A sunny day with temperatures in the mid to high twenties combined with a cooling fresh breeze was perfect for the IGPS visit to Ballywalter Park, hosted by Lord and Lady Dunleath.
Andrew Mulholland, the first Lord Dunleath, planted the thirty acres of pleasure grounds with around 95,000 trees and shrubs in the mid-1840’s.  The magnificent mature trees and shrubs that remain in the parkland frame the house from all angles. There have been some losses in recent years (e.g. a mature Pinus radiata) but more recent additions such as a small stand of Swedish birch (Betula pendula subsp. pendula ‘Laciniata’also known as Betula Pendula subsp. pendula ‘Dalecarlica’) complement the older planting in other parts of the parkland.
The parkland also contains bridged steams, a lake, rockery and water garden, the whole effect giving the sense of a natural landscape that was there long before the first house was built.

To the right of the photo is the tall pink long-flowering Diascia personata which is scrambling through an evergreen Australian fuchsia shrub Correa ‘Marian’s Marvel’.

On the left hand side of the picture is Yucca filamentosa, which has a flower spike of exotic white bells and creates an eye-catching focal point. Behind this is a tall Sciadopitys verticillata, the umbrella pine growing in a large pot. Planted in the border a silver-leaved Senecio ‘Angel Wings’ grows at the base of a contrasting purple-leaved Continus ‘Grace’. The yellow daisy flowers belong to the very long flowering perennial Argyranthemum ‘Jamaica Primrose’ along side the equally long blue flowering Geranium ‘Rozanne’, my favourite of all the geraniums. Beside these an Irish cultivar plant, Agapanthus ‘Slieve Donard’ is just about to come into flower.

There are a large variety of plants in the borders and pots, giving lots of colour and interest throughout the year.

The intrepid gardeners in IGPS Leinster were not deterred by the rainy, dull weather from going to visit a very special garden in Co. Meath.   In fact, if anything, the dreary and disappointing weather increased their enjoyment, because the colours and beautiful contrasting shapes in the garden were all the more vibrant.  The extraordinary copper edging of the pond (see Photo above) is a good example of the original and attractive use of materials by Paula Byrne, in creating this comparatively new garden.

Paula has designed a series of distinct garden ‘rooms’ around the house.  Each has a particular character, and visitors will doubtless choose between them for their favourites.  I specially liked the way in which she included tiny gardens in tubs and buckets, stuffed with sempervivums and echevirias of all sorts.    I asked Paula how she kept them so happy in our damp climate, and she pointed out the very sharp potting compost keeping their fleshy leaves above the level at which they could so easily rot – and also, helping to deter the slugs, of course.

The gardens are mostly formal, with lots of well-clipped box hedging to express the design.  This works very well in a young garden, where perhaps the larger trees and shrubs have not yet begun to make their presence strongly felt. It would be very interesting to see how the garden has developed in perhaps five or six years’ time. The group enjoyed the gardens, in spite of the rain, but the cup of coffee and home-made scones  in the house was most welcome, to close our visit.

Members were treated to a smorgasbord  of horticultural  delights  on their recent visit to Fernhill, a three and a half acre garden nestled in the countryside outside Ballynahinch, Co Down.

Fernhill isn’t exactly new; the old bungalow and three fields were bought by the owners nine years ago but what an exciting development has taken place since then. There has been a stylish updating of the house and driveway, but it was the garden we came to see and what a delight. Thomas number 1 is the horticultural perfectionist, researching every plant and its requirements while Thomas number 2 is the artistic and creative landscaper or, as Thomas 1 remarked, ‘the vocal critic’. Whatever the truth, between them they have created a garden, a landscape that delights, intrigues and satisfies.

The large central bed in front of the house was their first creation and, like many of us in our early gardening days, it grew as new plants were acquired and placed wherever a space could be found for them. At our visit, on the turn of cooler, shorter days the central bed was a riot of yellows, gold, orange and reds, from the various crocosmias, including the brilliant Crocosmia ’Hellfire’, and a stand-out,stunning red Hemerocallis ‘Pirates of Penzance’. A six foot high stand of Lilium henryii with its orange flowers speckled browny-black inside helped provide the juxtaposing of colour and form which would have delighted the late Christopher Lloyd. It certainly delighted us.

Along the back of the property is the remains of an old shelter belt of firs and conifers. They have been trimmed, crowns lifted and woodland planting is taking place with rhododendrons, lots of hostas and some new rare shrubs. The remaining field undergoing development has a large circular pool, there is an area marked out for food production, a beautiful run of five large compost bins ( complete with roofs!) and an area for three bee hives. The hives were painted in a gorgeous array of colours and we wondered did the bees recognise their own coloured hive.

This duo aren’t afraid to dig up, move plants around or, as Thomas 1 remarked ‘if they don’t perform they get sent to the thugs bed’. There is so much to see at Fernhill, this is only a skim over our visit and it definitely leaves one wanting to see how the garden develops in the future.