RTÉ Guide DIG! autumn 2017

DERMOT O’NEILL’S

AUTUMN GUIDE AUTUMN 2017

GIY

FRUIT & VEG SHRUB LIFE

5BEST

OF THE

TOP BULBS

Plant now for spring

ME AND MY

GARDEN:

JIMI BLAKE

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INSIDE:

Smoking hot meals

A taste of Thailand

GINO D’ACAMPO’S easy family dinners Back to school tips SKERRIES – FOODIE DESTINATION Candice Brown: irresistible home baking

Dingle’s endless culinary delights

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runing, plotting, planting – the gardener’s mantra as the days shorten, the temperature drops and the leaves fall. Indeed, autumn is the Fall, a season of fruit harvesting as well as planning for the coming spring.

In this edition of DIG! our constant gardener Dermot O’Neill comes armed with the best advice (including his top ten tips), the best tools (ideally made of copper) and his favourite bulbs to light up your garden come springtime.

It’s almost the perfect time to plant your own fruit and vegetables, whether that’s apples or plums (Dermot lists his favourite varieties) and embark on a horticultural challenge that might be a lot less difficult and demanding than you imagine.

We also visit the garden of Shane Connaughton, the Oscar-nominated writer of My Life Foot and an actor who once starred on Coronation Street. “Gardening reminds you of life all the time,” says Shane, as he takes us on a tour of his wonderful life and his bountiful garden. There is also a tour of the National Garden Exhibition Centre in Wicklow, a lineup of the best shrubs to plant for the season that’s in it and we finish with the prize-winning garden of Jimi Blake, who tells us how he created his wonderland from an old sheep field.

DIG! is your call to arms to get your garden ready, because as a wellknown TV series would have us believe, winter can come on us in a flash.

Donal O’Donoghue

4 THE FALL GUIDE

Wondering where to start as autumn shuffles in? Dermot O’Neill is your expert guide with his top ten seasonal tips, advice on hydrangeas, the right tools for the job and nominating the best roses you can plant in the coming weeks

6 THE GREEN GRASS OF HOME “The garden is a perfect magnifying glass in front of your own life” says Oscar-nominated writer (My Left Foot) and actor Shane Connaughton, as he reels in the years of his wonderful life and takes us for a ramble through his garden. Donal O’Donoghue visits

8 THE FRUIT & VEG MAN Growing your own fruit and vegetables is not as difficult as you might imagine. Dermot O’Neill outlines some key guiding principles of crop rotation suggests the best apples and plums to plant for the coming year

10 LIGHT UP YOUR LIFE Now is the season to plant bulbs that will light up your garden come springtime. Dermot O’Neill suggests some of the best and brightest, including crown imperial fritillary, hyacinths and the autumn crocus (Colchicum)

12 GARDENS OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS If you are looking for inspiration and ideas to design or revitalise your garden, then a visit to the National Garden Exhibition Centre could be a great place to start, with its 18 specially designed spaces. Donal O’Donoghue drops by

13 SHRUBS UP WELL!

Managing Editor: Catherine Lee Editor: Donal O’Donoghue Consultant Editor: Dermot O’Neill Chief Sub-editor: Stephen Meyler Design: Madeleine Carroll & Liam Costello Pre-press: Jonathan Foley Photographer: John Cooney Advertising sales: Karen Foster (contact 01-208 2880) Oliver Hayes (contact 01-208 4714) Published by RTÉ Commercial Enterprises 2017

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contents

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Looking for a shrub that will add class and colour to your garden? Dermot O’Neill nominates five of the best, from the late summer beauty of Hydrangea ‘Limelight’ to the autumn glory of Cotinus ‘Grace’

14 ME & MY GARDEN Hunting Brook Garden in County Wicklow reflects the idiosyncratic taste of its iconic creator, the noted Irish horticulturist, teacher and plantsman Jimi Blake. We hear how he transformed an old sheep field into a garden haven

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THE FALL GUIDE Winter might be coming but there’s much work to be done before the temperature drops and the leaves fall. Dermot O’Neill puts you on the right path to garden heaven

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utumn is a fantastic time of year for gardeners. The soil is still warm, which is ideal for harvesting and planting and the season is suited for planning ahead. I also like to encourage gardeners to stop and consider the wildlife which may visit or even live in your garden.

The other day I counted ten different butterflies in my garden and we can all do something to encourage such wildlife.

When I started my walled garden one of the first things I planted was a native hedge using plants I got from Coillte. It contains a mix of plants, including honeysuckle and some wild rose and creates space for nesting birds and the wide range of insects who visit the garden. The wild hedge also looks fantastic in every season and now that autumn is here, it is full of berries.

