Gardens of Ireland - Part 3

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Sometimes you know you are going to like a garden as soon as you arrive at the entrance. This was the case when we got to Hunting Brook, hidden in the foothills of the Wicklow Mountains. It is owned by Jimi Blake, the former head gardener at an estate near Dublin.

The planting looked effortless.

A couple of plants that took my eye were dahlia australis

And senecio cannabinifolius

Just down the road from Jim’s garden is that of his sister, June. This has a slightly more formal layout, with straight paths running through the middle and a meandering one going round the outside.

In a shady corner, I spotted this white-flowered deinanthe bifida

This is pulmonaria ’Blake’s Variety’, bred by June. This would go well in a couple of areas in my own garden

Powerscourt was originally a thirteenth century house, extensively rebuilt in the 1730’s. The garden was laid out about a hundred year later in the grand Victorian style.

The house is positioned to make the most of this fine view

There is a rose garden, formal cascades and fountains, an enormous walled garden where only the central borders are planted up

A sunken Japanese garden

And if you have a favourite pepper pot in the dining room, why not build it as a tower in the garden?

While imposing, this sort of garden feels very cold and impersonal to me. This gardening style, with massed bedding and formal planting, was all the rage until William Robinson, in the 1870’s, championed a return to a more informal style. This is much in evidence at Mount Usher, the next garden we visited.

This garden has a fine collection of trees, and hydrangeas are much in evidence at this time of year.

As well as colourful borders

Near the entrance, I spotted this climber, thladiantha dubia, a cucumber relation

While hidden in a shady corner was a fine specimen of phileisa magellanica

To be continued ….

• 1 Sep, 2012
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