Leaving Huntingbrook via the woodland walk.

The success of a garden tour is greatly enhanced if you have a good coach driver. One that is cheerful, friendly and skillful, we are very lucky therefore to have Gerry Connor. He drives for Anchor Tours based in Dundalk, we are in good hands.
www.anchortoursireland.com

More photos from Mount Usher – from top:
Lilium pyrenaicum naturalizing; Cornus kousa ‘Satomi’ (pink flowered dogwood); Davidia involucrata (handkerchief tree); Libertia formosa and gate; Symphytum uplandicum ‘Variegatum’ with yellow lupins; Aruncus and blue spruce; Gerry Connor our great driver.

Sean Heffernan the head gardener at Mount Usher is aware of the responsibility he shoulders, he realises the importance of the plant collection both as a cultural heritage and as a tool of plant conversation. As he leads us through the gardens it is evident that he loves his job.

Situated on the river Vartry, the 23 acres of this wonderful garden is home to about 5000 plant species. Included in this are two National Plant collections, Nothofagus (southern beech) and Eucryphia, and numerous Irish champion (biggest) trees.

One of the first champion trees we encounter is the evergreen Nothofagus fusca. This species is from New Zealand and has an attractive bark, the Mount Usher specimen is ninety years old and very impressive. There is a wealth of unusual and attractive specimens in the gardens. The real charm and magnificance of the gardens is as much the wild style of planting and romantic atmosphere.

The gardens are managed without the use of chemicals, wild flowers are encouraged and wildlife thrives. Mount Usher is one of the finest examples of a Robinsonian garden, a style named after the garden writer William Robinson. He was a writer from the Victorian era who championed the wild style of garden design where plants are grown in a natural way that mimicks their natural habitat.

Where as borders are not a feature of the garden there are a couple of fine herbaceous borders close to the fine restaurant. As we followed Sean throughout the garden accompanied by his dog “Minnow”, we ducked under branches, sniffed blooms such as Magnolia x weisneri and admired the multiple stemmed Luma apiculata, planted in 1860, the first to be planted in the gardens. We eventually arrived to the path lined by the herbaceous borders and the sun came out, illuminating the flowers and warming the air. A perfect finale to an extazaganza of exotic plant species.

We have been really lucky with the weather, no need for wellies but I have applied the sun block. Let’s hope that this good weather continues tomorrow as we leave Dublin to visit Jimi Blake’s Huntingbrook Gardens and June Blake’s Garden near Blessington in Co. Wicklow. Then after lunch in Russborough House we drive to Kilkenny.

Photos below- from top:
Magnolia x weisneri; Luma apiculata; candlabra primulas; our group walks along the path lined with Trachycarpus fortunei palms; herbaceous borders in sun shine; Minnow gets a pet.

Here are some more photos of Carmel’s beautiful garden. Now we are off to dinner!
Photos from top:
Mathiasella bupleroides ‘Green Dream’; Darmera peltata with red foliage of Japanese maples; Thalictrum aquilegifolium; terracotta doves; Abutilon x suntense ‘Jermyns’; chairs under Abutilon; Hakenachloa macra ‘Aureola’; Cotoneaster congestus.

I first met Carmel nearly twenty years ago while I was working in a garden centre. She identified an unlabelled plant for me, and I have been learning from her ever since.

Her garden is a trove of plant treasure, species from around the globe thrive in the mild maritime climate. This past winter the temperatures dipped as low as minus ten degrees celcius. Carmel was mourning the loss of a couple of Correa plants and the climber Hardenbergia violacea. Schefflera taiwanniana and her many species of Pseudopanax still flourishing.

Throughout her garden herbaceous perennials mix with shrubs and trees. Everytime one of our group asked about a plant Carmel supplied not only the name, but important cultivation tips and information of the plants origin. She is a walking plant encyclopedia.

People strolled about, admiring the plants and the layout. Some took the opportunity to sit and admire, to feel and experience the garden. The garden is truly a plant person’s paradise. Before we left we spotted new young shoots growing near the base of her beloved Hardenbergia, Carmel was delighted, so were we.

So now we are on the bus to Avoca village for lunch. Then it’s to Mount Usher. Still no rain!

Photos below- from top;
Carmel Duignan welcomes us to her garden; Cornus controversa ‘Variegata’; Schefflera taiwanniana; Pseudopanax crassifolius; two Finnish ladies sitting pretty on Carmel’s garden; Erigeron karvinskianus grows around an alpine trough.