Its other function is to create a barrier to wind, allowing me to grow a wider range of plants which enjoy the micro-climate created within the walls of the garden.

There are many things to do at this time of year in preparation for the colder months and for next year too. Now is a time to plant spring bulbs and you can still divide many perennials. Gardening is cyclical and a gardener’s work is never done. Enjoy your garden and the pleasures each season brings.

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THE AGE OF

COPPER

Autumn is a great time to assess your garden tools and to replace bad or useless equipment with something better. A few years back, I read about a unique range of copper tools designed by an Austrian inventor, Viktor Schauberger. He discovered that over time, copper didn’t degrade as quickly as iron in daily garden use and after World War II, with the support of a qualified agricultural scientist,

Franz Rosenberger, he created a range of copper gardening tools.

Apart from their rust resistance, copper tools are very strong, look great and are a pleasure to use, as they glide smoothly through the soil.

They also add copper ions to the soil, which has a positive effect on plant growth. There are also reports from gardeners using these tools that they have fewer problems with slugs and snails.

A selection of superb garden hand-made copper tools is available from Fruit Hill Farm in Bantry, Co Cork fruithillfarm.com

SEASON FOR HYDRANGEAS

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his is the season to put in new plants. The soil is warm and you will find a wide range of plants available. When visiting a garden centre recently, I noticed a wide range of the mophead Hydrangea macrophylla in different colours – this variety flowers for a long time well into autumn.

I am often asked how to change the colour of the traditional hydrangea from pink to blue or from blue to pink. The colour is dependent on soil acidity. If the soil in your garden is alkaline (limey), the hydrangeas will be pink and if it’s acid, you will have blue flowers. Neutral soil will give shades of lilac and lavender.

You can check the acidity of your soil (a measure known as pH) with a small and inexpensive kit, available from garden centres.

You can also buy a hydrangea colourant, a powder you sprinkle around the base of the plant to change the flowers to blue. Do this just as the new growth starts in spring and meanwhile, enjoy your hydrangeas, whatever colour they are, remembering to leave the dead heads on over winter to protect the shoots that will start growing in spring.

THE NAME OF THE ROSE Here are five roses you can plant in these early days of autumn.

1: Graham Thomas. A rich scented double-yellow that is great for cutting (English).

2: Zéphirine Drouhin. A thornless climber with large pink scented flowers (Bourbon).

3: Munstead Wood. A luxurious large double in dark-red to purple (English).

4: Rhapsody in Blue. This is a magnificent rose with purple-blue grey flowers (Shrub).

5: Bonica. A great pink floribunda, producing a long display late into autumn (Shrub).

TREAT THE PEACH It is a great joy to grow your own fruit trees.

A few years ago, I was given a peach tree, but not long after planting it I noticed the leaves becoming distorted and swollen. I recognised this as a fungal disease called peach leaf curl. The fungus results in leaves becoming red or purple and distorted in an unsightly way. A bad infection can weaken the tree, especially if it infects the second flush of foliage.

To treat peach leaf curl, pick off affected leaves as soon as possible and destroy them.

Peach leaf curl is spread by spores, which appear as a white film on the distorted leaves. These will lodge in bark crevices and in the scales of buds. When your tree is dormant during winter, spray with a copperbased fungicide with a two-week interval between treatments. Your local garden centre will be able to recommend how to do this and always follow the instructions.

DERMOT’S TOP 10 AUTUMN JOBS 1 Overgrown perennials can be lifted, divided and replanted.

2 Apples and pears should be harvested and stored.

3 Climbing and rambling roses can be lightly pruned and tied in.

4 Any leaves that are starting to go yellow on your Brussels sprouts should be removed.

5 Cut down asparagus and cover the crowns with well rotted compost in preparation for the season ahead.

6 As we start into autumn you can now sow broad beans.

7 As summer flowering bedding finishes, remove and compost, before preparing the spot for spring bedding plants.

8 Before the leaves fall, clean garden ponds and cover with netting to prevent the dead leaves going in.

9 Spring-flowering bulbs are in garden centres for planting now. Buy tulips and keep them in a cool dry place and plant in November.

10 To control codling moth on apples, put a grease band on the trunk now to prevent the wingless female from laying eggs.

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“O

ne thing I like about gardening is that it reminds you of life all the time,” says the writer and actor Shane Connaughton as we tramp through the undergrowth of what he playfully calls ‘the forest’. This is a small copse on the edge of his garden in Kilshane, the area in north County Dublin that gave him his name. Beyond the trees is the muffled hum of suburban traffic, while above us is the constant roar of aircraft on their final descent to the nearby airport. “A garden is constantly decaying and growing and decaying and growing,” says Shane. “The garden is a perfect magnifying glass in front of your own life.”

