The flowers of the Peruvian lily or alstroemeria have appeared a bit early this year but they always welcome in July and August. The flower-heads are carried in magnificent clusters at the top of tall...
I've been enjoying tending the garden we've created at Dublin's Dundrum Town Centre - pitching up early on a daily basis, examining what's looking good,...
An award-winning "fairy garden" has been donated to Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe, Galway.
Snapdragon gets its common name from the way the flowers snap open when the sides are pinched together. When released, the flower snaps shut.
For an increasing number of people, gardening is taking place in less traditional places; balconies, roof terraces, courtyards and patios are all becoming fair game as the types of homes we live in become more varied. And although balconies come with their fair share of challenges, they...
The arum lily is one of the most elegant garden flowers. It is widely grown and its tall stems with large white flowers are a common sight peeping over garden walls these days. Its vase-shaped flowers with central yellow spadix are beautifully set off by the large heart-shaped leaves. Arum...
Geraniums are the most dependable and old-fashioned of our summer garden plants. Their bright blossoms, frilly leaf form and often scented foliage brighten even the dullest concrete yard. Technically speaking, the botanical name for geraniums is Pelargonium. This helps to...
Dusty miller shares its common name with some other plants, notably silvery-leaved cineraria. The latter has yellow flowers in bunches while the one in question has deep magenta flowers scattered all over the plant.
A lot of the time, I'm going for a flight, which means I will wake up at 4am. You get used to it. The only problem is that if you wake up at that...
Gardening is about having fun and growing many different plants that have arrived on our shores from around the world. However, looking after...
The pale blue flowers of the gentian speedwell are remarkable in early summer. They look so delicate, light in colour and, though pale, are very striking. The gentian speedwell isn't a rare flower, but should be seen more in gardens than it is.
If you're optimistically inclined - let's be honest, you need to be in this country - no doubt you're already pencilling in your summer barbecues and al...
When you eventually manage to wrestle the digital devices from their grasp and insist they accompany you on an outdoors adventure, you'll find that children of all ages adore the great outdoors.
The lupins in my garden started flowering early this year. Although - like a Euro-pop song - they can be perceived as a little cheesy, these plants are my garden guilty secret.
A record 120,000 people turned out to Bloom across the bank holiday weekend, with the horticultural show even leaving Chelsea in the shade.
Potentilla is in flower at the moment, making a great display of colour and it will go on flowering for months. Even though it is colourful, it is not one of the star plants of the garden in the way...
We are mid-gardening season now so it's time to catch up with jobs that need doing!
BLOOM winner Kevin Dennis wasn’t always set on a life of garden design, despite scooping one of the coveted gold medals at this year’s festival,...
President Michael D Higgins has been a busy man these last few days meeting with the Pope and even announcing free ice creams for all in Dun...
President Michael D Higgins joined the first wave of visitors to Ireland’s biggest flower and food festival, Bloom in the Park, which opened today...
The competition is high at the Bloom festival but the chief judge has given an insight into just what could make a winner - and how to make the most of your own space.
A former office worker turned green-fingered genius has created a slice of food heaven with her agri plot at the Bloom Festival.
There's a riot of colour taking over Dublin's Phoenix Park as those with green fingers prepare the ground for the 11th year of Ireland's largest gardening event, Bloom.
1: Say goodbye to decking - in case you hadn't heard, our love affair with decking is over. According to Alan Rudden of Outside Options, who has designed the Savills Urban Retreat at Bloom, "we just don't have the climate for it. We're tearing out decks all the time and replacing...
It's prime-time in the garden, and the sunny weather means a growth spurt. Gerry Daly has your to-do list.
I've been lucky to see rhododendrons showing off their posies of plumes in a startling variety of disparate locations in the past 10 days. First, a place where one of its more robust varieties has...
The early summer-flowering meadow rue is a really good addition to the garden. There is a bit of a colour gap in many gardens and borders in this transition period between late spring and early summer. A few plant species are invaluable, including peonies, Oriental poppies and irises,...
Award-winning gardener Diarmuid Gavin has brought his critically acclaimed Chelsea Flower Show Garden to Dundrum Town Centre - and it's stunning.
Today, a new garden opens at Dundrum Town Centre in Dublin. It's a Chelsea Flower Show exhibit that I've brought home to Ireland to display...
When you see bluebells growing in the countryside, there are generally swathes of them. It is a native flower, growing wild in woodland under hazel or oak, both trees that do not cast too heavy a...
I have often wondered about Ashford Castle, and its gardens, which seemed relatively near on this small island… but also so remote and unobtainable for us ordinary folk. The formal lawn terraces,...
Camassia looks like an overgrown bluebell, which is not surprising because it is related, although bluebells are native and camassia is from North America. In some ways, camassia is made for this country because it likes relatively cool weather and damp soil. Its natural habitat is in water...
A small tree dripping mustard-yellow flowers from every twig, sophora is a real eye-catcher, and it is in flower these days. It is a very distinctive tree, almost other-worldly in its unusual appearance. And it does come from the far side of the globe in New Zealand.
It's time to fly the flags, string out the bunting and sound the bugles...IT'S GARDENING TIME! And hasn't the weather really been good to us of late, with some prolonged periods of sunshine whetting our...
Honesty is an old-fashioned flower that has once again begun to feature in gardens. Decades ago it was a very popular flower in many old-style cottage gardens, for the reason that it was easy to...
One of the most remarkable of spring flowers, the wood lily, will soon be making its annual appearance. Less than knee-high, it produces a three-petalled flower at the centre point where three, broad, heart-shaped leaves meet. All parts of the plant are in threes, and this structure is...
The weather is warming nicely - we've had some very inviting (interspersed with a few freezing) days and many of us are venturing out into the...
We're so used to seeing conservatories now it can be easy to forget that they only became available for ordinary gardeners over the last few generations.
Welcome to Week 3 of my Garden Action Plan. This week, I will show you how to create a garden of pots and containers. The contemporary gardener often prefers not to be a slave to their plots. And the spaces they garden in are increasingly small. Gone are the times when suburban estates were...
Flowering all winter and still going well, laurustinus is an exceptionally good shrub. It has good heads of small tubular flowers, evergreen foliage and a neat growth habit. It comes from the Mediterranean region where it occupies a niche much as holly does here - growing in rocky scrub and in open oak...
Satisfy your green fingers — and your appetite — by growing your own vegetables this spring. Whether in a veg patch, allotment or even just a windowbox, Diarmuid Gavin has the perfect...
Even if you don't know the name of the hippeastrum flower, there's a very good chance that you have seen it before. It is widely used as a cut flower in hotels and is often sold as a...
Gorgeous gardens are the stand out features of these homes.
When I look back on the memories I have of growing my own food here at home over the last 13 years, the fondest moments generally involve one or both of our two children (now aged...
Gerry Daly offers his top advice when it comes to getting children interested in gardening.
Want to turn your garden into a wildlife sanctuary? Here are 10 simple ways
How do you lure your children away from their screens and into the garden? Simple. Make it fun. Add swings, blackboards, basketball hoops and...
From classical cottage gardens and bountiful vegetable patches to hillside rockeries and child-friendly lawns, we ask some well-known personalities: how does your garden grow?
I've spent the past week on a London rooftop, planting pots and containers in an exciting garden. We are seeking to make a big impact in advance of the imminent sale of the property. However,...
