Salthill Gardens, Co Donegal, and Lissadell, Co Sligo, showcase work by some of Ireland's best gardeners, writes Jane Powers
SALTHILL GARDENS, CO DONEGAL
The traditional vegetable ridges at Salthill Gardens in Mountcharles, Co Donegal, are simply beautiful. Each one is a work of art, a precisely spaded and flat-topped spine of fertile soil. A row of them together makes a strip of rugged earthy corduroy. Into the raised ribs are planted potatoes, brassicas, onions, beans, courgettes and an abundance of other good things to eat.
The artist with the spade is John McGettigan, and the garden's owner is Elizabeth Temple, whose talent with the digging tool is also worth mentioning. "I never planned the garden on paper," she says. "I just drew it out on the ground with a spade, from pictures in my mind." The garden that arose from the images inside her head is contained within old walls, behind a tall 18th-century house, once the steward's residence for the Mountcharles estate, and just a couple of hundred metres from Donegal Bay.
When Elizabeth and her husband Lynn came here in 1984, little had been cultivated in the acre-plus walled garden for many years. So it presented that most inspiring item, a blank canvas. With the help of John McGettigan, and also, latterly, Eamonn Harley, Elizabeth has created an entirely new garden within the 200-year-old enclosure. It is an individual space, the product of one woman's passion for sowing and growing and splitting and propagating plants. "I'd say about 70 per cent of what I grow is from seeds and cuttings," she says.
"I don't follow any trends in gardening. It is the climate, the wind and the salt in the air that dictates what grows." Yet, what grows is of a far greater variety than in the usual seaside garden. The brick walls, old stable buildings, and shelter belts of trees appear to diffuse the worst of the bad-tempered maritime weather. And not only is there variety, there is also a tremendous profusion of plants: "I know," says Elizabeth in an apologetic tone, "the herbaceous borders look a bit crowded, but they're easier to keep that way: less weeding."
Well, they may look crowded to her eye, but to mine they look like an enviably sociable gathering of plants - partly because she has chosen to repeat certain key species again and again, lending a happy cohesiveness to her groupings. Tall, grey cardoons (grown from seed) hold their knobbly heads high above the rest of the throng, yellow verbascums shoot skywards, veronicas wave their curvy blue tails in the air, the metallic sea holly (Eryngium x oliverianum) makes miniature sculptures with its filigree flower heads, while crocosmia, knautia and astrantia set the garden alight with their hot inflorescences.
Climbing and rambling roses run around behind the borders and sprawl luxuriantly over arches. This part of the garden is called "The Oval", and has as its centrepiece a cool, green lawn offering a calm viewing point for all the herbaceous activity.
Nearby is "Rosy's Path", so-called because it is mowed by the Temples' daughter of the same name. The smooth grass passage curves between two wide beds, which earlier in the summer are brightened by peonies, irises and opium poppies. At this time of the year they are spectacular, as 24 kinds of daylily (Hemerocallis) come into flower, making a William Morris-type floral tapestry, stitched with yellow, orange, red and maroon trumpets.
There is more trumpeting in a long greenhouse: this time emanating from true lilies, including the orange Lilium henryi (named after the Irishman Augustine Henry) and the highly scented, white L. candidum. Alongside the greenhouse is a bench which floats in a sea of the daisy-like Mexican fleabane (Erigeron karvinskianus) and the green-frothed lady's mantle (Alchemilla mollis). This (or any of the many other thoughtfully-placed benches) offers a perfect spot to quaff the delicious fragrances offered by the roses, and to listen to the low cello notes of the bumble bees and the flutey refrains of the songbirds, before setting off once again to explore further in this very interesting acre.
LISSADELL GARDENS, SO SLIGO
Drive an hour south from Salthill and you will find the newly restored gardens at Lissadell, originally the home of the Gore-Booth family, and since December 2003, the property of Edward Walsh and Constance Cassidy. Impressive restorations have taken place in the two walled gardens. The first of these, the Lower Garden, has been wrested from a tangle of brambles, saplings and other tough vegetation. Seán Ó Gaoithín, head gardener at Glenveagh, Co Donegal, was the first to uncover parts of the structure, while the expert planting - including an alpine slope, a hot border and a pretty daisy walk - has been recently carried out by Jimi Blake, assisted by Terry Rainey.
The Upper Garden, a Victorian kitchen garden, is a thing of beauty and mathematical precision. It is filled with rows and rectangles of perfect vegetables and other edibles. There are hundreds of varieties, many of them heritage strains, including numerous potatoes and - incredibly - 40 kinds of gooseberry.
The genius behind this 2.2-acre edible enclosure is Klaus Laitenberger, possibly the country's most knowledgeable organic vegetable gardener - who has since moved onto other things (see panel). Clearing, propagating, planting, weeding, staking and scores of other tasks continue to be carried out by Pat Curneen, Mike Feeney and two part-timers. Excellent people. May their backs always be strong and their spades always sharp.
Now open
Salthill Gardens, Mountcharles, Co Donegal; 074-9735387; www.donegalgardens.com. Open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 2-6pm, until September 7th. Entry €5.
Lissadell Gardens, Ballinfull, Co Sligo; 071-9163150; www.lissadellhouse.com. Upper Garden (kitchen garden) open daily, 10.30am-6pm, until September 30th; Entry €5. Lower Garden (alpine garden) open on Sundays as part of gardens tour, starting at 2.30pm. Entry €10 (children: € 5).