The Oscar-nominated scribe of My Left Foot would be the first to admit to being a fair-weather gardener. Writing is Shane Connaughton’s thing and that’s where I find him on a wet August morning. Perched up in his room, he is working through the manuscript of what will be his next novel and the final instalment of the series that began with A Border Station and continued this year with Married Quarters. On the walls are posters of the movies he wrote, including The Playboys and The Run of the Country as well as rows of books and spiral-bound folders. Through the window the lawn, recently trimmed, lies damp in the rain: bothered by rabbits and mainly tended by his wife of 45 years, Ann. With the wit and zip of the actor he was and is, and a puckish energy belying his 76

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One reason I wrote was to show my family and friends that this was my life

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summers, Shane reels in the years. In one moment he produces a letter dated from 1962 offering him his first acting job and brandishes the first novel he ever bought, a copy of Earth by Émile Zola, with a painting of a busty woman on its cover and a brief review scribbled inside. After years in London, where their two children were reared, Shane and Ann now live in Kilshane, the land bought by his father in 1941, the year of his birth. “After my two older sisters were born my father travelled to Lourdes to pray that his next child would be a boy,” says Shane. “I still have the picture of him in Lourdes praying for me.”

Connaughton has always lived by the mantra that every new day is a blank page.

“That came from the Jesuits: yesterday is gone, tomorrow hasn’t arrived and so today is the day.” A wonderful life reflects this, from joining the RAF to playing with Leyton Orient to acting on Coronation Street and drinking with George Best. Later came the writing, including the screenplay for the Oscar-winning short, The Dollar Bottom and 6 RTÉ GUIDE DIG!

Shane and his wife Ann tidy up the garden

THE RUN OF THE COUNTRY

Shane Connaughton’s wonderful life has been full and fruitful, from acting on Coronation Street to being Oscar-nominated for writing My Left Foot. Donal O’Donoghue drops by his home and garden

“Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts.” (Steve Prefontaine)

bringing Hollywood (The Playboys) to his home place in Cavan. “I always felt that there was something out there for me, ever since my granny left me five pounds in her will, which was to be given to me on the day I became Pope. I thought: ‘Oh my God I’m going to be Pope!’ ‘Oh my God I’m going to free Ireland!’ ‘Oh my God I’m going to score the winning point for Cavan in the All Ireland!’

Shane, one of eight children, grew up in the border village of Redhills in Cavan, where his father worked as a policeman. “It was a no man’s land with a very cutting edge,” he says.

“There were two religions, two politics and nearly two languages.

When we were kids it was in the middle of the 1956-62 IRA campaign and my father was caught up in policing that. They were in the War of Independence and here they were again, at the end of their blinking days, another struggle over the border.” Despite his granny’s intentions, Shane was no Walter Mitty character, his confidence instilled by the positive influence of his parents; a mother who led by example and a father who always told him ‘Do what you believe in.’

So he did. With dreams of becoming an ace pilot, Shane travelled to the RAF base in Hornchurch, Essex on February 29th, 1960 (“I remember it well, it was a leap year”) but he didn’t last long. Drawn quite literally by the lights of London (“one evening I saw this big yellow glow in the sky and asked this Yorkshire lad ‘What is that?’”), he moved into the city before he had even started his training as a navigator. He lived in Leytonstone, where he worked in furniture shop, but discovered acting and theatre and that was that. “Let me find something for you,” he says, rummaging through a shelf of books before finding a faded letter offering him his first acting job with the Renegade Players in Ilford.

“Once I discovered acting, my life

was saved,” he says. “It was my road to Damascus. I went to see just about every play in London and I took acting really seriously.”

He won a scholarship to drama school at the Bristol Old Vic on a scholarship and subsequently worked in repertory, joining a company in Stoke-on-Trent, where he met his wife, Ann, a school teacher. “I shared a room with Bob Hoskins, a great character. Ben Kingsley was in the company too. He was very serious.” The first play he wrote was set in a prisoner of war camp (“of which I knew absolutely nothing”) and his play Jennie, which he later renamed Lilly and reworked for Irish audiences by changing the setting to an RUC border station, won a Royal Court award.

“My son said to my one time, ‘Dad, were you like this character in your books? Were you like Danny?’ and maybe I was a bit like him. In a way with the books, I’m reliving my life the way I would have wanted it to be.” So, in the next book, you become Pope?

He folds over with laughter. “Well it might happen,” he says, but in truth, his new novel will be the last instalment in the loosely biographical series. As it is now Green All The Way is an epic tome of some 600 pages, taking his hero Danny from Leytonstone to Earl’s Court, where he meets a woman and discovers the mysteries of life. “One reason I wrote was to show my family and friends that this was my life,” he says. “This was what it was like for me.”

