Annes Grove has one of the most romantic gardens in Ireland, writes Jane Powers
The rhododendrons are hatching at Annes Grove. Okay, I'm being a little fanciful - but I'm stealing a metaphor from Patrick Annesley, who lives at this 18th century, Co Cork demesne. He has lived here, with his wife Jane and family, since 1976, and has witnessed the flowering of the rhododendrons each spring. The process of the flowers unfolding from their tightly-clasped clusters of buds, is indeed, as Patrick points out, a "hatching". And for a plant genus that has been around since the dinosaurs, it's an apt term - especially for the particularly primeval-looking Rhododendron sinogrande, with its blossoming eggs nestling amongst huge, leathery, oar-shaped leaves.
Annes Grove is famous for its rhododendrons, which grow in a seam of acid soil in the woodland garden. Also enjoying the moist, lime-free conditions are magnolia and camellia. The latter, with its glossy foliage and waxy red, pink or white flowers, needs dense greenery and dappled light - as is amply supplied here - if it is not to look dreadfully artificial. (In other words, it should be avoided in urban and suburban gardens.)
Some of the larger rhododendron specimens at Annes Grove were grown from seed collected in Tibet and Nepal by Frank Kingdon-Ward at the beginning of the last century. Among the planthunter's Irish sponsors was the present owner's grandfather, Richard Grove Annesley. He was a keen gardener, and the man who turned this 30-acre garden into one of the most romantic in Ireland. And nowhere is it more romantic than the river valley, down a precipitous incline below the woodland. Patrick Annesley refers to the steep steps that we take to the valley bottom as an "after-a-pub-lunch steps" - which they are, careering drunkenly downhill. (Later, I note that a couple of the other sets of steps have also been drinking, so I'd advise you to hold on for dear life, especially if it is wet.)
Down in the valley, the hatching is prodigious, most notably among the clumps of gunnera, where prickly new shoots are emerging from the wilted messes of last year's foliage. The young leaves are still clenched together in a mass of spiny ribs and folds, but in a few weeks they will fan out into a gargantuan rhubarb look-alike. This and other prehistoric-seeming foliage - rank-smelling skunk cabbage, spear-shaped phormium and umbrella-like Darmera peltata - line the channels that snake and cascade through the glen.
The mother of these waterways is the River Awbeg, diverted and divided in the 18th century by an earlier Grove Annesley. But it was Richard who turned the glen into a Robinsonian delight, traversing the water with bridges and stepping stones, and planting an inspired amalgam of natives and exotics. Scots pine, poplar, birch, cherry, cordyline and pillar-shaped conifers form a living ceiling over the wet and watery landscape. Most notable at this time of the year are the katsura trees (Cercidiphyllum japonicum), whose long, outreaching branches are hazy with heart-shaped leaves, of a surreal translucence, matched by the luminous moss on the trunks.
Supremely droopy bamboos (Yushania anceps) rise from the soft, soaking ground, and trail their cascades of fine leaves into the water. A narrow tunnel winds through one spreading plantation, and opens out into a soggy clearing. The ground is punctured by deep-purple, claw-like flowers, a few centimetres tall. This is the parasitic toothwort, Lathraea clandestina, which grows on poplar roots. It has a mind of its own, and wanders around from year to year, appearing in different places. Colonies of primula, daylily and astilbe also inhabit this sunken jungle - along with unseen creatures. The shriek of a young raven being run off the family nesting site, and the call of a pheasant occasionally augment the watery sounds of the river valley.
In complete contrast to this subtropical, lively and sometimes eerie glen, is the well-behaved walled garden. Here there is a double herbaceous border (still asleep when I visit), neat box-edged ribbon beds, rose garden, water garden, rockery, and summerhouse. Also here is Rosamund Henley's highly organised and very interesting nursery, guarded by the ageing, but still opinionated Jack Russell, Zsa Zsa. Looking covetable right now in Rosamund's polytunnels and cold frames are a range of species peonies grown from seed, and a crowd of delicate woodlanders: anemones, epimediums, toad lilies, and the beautiful Virginia cowslip, Mertensia pulmonarioides, with clear blue flowers and leaves the texture of lettuce.
Annes Grove is one of my favourite gardens. It's also one of the most under-visited - situated off the Fermoy to Mallow road, and not really on the main road to anywhere. All of this will change next weekend when the wonderful roving Rare and Special Plant Sale pitches its stalls on the lawn. In this, the fourth annual fair, over 30 small, specialist nurseries will take part, coming from as far away as Antrim, and - in Rosamund's case - from as near as the corner of the walled garden.
- The Rare and Special Plant Sale takes place at Annes Grove, Castletownroche, Co Cork next Sunday, May 9th, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Adults: €5, OAP/students: €4, children: €2 (includes admission to gardens). www.annesgrovegardens.com; . Annes Grove Gardens are open March 17th-September 30th, Monday-Saturday: 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday: 1-6 p.m. Other times by arrangement. Admission fees as above.
DIARY DATES:
Wednesday, May 5th: 10 a.m. - noon, Plant and Bake Sale in aid of the Cottage Home, Dún Laoghaire, at Melmore, Stonebridge Road, Shankill, Co Dublin. Wednesday, May 5th: 8 p.m., Container planting and compost making with designer Jack O'Connor at Rathdown School, Glenageary, Co Dublin. Admission: €5 (proceeds to St Paul's Parish). Plant sale, raffle, refreshments.