Magical March Magnolias

March and magnolias is a combination balanced on a very fine knife edge for there are years when they flourish and perform with a brilliance that can justifiably be described as awesome and others when the blossoms are reduced to a disappointing dirty brown having been hit by a hard March frost. This year has …

A Walk in the Park

It saddens me in a way to refer to a visit to Mount Congreve Gardens as a walk in the park but it was a thought which came to me when we visited yesterday. The gardens had been closed for several weeks to allow work to be done without endangering the visiting public. I think …

Three Trees at Mount Congreve Gardens

We had a beautiful day today. After suffering the tedium of being indoors because of stormy weather, wishing to be outside walking or gardening, we had a day of beautiful weather today and made the very most of it with a most enjoyable visit to Mount Congreve. The garden has been closed for the past …

The Great Escape!

Of course, I have been dramatic with the title but there are occasions when small interludes can feel like just that, a great escape. We had days of the most miserable weather; days when we not only had incessant rain but rain accompanied by bitingly cold wind. There were days of being confined to the …

One of the Greatest Gardens

Mount Congreve Garden, created by the late Ambrose Congreve, is one of the great gardens of Ireland and, indeed, of the world. He was greatly influenced by Lionel de Rothschild, a dear friend and mentor in the early years and followed his taste for rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias as the backbone planting of the garden. …

Molly at Mount Congreve

A walk of the gardens at Mount Congreve with Michael White, the Garden Curator, always brings out great stories and connections. Michael walks at a gallop and talks at a gallop because he has much to do and his head is so full of information that it seems to simply burst from him. I recall …

Mount Congreve’s Magnificent Magnolias

Mount Congreve Gardens must be one of the very best places in the world to see magnolias. There are three spectacular plantings of magnolias in the garden: the first and original planting was on the terrace below the house where we can see Magnolia campbellii, Magnolia veitchii and Magnolia sprengeri var diva among others, all …

Mount Congreve – A Preview

Mount Congreve Gardens, in Waterford, will open for the 2015 season on Thursday 12th of March but I took the opportunity to have a walk around the gardens during the last week. My first impression, as I remember the scenes of devastation we witnessed in the gardens following the storms at this time last year, …