The Lafcadio Hearn Gardens at Tramore House, Co. Waterford.

The gardens of Tramore House in Co. Waterford have gone though several major transformations in their time and from that and its latest redesign it can certainly be said to reflect the life of Patrick Lafcadio Hearn after whom they are now named. The house and gardens date from the 1880s when Tramore was a …

The Plant Lover’s Guide to Tulips by Richard Wilford – A Review

All the gardener will need to know about tulips is presented in this book in an informative, concise, readable and well-illustrated manner. The author, Richard Wilford, spent many years looking after the general bulb collection at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, but travels to see species tulips growing in the wild and to the Keukenhof …

Paeonia ‘Derek Hill’

Many of us will grow the species tree paeonias P. delavayi and P. lutea var. ludlowii in our gardens. They are tough, easy and long-lived plants in the garden with deeply-cut attractive foliage as well as beautiful flowers each year. Both are shrubby plants, upright in habit, and need little care except the removal of …

The Plant Lover’s Guide to Dahlias by Andy Vernon – A Review.

A gardening book written by a knowledgeable, enthusiastic and experienced gardener quickly wins the heart and the mind and makes for enjoyable, informative, applicable and pleasurable reading. Andy Vernon is writing about the razamatazz element of many of our summer gardens, dahlias, and provides wonderful background information on these plants, excellent advice on growing and …

Outwitting Squirrels – 101 Cunning Stratagems to Reduce Dramatically the Egregious Effects of Garden Pests and Honest Advice Concerning your Chances of Success by Anne Wareham – A Review.

The Bad Tempered Gardener, Anne Wareham, has returned with another salvo for the gardening world in her latest book, “Outwitting Squirrels”. The book is a tongue-in-cheek, dry-humoured, witty treatise on how to deal with the myriad pests which assail our gardens. Traditional and modern solutions are discussed in view of her own experience; some are …

The Paeonia Borders at Mount Congreve Gardens, Waterford

Early June each year brings one of the most spectacular and popular flower displays at Mount Congreve Gardens in Waterford.  It is one of the most wonderful examples in the garden of Mr. Ambrose Congreve’s planting philosophy of planting in large numbers. He would always wish to have his plants in groups of 25, 50, …

“Irish Demesne Landscapes 1660 – 1740” by Vandra Costello: A Review

“Irish Demesne Landscapes 1660 – 1740” is a scholarly treatment of an era of Irish gardening written in a delightfully accessible and pleasantly readable style. Vandra Costello was inspired after reading the diaries of Samuel Pepys to read those of John Evelyn and was very taken by the many references they contained to gardens in …

Bloom in the Park 2015

Bloom in the Park (The Phoenix Park in Dublin) is the biggest gardening event of the year in Ireland and attracts thousands of visitors. While the title indicates a strongly horticultural leaning it has, in fact, come to host a far broader range of attractions with a view, I imagine, to make it interesting to …

The Garden Visit – The Report!

Anticipation can bring a certain dread, a nervousness of the unknown, but the old theatre adage of it "being alright on the night" was proven true once again. Our fellow members in the local garden society arrived at the time planned; some of the committee members arrived early and marshalled the parking - ours is …