Books: Gardens of Ireland

If you haven't yet done a tour of Irish gardens, this book will encourage you to start planning a trip asap.  And what's so different than those British gardens?  Well, for starters, rugged landscapes, and amazing, exotic plants that thrive due to the drift of the Gulf Stream.

In The Irish Garden (Frances Lincoln Ltd, 2015), author Jane Powers profiles more than 50 of Ireland's spectacular gardens, from Mount Stewart on the east coast of Northern Ireland to Kells Bay Gardens in County Kerry.

In these gardens, you'll encounter rhododendrons and primulas, New Zealand cabbage trees, palms from four continents, tree ferns, bananas and edelweiss.

As Powers notes in the introduction, the older Irish garden "contain elements of Englishness ... but the plant palette, the atmosphere and the light could only be Irish."

The book is divided into chapters that characterize these gardens.  There are the Grand Big Gardens of the Anglo-Irish gentry, Paradises Reinvented, ie, restored by modern-day designers and owners, gardens of plant aficionados, romantic gardens, Folllies and Fancies, and many more.

These gardens are some of the most stunning I've seen, and beautiful photos by Jonathan Hession will get those travel plans moving.