Helen Picton, The Picton Garden & Old Court Nurseries - 'It is NOT time for bed yet'
2021-10-26 19:30 - 21:00 (Europe/Dublin)
Helen Picton is a specialist grower of autumn flowering asters. The Picton family operates Old Court Nurseries and The Picton Garden in Herefordshire, England. The nursery was established by Ernest Ballard, the first nurseryman to popularise autumn-flowering asters. The Pictons hold the Plant Heritage National Plant Collection of autumn-flowering asters, with more than four hundred forms present in the collection. Helen joined the business after completing a botany degree at the University of Reading and has since then been working full time with asters. She also lectures and gives talks throughout the U.K.

Sara Whelan, Gardener - 'The Winter Garden'
2021-11-23 19:30 - 21:00
Sara Whelan is a garden designer living in Dunmain, New Ross, Co. Wexford. She first learnt about plants from her grandmother who lived near the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin, Dublin. She studied science at UCD and worked in education for almost 40 years. After taking early retirement, she studied for a Diploma in Garden Design and was a finalist in the national student design competition run by the Garden and Landscape Design Association (GLDA). Sara has designed and made many gardens, from tiny city gardens to coastal gardens, a school garden, community gardens, and her own country garden in Dunmain. She coordinated the New Ross GIY group for 10 years and currently helps to maintain three public display beds in the town, which promote biodiversity, herbs, edible flowers and vegetables. Sara offers an informal garden design advice and planning service, through her website: gardenplans.info.

Gary Carroll, Cranesbill Nursery - 'Discover the diversity of hardy Geraniums'
2021-12-07 19:30 - 21:00
Gary Carroll has gardened for over 15 years. Studied at Rodbasson Horticultural College during which time he created his own garden. He then progressed to a local arboretum, a very large and busy garden centre, as well as having his own garden renovation business. Subsequent to that he worked as a gardener for a Five Star Hotel in Australia, after which he moved on to be a Garden Manager at a historic National Trust property. He now aims to provide the best range of Hardy Geraniums in the U.K. and beyond. All his plants are robust sizes and aside from his Bare-Roots supplied in Spring-ready to be planted straight out into the garden

Jack Willgoss, Wildegoose Nursery, Shropshire - 'Higher & Higher - using tall perennials to create an immersive atmosphere'
2022-01-25 19:30 - 21:00
Jack Willgoss of Wildegoose Nursery, Shropshire.
‘Higher and Higher – Using tall perennials to create an immersive atmosphere in the garden.’
Jack Willgoss started his horticultural training at 16 years old at Reaseheath College, whilst working at the Dorothy Clive Garden. He then went onto study a two year Diploma Course at the flagship RHS Garden Wisley, graduating with Distinction in 2008.
Jack spent a couple of years working as the gardener for a large private house, but he and his wife, who had met as Wisley trainees, had a long held dream to have a nursery and create a beautiful garden to showcase their favourite plants and if this could be in an old Walled Garden even better. So in late 2011 Jack and Laura moved to South Shropshire and set up Wildegoose Nursery – initially specialising in perennial Violas, which they showcased at RHS Malvern and Chelsea Flower Shows winning Gold and Silver Gilt Medals respectively. However, they then had the opportunity to take on a derelict Walled Garden in 2013 and start to create a garden of their own. Beyond Violas this garden gathered together their favourite herbaceous perennials and grasses that they had been avidly collecting at home and abroad and a garden in a Naturalistic, romantic style started to take shape. The Walled Garden is now open to the public with its series of garden rooms and ornamental vegetable garden and the nursery has expanded to offer a wide range of unusual perennials and grasses, and violas, all propagated from seed, cuttings and division from the stock plants in the garden. The garden and nursery have been featured in many notable magazines including, RHS The Garden, Garden’s Illustrated, Country Life, Country Living and The Guardian.

Klaus Laitenberger - 'Grow your own healthy Vegetables'
2022-03-01 19:30 - 21:00
Klaus Laitenberger is the autor of three vegetable gardening books. He was the Head Gardener at the Organic Centre in Co. Leitrim and restored the gardens of Lissadell House in Co. Sligo. He is a regular contributor to the Irish Garden magazine.
Klaus also works as a gardening consultant and gives lectures and talks nationwide on growing food. His books have attained excellent reviews from other horticulturists and top gardening newspaper & magazine writers and other gardeners alike.

