Calling all Cork garden enthusiasts... here's a green haven to visit in the wilds of Kerry

The September garden touring continues this week, and makes me realise that I seem to do this regularly the last few years.

That is, as the growing season is winding down I have the urge to make a mad dash out into the world to see what is happening in other gardens!

After a busy summer of gardening in my own garden and at work, it is good to discover other plant combinations, colours, and textures to glean inspiration for next year.

Gardens are constantly in flux, changing, growing, outgrowing and being redesigned. Visiting other creative spaces can spark joy and inspiration in different ways for our own gardens.

This week takes me to Gearha Garden, near Blackwater in Co. Kerry, a very beautiful and remote part of the world where the views are illuminating, the waters pure, and where the rain can be relentless. Well, almost relentless, as the sun was shining on the day that I visited, putting the garden and its surrounds in a most favourable and romantic light.

The garden is that of Louise and Stephen Austen, who have lived here for more than 20 years. They have created an idyllic oasis at a rural location looking onto the Ballaghbeama Gap.

The garden centres around an old farmhouse and stone-clad buildings, which was once a working farmyard and is now a very attractive courtyard space.

There is a beautifully planted garden to the north of the house which gives glimpses of the mountains beyond and was once the vegetable garden. It is now home to an array of colourful herbaceous plants, spring flowering bulbs, mosaic sculptures, trees and shrubs.

Most people would be very content with this space as their garden, but the Austens are energetic and fearless gardeners that required more space to contain their enthusiasm and their collection of trees and shrubs, so they have spilled out into the adjoining two acres with the garden.

This is not easy terrain on which to create a garden, with its thin layer of acid soil and rolling landscape. A deceptive, gentle slope leading up to a flat area which is home to a standing stone, mown grass, pond with wetland planting and ornamental plantings of roses, box, clematis, heathers and wildflower areas.

This flatter area has a summer house to lure one to the next area of the garden, the woodland, which is home to a collection of native trees, commercial forestry remnants, as well as some rhododendrons and scheffleras and other ornamental introductions.

There are also three subterranean chambers and five tunnels in existence in this part of the garden.

The ground level falls steeply off southwards, and a series of steps and paths connect the sloped planting area, with the flatter areas above and below linking the two areas of the garden. This sloped area is planted with a collection of rhododendrons, magnolia, cornus, oak, mountain ash, hydrangea, acer, pines, tree ferns and birch, to name just a few of the vast collection of plants in the is area.

It is an impressive collection and every plant has a story to tell, an association with a person or place, a personal attachment.

Louise keeps the plant inventory and has the history and provenance of every plant. They also have great help in the form of Florian, who regularly helps out in the garden, pruning, planting and hard landscaping.

The hard landscaping here takes the form of steps and pathways mostly, which need constant work to keep them functional and safe.

There is a wildlife pond in the lower part of the garden which was once home to fish but the heron has put paid to their existence. A pond does bring an amount of insects into the garden and at the time of my visit the area was teeming with life, dragonflies, hover flies, bees, birds, and frogs all calling this area their home.

Not content with these two acres-plus of gardens to attend to, Stephen has embarked upon the planting of further 25 acres of rough ground beyond the gardens, with mostly native trees and a few ornamental specimens also.

This is the forest arboretum project. Every tree that is planted in this area needs to be deer-proofed also as there are wild populations roaming around. To date, mote than 400 trees have been planted, and as you look out beyond the boardwalk that takes you from the garden, the leaders of trees are appearing above the heathers, reeds and gorse indicating the potential for the future. An inspiring project that is keeping Stephen busy.

This garden and wider landscape provides inspiring ideas for plant combinations with grasses, herbaceous plants and shrubs closer to the house, progressing to trees and shrubs further out in the garden. It truly is amazing what can be achieved with hard work and determination on such a challenging site in County Kerry.

Plant of the Week

When Stephen mentioned Gunnera, I was expecting to look around and see a plant of giant proportions, but instead I had to crouch down to take a closer look at this little dote of a plant.

It was Gunnera prorepens (inset), a ground hugging plant which is native to New Zealand - a deciduous perennial which will get to a height of 10cm and a spread of 60cm. It has glossy green leaves and striking red/pink flowers, and prefers a damp soil in full sun or part shade.

It certainly is a much more manageable size than the giant Gunnera manicata seen growing as an ornamental in many larger gardens.

It ould look great growing along the top of a wall, or providing ground cover in a damp spot in the garden.