A hotel tour in the Garden of Ireland

Small hints of an approaching autumn are starting to appear in the garden. Additional leaves begin to gather beneath some of the deciduous trees, the sunlight is fading faster in the evenings, some autumn trees and shrubs are starting to colour up, parrottia is most notable amongst them and some Acers also.

The garden is slowly starting to wind down after a summer of purpose and growth.

Fruits are ripening on the trees with the apple crop looking good this year. A frost free spring does have benefits for flowering and pollination of emerging crops. Windfalls can start early dependent upon the weather so keep an eye for any fallen apples and get them into a pot or a pie as soon as possible to avoid waste!

The vegetable garden is in full production now also with plenty of brassicas ready for the plate and runner beans, french beans, beetroot, carrots, onions, chard and lettuce joining the coveted tomatoes on the menu. It has been a year of mixed fortunes for tomatoes as temperatures were slow to build in early summer resulting in a later crop and our unpredictable sunshine has lead to some inconsistency this summer making the tomatoes all the more precious. Thus is the nature of gardening, we are at the mercy of the weather, we never know what it will throw at us and every year is different.

The birds are becoming very active on the berries ripening on trees and shrubs in the garden and hedgerows. Mountain ash are a firm favourite at this time of year with red and yellow berries providing a tasty snack as well as elder berry with their juicy purple berries as they ripen.

Whitethorn will produce red berries later in the year and blackthorn have dark purple sloes which the birds also love.

It is worth considering the wildlife value of a plant, particularly if space is limited. Frances Tophill’s book Rewild Your Garden gives some great guidelines for planting and maintaining the garden with wildlife in mind. It goes through the different layers in the garden to consider from the soil right through to the tree canopy and the different approaches that can be taken to managing all of the layers.

Then different features that could be incorporated into the garden to encourage wildlife and nature like water features, flower beds, overgrown corners, vegetable patch etc are considered and how they could be managed to best effect. Finally the key undertakings for the four seasons are reviewed with a view to maintaining a wilder garden. It is a book that presents some simple and achievable actions that can be easily put into practice in our own gardens. It is a different way of looking at all things gardening.

A lovely garden visited recently resonated with gardening for wildlife with its gentle collection of old fashioned plants creating a feeling from the past. The garden was that of Hunters Hotel in Wicklow. It is situated close to the village of Rathnew alongside the river Vartry and was originally built in about 1720 as a coaching inn where travellers could rest and change horses.

A cobbled archway takes you into the original courtyard at the side of the hotel which now serves as a car park and it is like taking a step back in time. The layout of the garden is still very Victorian in style with box hedges, palm trees, roses and herbaceous perennials packing borders and producing plentiful summer colour.

There is a sizable vegetable and herb garden to the rear of the house which is home to runner beans, potatoes, artichokes, brassicas, soft fruit, apple trees, courgettes and pumpkins as well as an array of cut flowers for the house. 

The flower arrangements in the house were inspiringly natural and simply done, so lovely to see homegrown produce used to such great effect. The dining in the hotel benefits similarly from the presence of the garden with an array of fresh seasonal produce used in dishes and some splashes of colour added with edible flowers like nastursium, borage and calendula making an appearance in salads.

Lines of echinops have been planted in between different vegetables to look good and attract a myriad of pollinators to the area. Dining in the surrounds of the garden on a sunny late summers evening is a memory I will never forget.

A tranquil, historic and comfortable surrounding to take in the Wicklow countryside at its best. It is also a great base for exploring so manflor interesting gardens in the area with Mount Usher, Kilmacurragh, Russborough, Patthana, Avondale, Kilruddery, Powerscourt, June Blakes and Huntingbrook gardens all within reasonable driving distance of this location. Wicklow is the garden of Ireland after all.

Plant of the Week

Looking good along the riverside edge of the gardens at Hunters Hotel was the oak leaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) with its generous cream paniculate flowers contrasting with the brown/bronze foliage which has begun to wear it’s autumn coat.

The leaves are large and resemble the shape of an oak leaf as the name suggests. This is a deciduous shrub that provides several seasons of interest in the garden making it deserving of a space in any garden.

It will get to about 2m tall with a spread of about 2.5m given the required growing conditions which are full sun to partial shade in a moisture retentive yet free draining soil on a sheltered site.