Dr. John Grimshaw, Gardener, Botanist and Author - 'Paying Rent - Plants That Earn Their Keep'
2022-03-22 19:30 - 21:00
Dr John Grimshaw has been interested in plants all his life, as both a gardener and a botanist, and holds a First Class Degree in Botany and a Doctorate in African Forest Ecology from Oxford University. He has travelled widely to see plants growing in habitat and his first book was ‘The Gardener’s Atlas’ (1998), recounting the journeys plants have made from their source to our gardens.
John worked in The Netherlands for the seed company K. Sahin, Zaden. B.V., where he developed perennials and other plants for the seed trade which gave him invaluable experience of commercial horticulture and management. Following that he was Gardens Manager at Colesbourne Park, Gloucestershire, from 2003-2012, where he maintained and developed the historic Elwes family garden, especially the snowdrop collection and was a co-author of the definitive snowdrop book ‘Snowdrops: A Monograph of Cultivated Galanthus’ (2002) with M Bishop & A Davis. Between 2004-2009 he was principal author of a major book on trees introduced in the past 35 years, entitled ‘New Trees, Recent Introductions to Cultivation’, with co-author Ross Bayton.
In 2012 he became Director of The Yorkshire Arboretum, North Yorkshire, with responsibility for the 120 acre arboretum and 20 acre Ray Wood, on the Castle Howard estate. He is a member of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Advisory Group on Nomenclature and Taxonomy, and is Vice-chair of the Woody Plant Committee. In 2012 he led the RHS review of the Award of Garden Merit.

Joe Whelan, Head Gardener, Nymans 'Historic garden management in the 21st century – how Nymans is adapting to the times'
2022-04-26 20:00 - 21:30
Joe Whelan is from Shankill, Co. Dublin and completed his degree in Horticulture at WIT. He was Head Gardener at Rathmullan House Hotel in Co. Donegal and also spent some time at Glenveagh Castle before making a move to Nymans in 2015, where he has been Head Gardener since 2018. Plants have always been his passion and as Head Gardener at Nymans, he is custodian ofone of the most significant plant collections in the UK.

Talk title
Historic garden management in the 21st century – how Nymans is adapting to the times

Sir Bob Salisbury 'Field of Dreams'
2022-05-24 20:00 - 21:30
Sir Robert (Bob) Salisbury is a leading educationalist, who recently chaired the literacy and numeracy task force in Northern Ireland. Previously he was a professor in the School of Education at the University of Nottingham. He is a keen angler, photographer and gardener. Bob and his wife Rosemary have spent the last sixteen years developing one of the most significant wildlife gardens in Northern Ireland and his book ‘Field of Dreams’ is an inspiring story of the trials and tribulations of developing a wildlife haven.

A.G.M. 7th June 2022 - 7.30 to 8.30pm by Zoom
2022-06-07 19:30 - 20:30
TUESDAY, 7th June 2022, 7.30pm to 8.30pm
A.G.M.

T.J. Maher, Artist & Gardener, Patthana Garden - ‘Creating a garden from a field – the new Torc Garden at Patthana’
2022-09-27 20:00 - 21:30 | Foxrock Church Pastoral Centre, Foxrock Church Pastoral Centre, Dublin, Co Dublin, 18, Ireland
TJ is an artist and gardener who engages uniquely with plants, wildlife and location to create vivid and colourful gardens. As a painter, he is particularly conscious of how he uses and places colour to best advantage. He trained as a painter at NCAD, Dublin and as a horticulturalist at the National Botanic Gardens, Dublin and is represented the Taylor Galleries in Dublin. T.J. has lived in Kiltegan, Co. Wicklow for 22 years with his partner, Simon Kirby, where he created Patthana Garden and where he now runs the Patthana Garden Course. The garden has been described as “one of the best small secret gardens in the country.” (Shirley Lanigan “The 100 Best Gardens in Ireland”)
TJ started work on his Torc Garden in 2020 on recently purchased agricultural land. It adjoins his award-winning village garden in Kiltegan, Co. Wicklow and is designed to take advantage of the view of the nearby church and consists of two huge borders with wraparound pathways that lead the visitor on a journey of colour, exciting plan combinations and a connection to insects and wildlife. TJ’s creativity, artistic flair and hard work have created a magical space that engages and inspires.

