Jane Powers finds in the Wicklow Gardens festival an excellent opportunity for a snoop around other people's patches
The Wicklow Gardens festival is an amorphous sort of a thing. It leaks out into Dublin (Fernhill Gardens in Sandyford), hops over the county border into Wexford (the Bay Garden at Camolin) and has claimed for itself three gardens in Carlow (Altamont, Ballon and Hardymount). The remaining 28 gardens are in its mother county. Many of them, such as Powerscourt and Mount Usher, are regularly open to the public, but others unlock their gates only during the festival period, or by special appointment. So, the summer event is an opportunity to have a gratifying snoop.
It is with some curiosity that a friend and I set off across the county to a garden that has just this year come under the festival umbrella. Mount House in Tinahely was once part of the substantial FitzWilliam estate - which had its principal residence a few miles down the road at Coolattin in Shillelagh.
We are pleasantly surprised when we arrive at the Tinahely garden, where we are greeted by a pair of adolescent peafowl. Eagerly, we put our cameras to work, scrambling to take advantage of the intermittent light.
There is much to photograph, as the old house and its several acres have the kind of gravitas that no amount of money can buy. Wonderful mature beech trees date from the property's FitzWilliam days, while a pergola, dripping with strings of blue wisteria, must have been planted 20 or 30 years ago.
The owners of this venerable spot are just a little blip in the timeline of its history. Adrienne and George McNally bought Mount House very recently. In the past few months they have completely revamped it, transforming it into a comfortable country guest house. The hospitality business is new to them. So is the horticulture business. "I'm not a gardener," admits George, "but I'm on a very steep learning curve."
"Everyone who visits has been giving us tips," adds Adrienne. "I can't think of a better way to learn." And learn they must, because the garden of which they now have custodianship is a charming place, obviously well-loved by its previous owners, who were there for more than 30 years.
In this crucial first season, the McNallys are waiting to see what pops up in the borders, and how the various trees and shrubs behave. And as new gardeners, they are constantly startled by the riches that they have inherited: the rhododendrons and azaleas that burst into flower this spring; and the large, dour-looking, dark-green shrubs that incongruously produced festive, cherry-red, magic lanterns - identifying themselves as the Chilean Crinodendron hookerianum.
When we visit, a beautiful and diminutive tree is holding up dozens of shrimp-pink candles. It is one of the buckeyes (American chestnuts), but neither my fellow visitor nor I are sure which, even after further research at home. (Now there's a challenge for a tree-savvy reader.)
Most of the garden is laid out behind the house in neat compartments. The planting has been arranged so that there are continual blasts of flowering. The season kicks off with rhodos and azaleas, the wisteria takes over, and the herbaceous border gets into its stride. And all summer long, a massed gathering of the McGredy-bred, red rose, "Trumpeter", lives up to its noisy name in a box-edged parterre. Sensibly, the area immediately adjacent to this blazing display is cloaked in a calming green lawn.
Beyond the garden "rooms" is a short woodland corridor. It's worth a little stroll, to see the wonderfully knotted trunk of one ancient Japanese maple, and to admire the red leaves of another, set afire by the light from above. An opening in a panelled fence leads to an orchard, where a mown path meanders around to the front of the house. George and Adrienne plan to introduce wildflowers among the fruit trees, which will complete the lovely old-fashioned country garden atmosphere.
Should you be travelling back to the western part of the county, you'll be motoring along the N81. About four miles north of Blessington is June Blake's nursery and garden. There's no admission charge (but you can make a donation to Baltinglass Hospital). Her planting is mainly in the contemporary, "see-through" manner, where airy, lightweight perennials and annuals are cleverly interwoven - instead of being grouped in traditional herbaceous border mode of threes, fives and sevens. It's dynamic and effective, especially in a country garden with lots of informal space.
The nursery offers plants suitable for this kind of gardening - umbellifers, rudbeckia, and hardy geraniums for instance. There are curiosities here too, among them the fashionable arisaemas, and the related Sauromatum venosum, or voodoo lily. Its liver-coloured inflorescence urges you to inspect it more closely. But it smells - and I can vouch for this - of rotting meat. It's yet another marvellous surprise on a summer's day in Wicklow. jpowers@irish-times.ie
Wicklow Gardens festival runs until July 31st, but many gardens are open all summer. For a brochure, contact: Wicklow County Tourism, St Manntan's House, Kilmantin Hill, Wicklow. (0404-20070), www.wicklow.ie
Mount House, Tinahely, Co Wicklow. Off the R747 between Aughrim and Tinahely (travelling from Aughrim, turn right at Coogan's Hardware, entrance at top of hill, on right). Open until July 31st, Sundays: 2-6 p.m. Other times by appointment. Admission: €4. (0402-28970), www.mounthouse-wicklow.com
June Blake's nursery, Tinode, Manor Kilbride, Blessington, Co Wicklow (signposted on the N81, about 2.5 miles south of Brittas). Open until October 31st, Thursday to Saturday: 10 a.m.-5.30 p.m., Sunday: noon-5.30 p.m. (01-4582500, 087-2770399)