Lismore Castle Gardens in Photographs.

Lismore Castle is on the banks of the River Blackwater in west Co. Waterford. I highly recommend a visit and indeed a full day out as the town itself is very beautiful and interesting. There is a very pleasant walk along the bank of the river and returning via woodland and small roads to your …

Seeing Red.

Waterford, south-east Ireland. Saturday, 29th May 2021 For the most part my seeing red this week has been of the very best kind, the red of striking flower colour with the flowering of an especially liked tulip, Tulipa sprengeri, a species tulip which I am delighted to say has found the conditions in our garden …

The Old Man is Snoring!

Waterford, south-east Ireland. Saturday, 22nd May 2021 It was a week of ins and outs, of starts and stops of dark rainclouds and rain bursts, of wintery winds and occasional sunny spells - that last phrase sounded like the consolatory comment regularly added by the people delivering the weather forecast. By Thursday morning we were …

No Need to Name It!

Do we gardeners give a little more importance to plant names than is necessary or sensible; are we obsessed with names? Few things spike a gardener's attention as quickly as the mention of a new plant name. There may be nothing especially good or beautiful about the plant but it is NEW! And we simply …

In the Fulness of May.

That time of fulness has arrived in the garden; that time of the first lushness of the year; that time when plants which were small individuals only a few weeks ago have now come together, shoulder to shoulder, to cover the ground and fill the beds and borders; that time which tells us that unquestionably …

A Safe Refuge.

In a way it might seem incongruous that a graveyard would be a place of wonderful life but it is often the case. An eagle-eyed friend in our little orchid circle spotted some orchids growing in a churchyard close to where she lives and investigated further. As it turned out she had spotted a small …

At Altamont Gardens

The gardeners at Altamont have achieved that almost impossible aim of keeping a garden fresh, vibrant, changing and yet perfectly in tune with the style and ethos of its previous owner. So often we hear the comment of gardens such as this - bequeathed to the state, or in U.K. to the likes of the …

On Tingling Knees.

There is a small sliver of woodland a few fields away from our house, a narrow wedge between my neighbour's farmland and the railway track - now the Waterford Greenway - and I wonder how close this may be to being a remnant of a long gone landscape. There are not many trees of any …

Using Borrowed Landscapes.

Waterford, south-east Ireland. Saturday, 8th May 2021 Using the views which the outside surroundings of the garden provide is one of the regularly recommended design principles of garden planning. We have a view to the River Suir from the garden and though we have made no effort to frame the view we do enjoy it …

Secret Gardens of Somerset

The gardening tourist could have no better companion if visiting Somerset than this wonderful book from Abigail Willis with photographs by Clive Boursnell. It will be the perfect guidebook, providing a comprehensive listing of the most desirable locations, each temptingly described and illustrated and in these days of travel restrictions it will also provide hours …