Benjamin Pope, Horticulturalist and Lecturer at London Physic Garden - ‘For the love of plants’
2022-10-25 20:00 - 21:30 | Foxrock Church Pastoral Centre, Foxrock Church Pastoral Centre, Dublin, Co Dublin, 18, Ireland
Benjamin has been working in horticulture for over two decades, studying and training at the Merrist Wood and RHS Wisley, where he was awarded Best Practical and Best Overall Student. His work experience ranges from nursery practices and propagation in Australia through to design and horticultural research in London for the practice of Arabella Lennox-Boyd. He is currently the head gardener of a private estate in West Sussex where he tends to a walled kitchen garden, herbaceous borders, floral meadows, woodland, water features and more. He writes about his progress on The Working Garden.
Alongside this role, Benjamin also lectures at the Chelsea Physic Garden for the English Gardening School, and at West Dean College of Art and Conservation. He holds a RHS Master of Horticulture, is a member of the RHS Herbaceous Committee and writes for various publications including Gardens Illustrated. Ben is currently developing a market garden with ecology and sustainability at its heart. When out and about, he is often accompanied by his beloved dogs, Geoff and Mavis.

Tom Hart Dyke, Plant Hunter - ‘Plant hunter and gardener with passion’
2022-11-22 20:00 - 21:30 | Foxrock Church Pastoral Centre, Foxrock Church Pastoral Centre, Dublin, Co Dublin, 18, Ireland
Thomas Hart Dyke is an English horticulturist, author and plant hunter from the Hart Dyke family of Lullingstone Castle, Kent, one of England’s oldest family estates. Tom is the 20th generation of the Hart Dykes to live at the Castle and is the designer of the World Garden of Plants located on the property.
Tom is a modern day plant hunter who follows in the traditions of the plant hunters of old who risked life and limb in pursuit of fantastic blooms and plants. His experience includes a 9-month kidnapping ordeal in Panama/Columbia in 2000. He occupied himself by creating a design for a garden containing plants collected on his trips, laid out in the shape of a world map according to their continent of origin. The resulting World Garden showcases rare and important botanical plants and contains approximately 8,000 species of plants, many collected by Hart Dyke from their native environments.
Tom’s garden won the prestigious British Guild of Travel Writers UK Tourism Award in 2005; he was made President of the Australasian Plant Society in 2011, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Canterbury Christ Church University on 27th January 2017. Tom continues to plant hunt around the world, is busy working in the World Garden and fighting hard to save his ancestral home.

Linda Murphy, Teagasc - ‘How to approach your garden from a design point of view’
2023-01-24 20:00 - 21:30 | Foxrock Church Pastoral Centre, Foxrock Church Pastoral Centre, Dublin, Co Dublin, 18, Ireland
Linda Murphy is a garden designer from Dublin. She is a keen gardener with an arts background who, having completed a Masters in Landscape Architecture at UCD in 2000, joined the staff of the Teagasc College of Horticulture in the National Botanic Gardens working as a lecturer specializing in Design and Plant Materials.
She is a very keen gardener with an interest in landscape architecture and, on occasion, opens her own garden to the public.

Robert O'Byrne - Ireland's Historic Gardens: A bird's eye view 1600 to 1900
2023-02-28 20:00 - 21:30 | Foxrock Church Pastoral Centre, Foxrock Church Pastoral Centre, Dublin, Co Dublin, 18, Ireland
Robert O’Byrne has a passionate interest in Ireland’s architectural and horticultural heritage and has written extensively about both. During 2021/22 he curated two exhibitions examining the history and evolution of Irish country house gardens, including walled gardens, across three centuries. He has also presented a two part television series on the same subject on RTE One television, and is co-editing a book on Ireland’s historic gardens due to be published next year.
In his talk, Robert will examine the history of Ireland’s country house gardens over the last 400 years during which time garden design has reflected political and social changes taking place within the country and how this has influenced gardening today.

Conall O'Caoimh of Ardán Garden
2023-03-28 20:00 - 21:30 | Foxrock Church Pastoral Centre, Foxrock Church Pastoral Centre, Dublin, Co Dublin, 18, Ireland
Ardán garden is situated on half an acre and the planting and design are a direct response to its coastal hillside location close to the summit of Howth in north Dublin. In 2003, this garden was a rugged mountainside garden and today, it has been transformed into a dynamic contemporary and ever-evolving garden which includes an eclectic botanical collection, artistically arranged. The passion and skill of Nuala and Conall are evident in the variety of planting areas including large densely planted herbaceous areas, a white garden, an exotic garden with a pond and bog garden, a vegetable garden, a small woodland where one can sit quietly out of the heat of the sun and a natural rocky outcrop. Conall’s garden sculptures enhance the vibrancy and contemporary feel of the garden. Of significant importance, Ardán is gardened organically and is a garden of the UNESCO Dublin Bay Biosphere.

