The Making of Place

The Overview! The extraordinary range of approaches and styles one sees in gardens throughout the world, in different countries and different cultures can be quite bewildering. It is fortunate to have one such as John Dixon Hunt, who seems to have a comprehensive knowledge and grasp of all matters of garden design, to organise such …

Ice-cream first, then Weeds and Good Bits and Bad Bits – Ness Botanic Gardens!

As we approached the entrance to Ness Botanic Gardens information notices told us that we could enjoy two locally made varieties of ice-cream inside. I suppose we could have been told of worse things but I had come to see plants and a good garden and ice-cream was not of interest, especially as it was …

Orchids – A New Enthusiasm!

Although widespread, orchids are not commonplace and to look at them growing in the wild is one of the great pleasures of the plant world. The Burren in Co. Clare, Bull Island in Dublin and The Raven in Wexford are three easily accessible locations where one may find orchids with ease and there are many …

Coming to Terms with Your Plants!

Amicia zygomeris is an uncommon and rather unusual looking plant. The leaves are of a peculiar shape, not unlike those of the tulip tree where what would normally be a pointed end of the leaf is blunt and double-lobed with an almost cut-off appearance leading to the common name of yolk-leaved Amicia and it is …

On Reflecting!

We seem to spend quite an amount of time in our gardens yet little time simply looking and reflecting on it. It’s somewhat like the number of seats we have in our garden – we seldom sit on them. It’s a pity we don’t sit more and reflect more as both the garden and ourselves …

My Favourite Plant

Our local garden club hosted Des Doyle of Lavistown House, near Kilkenny, last evening when he delivered a talk on his favourite plants – a total of forty plants as it turned out! Des showed an admirable reluctance to narrow his selection and I imagine that if time allowed he could have continued to list …