Latest News

Celebrating 40 Years of the Society Dear Member Welcome to a special ebulletin which marks 40 years of the society. Our Chair, Mary Forrest provides us with a special introduction. Stephen Butler details a fantastic achievement and fellow members continue to provide interesting and varied snippets and news. On a summer’s evening in 1981 – […]

On a summer’s evening in 1981 – July 7th. to be exact, the inaugural meeting of the Irish Garden Plant Society took place in the Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin. A group of plant enthusiasts, both amateur and professional, all keen to conserve garden plants and preserve Ireland’s garden heritage. Quoting from the first newsletter, ‘the Society’s […]

National Collection of Irish Heritage Plants The tremendous conservation effort by IGPS members and several Irish gardens has been recognised by Plant Heritage with the awarding of the status of National Collection in June 2021. Plant Heritage, formerly The National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens, was founded over 40 years ago to […]

Greba is an enchanting garden on the Ards peninsula whose owners, Richard and Beverley Britain, garden with a very light touch. Extending to three areas, it is a woodland garden with naturalistic planting developed over the past 20 years in the site of a former quarry. Members throughly enjoyed exploring the garden, getting lost along […]

Check out some of the latest additions to our Plant Portraits area of the website.

Dear IGPS member Here we are in the first few days of ‘flaming June’ enjoying sunshine and warmth. After one of the coldest months of May on record, what a treat! The committee sends its thanks to all the members who signed on for the online AGM, the 39th due to the gap caused by Covid […]

Dear IGPS member This week we have lots of news from our committees and members to share. Recently we all received a thoughtful email from our Chairman, Billy McCone, making a plea for members to come forward and volunteer for the Committee and we are delighted to let you know that there has been a […]

With the easing of Covid restrictions we are at long last in the wonderful position of being able to organise a garden visit for members – with some caution. Read all about it in our Events Calendar Post

Dear IGPS member Welcome to the month of May, full of promise and one of the most uplifting months of the year for a gardener. We hope you all received your copy of the Newsletter recently and enjoyed reading at least some of the articles. If by any chance you did not receive your Newsletter, […]

The latest issue of the newsletter should be with members now – Issue 152, April 2021.  This issue marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of the society with an editorial which reminds us of the aims of the society and contains some excellent articles which will appeal to members: New Irish Rhododendrons from Seamus […]

Dear IGPS member Whether you choose to use the Celtic, astronomical, or meteorological start date, spring is definitely now with us and, even better from a practical gardening point of view, summer time starts this weekend. We have both been busy with basic activities, Branka planting her potatoes and Maeve dividing herbaceous perennials, so no […]

Dear IGPS member, Welcome to our late February ebulletin. There has been more very encouraging feedback to the online lectures. Comments about the most recent one by Mike Nelhams, Curator of Tresco Abbey Gardens on the Isles of Scilly included: Enjoyed the lecture. What a garden! Joan I really enjoyed the virtual visit to Tresco. Peggy […]

 Welcome to the IGPS ebulletin Mid February 2021 Dear IGPS Members While it is obviously disappointing not to be able to go to lectures and chat to friends, the very positive aspect is that all of us, regardless of where we live, will be able to enjoy a bit of escapism and find out about […]

IGPS ebulletin January / February Dear members Welcome to another ebulletin. There was an amazing turnout of almost 200 of us from all over Ireland and further afield for Rosemary Maye’s talk on 21st January; we think everyone who enjoyed it will want to say a big thank you to her for injecting some wonderful […]

Post Brexit there are complications importing plants from GB to Ireland, North and south, with Customs checks and phytosanitary certificates needed. Most GB companies, if not all, have now stopped delivering to Ireland. Bord Bia has compiled a list at…https://www.bordbia.ie/gardening/plant-delivery-collection-services/…of nurseries and garden centres around Ireland. Please look through for online ordering and postal delivery […]

We have begun a collection of Plant Portraits, pen pictures of some favourite Irish heritage plants which you could grow in your own garden. These are now online on the society’s website: https://irishgardenplantsociety.com/ Simply click on the “Irish Plants” link at the top of the page and on “Plant Portraits” in the drop-down menu or, […]

Dear Members If you would like to register for the IGPS’s first Zoom lecture please contact Nichola Monk at; igps.membership@gmail.com Details of the lecture and notes on Zoom are given below. Also…. Members may wish to avail of the opportunity to sign up for lectures being organised by our sister organisation, Plant Heritage. Details for […]