Oliver Schurmann, garden designer and owner of Mount Venus Nursery
2023-04-25 20:00 - 21:30 | Foxrock Church Pastoral Centre, Foxrock Church Pastoral Centre, Dublin, Co Dublin, 18, Ireland
Mount Venus Nursery is a specialist nursery tucked away in the scenic Dublin hills overlooking the city. Over the past 20 years, the nursery has offered one of the widest collections of hardy garden plants in Ireland. Having a varied palette of plants is essential when designing successful and bio-diverse gardens. Most plants are home grown, exposed to the elements. The old Walled Garden is structured from sun to deep shade which makes it enjoyable to stroll through finding the right plants for the right spot in the garden.

June Blake: Making magic in my garden
2023-05-23 20:00 - 21:30 | Foxrock Church Pastoral Centre, Foxrock Church Pastoral Centre, Dublin, Co Dublin, 18, Ireland
Known for her beautiful garden in Tinode, West Wicklow, June Blake joins us to share planting and garden design wisdom garnered over twenty years. Stretching over 3 acres, her garden is famous for its layered planting and continuous seasonal interest. In a previous life, June as a jewellery designer and her garden demonstrates her artist’s eye for detail and natural knack for colour and placement.

2023 Annual General Meeting
2023-06-06 19:30 - 20:30 | Zoom, Dial-in details have been sent to members by email
Our AGM is being held virtually on Tuesday, 6th June 2023.
Full details and an agenda have been sent by email to all members.

Gardens of Waterford
2023-06-25 - 2023-06-27
A three-day visit for our members to the Gardens of the South East including Dromana, Mount Congreve and the Lafcadio Hearn Japanese Garden.
Full details, including accommodation, cost and how to book are outlined in an email sent to all members.

A Secret Garden Visit
2023-07-28 11:00 - 12:30
You won’t want to miss this visit which will bring you to a large and exciting private garden in South County Dublin.
A €10 charge applies; places are limited and strictly for members only.
Members will receive details by email – and bookings will be taken on the basis outlined there.

Visit to Linda Murphy's Garden
2023-08-19 11:00 - 12:30
Those of you who enjoyed Linda’s excellent talk during the year will be delighted to hear that the Club will visit her garden on Saturday, 19th August at 11.00 am.
Linda Murphy is a keen gardener with an arts background who, having completed a Masters in Landscape Architecture at UCD in 2000, joined the staff of the Teagasc College of Horticulture in the National Botanic Gardens working as a lecturer specializing in Design and Plant Materials. She is a very keen gardener with an interest in landscape architecture and we are delighted that she is opening her garden to us for our visit.
A €10 euro charge applies and light refreshments will be served.
This is a member-only event, you will receive booking details by email.

Dave Hardy, Esker Farm Daffodils: A year on the farm
2023-09-26 20:00 - 21:30 | Foxrock Church Pastoral Centre, Foxrock Church Pastoral Centre, Dublin, Co Dublin, 18, Ireland
Dave is an award-winning daffodil grower running Esker Farms with his partner Jules in Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Dave has a degree in Horticulture, previously he was a teacher for 16 years. He started growing daffodils in autumn 2011 and has competed in daffodil shows around the world and won many awards. He will take us on a trip through his horticultural year.

Billy Alexander, Kells Bay Gardens: "Plant Travels to Robinson Crusoe Island and South America"
2023-11-28 20:00 - 21:30 | Foxrock Church Pastoral Centre, Foxrock Church Pastoral Centre, Dublin, Co Dublin, 18, Ireland
Fresh from his prestigious gold medal win at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Billy has already been acclaimed by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) for his rare and exotic fern displays. His gardens at Kells Bay Gardens are home to one of the largest private collections of exotic tree ferns growing naturally in the microclimate of the Dingle Peninsula. Billy will share his recent trip to Easter Island where much of the island’s vegetation is limited to grasses, sedges, and, of course, ferns!

