Irish Plants – Plandaí Oidhreachta: Place a Pre-publication order now! €25
The Irish Society of Botanical Artists and The Irish Garden Plant Society have joined forces in a project titled Plandaí Oidhreachta, which celebrates our Heritage Plants. It highlights the wealth of good Irish Garden Plants and celebrates the beauty of botanical illustration. In late 2016, the end product of the collaboration will be an exhibition […]
The Darling Sophie North
We are approaching the twentieth anniversary of the Dunblane School massacre (13th March 1996) when a man entered a primary school in Dunblane, near Stirling in Scotland, and murdered sixteen children and their teacher, injured others and devastated the lives of innumerable families and sent ripples of upset and fear far and wide. At the […]
