SPRING INTO FLOWER
Embrace the season with a walk around some of Ireland’s most beautiful gardens
It’s time to shake off those winter blues and visit a gorgeous garden that’s renowned for its uplifting spring colour. From bluebell havens to daffodil destinations, and from rhododendron retreats to flowering cherry collections, here are some of the best places across the country to get a seasonal fix of flowers.
Kylemore House and Garden, Co Galway
Kylemore Castle, just an hour from Galway City, was built in the late 1800s by wealthy businessman Mitchell Henry MP. Today Kylemore Abbey is owned and run by the Benedictine community. Look out for tulips in Ireland’s largest Walled Garden. The gardeners at Kylemore have incorporated a lot of muscari bulbs, commonly known as grape hyacinths, into the spring display and the effect together with bellis, tulips and fritillarias gives a great show.
Open 10am-5pm, seven days a week. See kylemoreabbey.com
National Stud and Japanese Gardens, Co KIldare
Laid out by Japanese master horticulturist Tassa Eida and his son Minoruome, the Japanese Gardens attract 120,000 visitors every year. Following the traditional Japanese art of landscape design, the gardens are laid out so that every plant, stream and path come together to bring the visitor through a symbolic path of philosophical discovery. You’ll see azaleas, bonsai and from the middle of April, the cherry blossoms in full bloom. Open from 10am-6pm. €14 for adults, €8 for children. See irishnationalstud.ie
Powerscourt Gardens, Co Wicklow
Stretching over 47 acres, Powerscourt Gardens offer visitors formal gardens, sweeping terraces, statues and ornamental lakes, secret hollows and rambling walks. Among the attractions are the Walled Gardens, the Italian Garden, the Dolphin Pond, the Japanese Gardens, Pets Cemetery and Pepperpot Tower. Rhododendrons and camellias cherry blossoms starting to bloom.
Open 9.30am-dusk. Adults €11.50, children €5. See powerscourt.com
Shackleton Garden, Clonsilla, Co Dublin
The Gardens, which are inside a 1.5-acre walled garden, are home to a wide range of rare and exotic plants, including an important collection of herbaceous perennials, grown in large flower borders. The gardens, which were fully restored and re-opened last year, were created 200 years ago by skilled plantsman David Shackleton, a relative of the polar explorer Ernest Shackleton whose remarkably well-preserved ship Endurance, was found last week at the bottom of the Antarctic Ocean. Open 10am-3pm, Mon- Thursday, and 9am-1pm on Fridays.
National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin
The Gardens contain important collections of plant species and cultivars from all over the world. Get to know our native trees, their names, their uses and their place in the Irish landscape during Tree Week guided tours this week.
Free entry. 9am-4.30pm weekdays and 10am-4.30pm Saturdays and Sundays. botanicgardens.ie
Mount Usher Gardens, Ashford, Co Wicklow
The snowdrops are giving way to carpets of crocuses amid the trees, while perky daffodils and narcissi wave their cheery heads at every turn. The woodland and riverside paths are heavy with the scent of wild garlic and the first buds of the rhododenrons are beginning to show. Open 10am-5.30pm. Adults €9, children 4-16 €5. mountusher.ie