Roisin Graham & Marie Laird, Floral Artists: Christmas Floral Sparkle - a demonstration & social evening
2023-12-05 19:30 - 21:00 | Foxrock Church Pastoral Centre, Foxrock Church Pastoral Centre, Dublin, Co Dublin, 18, Ireland
Award-winning flower artists, Roisin Graham and Marie Laird are joining us to demonstrate a variety of floral Christmas decor!
All of the arrangements will be raffled on the night, in aid of the Club’s charity fund.

Join us for a festive social evening after the demonstration!

Nick Bailey - plantsman, garden designer and author
2024-01-23 20:00 - 21:30
Nick Bailey has worked across many sectors of horticulture over the last 30 years, including nursery stock production, garden management, garden design, teaching, public speaking, horticultural consultancy, writing and broadcasting. He studied horticulture at Hadlow College, continuing his studies there to obtain a first class honours degree in Landscape Design in 1995 awarded by the University of Greenwich.
Nick created his first Main Avenue Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2016 (Silver Gilt) and is a former Head Gardener at London’s oldest botanic garden – Chelsea Physic Garden, where he spent seven years redesigning and developing the site and its plant collections for a contemporary audience.

He is a regular contributor to Gardeners World. He has been an editor for Garden Answers and Garden News and has also contributed to The Mail, The Times and The Telegraph. He has appeared on BBC Two’s “Great British Garden Revival” and “Big Dreams, Small Spaces” as well as various news and magazine-style shows.

Nick has published three books – Chelsea Physic Garden – A Companion Guide in 2014; 365 Days of Colour in your Garden in 2015 and Revive Your Garden in April 2018.

Rosie Maye - The Insomniac Gardener - Color For All Seasons
2024-02-27 20:00 - 21:30
Rosie Maye, aka The Insomniac Gardener, has been gardening the three acres around her home near Slane, Co. Meath for over 20 years. She has created a woodland garden, an ornamental meadow and a Mediterranean courtyard among the ruins of old farm buildings.
Rosie writes about gardening in the Irish Garden as well producing a popular blog, The Insomniac Gardener.

Jenny Wainwright-Klein - Growing Alpines in the Schachen Alpine Garden - a satellite garden of the Munich Botanic Garden in the Bavarian Alps
2024-03-26 20:00 - 21:30
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The Schachen Alpine Garden was opened in 1901 as an outstation of the Munich Botanic Garden and and is one of the oldest alpine gardens in the Alps. Situated on the northern flanks of the Wetterstein Range, above the Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the garden has the ideal combination of a cool, moist summer and snow-covered winter for the cultivation of Meconopsis, Himalayan Primulas, many European alpines, plants from the Lesotho Drakensburg and many more Alpine plants. The Schachen garden has over 1,000 species of high-altitude plants from Europe to the Carpathians, the Caucasus, Himalayas, the Arctic and North America.
Head Gardener, Jenny Wainwright-Klein maintains the three acre Alpine Garden at Schachen with the help of two to three gardeners from its sister garden in Munich. Jenny is a Zambian-born horticulturist who has been coming to work at the Schachen Garden for nearly thirty years during the 12 weeks the garden is open. She has previously worked at Kirstenbosch Botanic Garden and Kew Botanic Garden. For those who would like to visit – beware! It is open to visitors from mid-June to the end of August and is accessible only after a four-hour climb by foot up a mountain road.

Photo 243365355 © Anastasiyakamysheva | Dreamstime.com

Orlaith Murphy, RHSI - From Petal to Plate
2024-04-23 20:00 - 21:30
Orlaith has been with the RHSI for three years, where she is administration and development officer.
Passionate about ‘edimentals’: ornamental plants which are also edible, she is an organic gardening teacher with a background in forest gardening and permaculture.

Assumpta Broomfield, Garden Consultant - For the Love of Roses
2024-05-28 20:00 - 21:30
Assumpta Broomfield graduated with distinction from the National Botanic Gardens in 1998 . Assumpta has a special interest in Roses, having collected many old cultivars for propagation, securing their survival. A well-known and popular speaker, she will discuss the importance of the rose in gardening, including some tales of eccentric women and anecdotes about great explorers and collectors.
Assumpta is also an expert on snowdrops and has travelled on three botanical expeditions to China. With Robert Miller, Assumpta designed and constructed the Corona North Commemorative Border at Altamont. She was a key committee member of the Irish Garden Plant Society, which won a Silver Gilt Medal at the Chelsea Flower Show. She has worked in the private sector designing and constructing gardens.

Annual General Meeting followed by a summer cocktail
2024-06-11 20:00 - 22:00
