End of Season

Lismore Castle Gardens close for the season at the end of October so it has been on our mind for the last week that we would fit in a final visit, something that was a challenge with the very changeable weather of this past week when strong winds and heavy rain threatened each day. When …

Opening Again!

Mount Congreve Gardens have been closed for redevelopment for more than a year and I have missed our regular visits to the garden very much but the reopening is upon us and from Monday next, 31st October, the gardens will be open to the public again. The late Mr. Ambrose Congreve extended the original house …

The Lafcadio Hearn Garden

The Lafcadio Hearn Garden is in Tramore, Co. Waterford - I wrote about it previously in 2015. - and I visited again last week. I have also been there in between times but not often despite the fact it is only twenty minutes away from home and just a few minutes from our son and …

Open That Window!

Is it an unfortunate truth that the evolution of man to the top of nature's ladder is now the greatest threat to the world and all in it? There was a time - I imagine there must have been - when man was not the god of all he surveyed but simply another cog in …

The Book Opened at this Page

Was it by design? Did this book know which page would have immediate appeal to me? Perhaps the author had something to do with it or was it simply a moment of serendipity? Mark Roper has just had a new book published, Beyond Stillness, and it arrived in this morning's post. Mark's book are for …

There was a Sadness in the Air

There is something, I believe, in our human nature which seeks to protect us from the sadnesses of life, a part of our make-up which realises that we can't deal continuously with the vicissitudes and misfortunes that come our way. At times we put that aside and consider and ponder the sad realities we witness. …

A Garden Well Placed

It was in 1997 that there was great commotion and hullabaloo over the "amateur" gardener who was awarded a gold medal for the garden she built and designed at the Royal Horticultural Society's Chelsea Flower Show. It seemed that the previous twenty two years she had gardened at her home, Helmingham Hall in Sullolk, did …

As the Days Go By

This colchicum - Colchicum 'Pink Goblet' - is in my view from my usual seat in the house so that I notice how it changes day by day and, of course, this also means I am coaxed out to photograph it each time it catches my eye - perhaps, the sun catches it well or …

A Ferment of Little Rotters!

Decay is at the heart of the garden and Julian Doberski's The Science of Compost - Life, Death and Decay in the Garden is the most insightful and informative book on the topic I have read. It is important, so as not to mislead, to point out from the outset that this is not a …

A Tree On Its Day

While not quite in the vein of every dog having its day, a tree in the garden gave a special display today, a gorgeous hour of being at its best as the sun caught its beautiful autumn colour and I went out with the camera to capture the scene for such moments are very often …