Later, we step out into the garden. Shane plucks a fig from his fig tree and tears it open.

“Try some of that,” he says. We walk past a walnut tree as well as a rose bower that has been left to languish and a glasshouse dusty with work to be done. In the corner of the garden known as ‘The Forest’, there is a fallen eucalyptus tree, brought down in a storm. “I plan to make a garden seat with the wood,” says Shane as we walk through the undergrowth, talking of the cycle of life and how a gardener’s work is never done.

We amble across the lawn with its small metal cage protecting a section of turf from the pesky rabbits and through an orchard of apple trees with a ripening crop while all the time the planes roar overhead as life rumbles on. * Married Quarters by Shane Connaughton is published

by Doubleday Ireland RTÉ GUIDE DIG! 7

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Grow it Yourself!

s there anything as satisfying in the garden as growing and harvesting your own fruit and vegetables? Apart from the achievement of creating food from the soil, you just can’t beat the wonderful flavour and freshness of homegrown produce. Growing your own also gives you the opportunity to select varieties you would never find at the supermarket, unusual flavours and forms that you can choose to grow organically too.

As with any new activity, there will be mistakes and failures, but these are all part of the learning process and nothing beats the experience and the joy of eating your own produce.

I recommend you start on paper by making a plan. Gardening is cyclical and each season will need careful planning. Autumn is one of the busy times, as it is the time to prepare for winter and spring.

If you have the space, a simple crop rotation will help you get the most from the soil and minimise the impact of pests and diseases.

On paper, divide the vegetable-growing area into four areas: A, B, C & D. Four squares can be divided with pathways, making it easy to access them.

In the first year, plant area A with legumes, onions and roots, including peas, beans, lettuces, leeks, onions, spinach, carrots, beetroot, parsnips and celery, area B with potatoes and area C is for brassicas like cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, broccoli, turnips and radishes. Area D can 8 RTÉ GUIDE DIG!

be used for permanent crops like rhubarb or asparagus, as well as ones that take up a lot of space such as courgettes or pumpkins.

In the second year, move each group in areas A, B and C along one, so the brassicas are now in A, the legumes, etc. in B and the potatoes in C. The logic is that the leguminous crops such as peas and beans will have accomplished their handy trick of converting atmospheric nitrogen into a form that plants use to grow. Then you plant brassicas in this enriched soil, so they can grow lots of delicious leafy goodness.

Crop rotation over three years will help to keep your soil fertile and maintain a natural balance with pests and diseases.

There are a few simple principles to ensure bumper crops:  

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Never use lime unless your soil is acid.

Dig in large amounts of well-rotted manure or compost to area B in the first year (where the potatoes are).

Use general and organic feeds at least two weeks before planting and rake them in.

Remove all weeds with a hoe in advance of planting.

In a new plot, ridge soil up or leave vacant areas exposed to frost in winter, as this will help it break it up, making it

Dermot O’Neill explains how to get your own productive plot up and running  

easier to dig.

Never dig so deeply that you bring sub soil to the surface.

Always use the right gardening tool for the job – it will save your back and your patience.

A PLUM JOB

In good seasons, a plum tree will be weighed down with fruit, to be eaten, frozen or made into jams and chutneys, Here, Dermot O’Neill describes the merits of three popular varieties Plums are not difficult to grow, not fussy about soil but will do best in moistureretentive soil that doesn’t become saturated.

As they flower in March or April, they may need protection from wind to allow pollination – if you live in a particularly exposed area, consider a, fan-trained tree against a south or west-facing wall. These can be ordered now from nurseries or garden centres for planting while dormant in winter.

Victoria

This is possibly the easiest and most reliable plum to grow in an Irish garden. The Victoria plum was introduced in the 1840s and it is widely grown by gardeners. It can be

“Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts.” (Steve Prefontaine)

eaten straight off the tree or cooked and preserved. When ripe, the flavour is rich and sweet, making it ideal for desserts, but cooking will enhance the flavour. With not much attention, the Victoria plum is a heavy cropper, with fruits ripening from the end of August into September. Watch out for wasps, that are attracted to the fruits as they becomes over-ripe.

Coe’s Golden Drop

This produces delicious goldenyellow fruit that are sweet and juicy. The fruit ripens later than Victoria and makes a spectacular fan-trained tree against a wall (where the oval golden fruits look fantastic as they ripen) or planted in a sunny sheltered spot.

Although the fruits can be preserved, they are best eaten ripe from the tree.

This is a first-class plum that you may need to order from one of the larger garden centres or nurseries for autumn/winter planting.

a rootstock, as the apple variety will also affect the ultimate size of the tree.

The other question when buying an apple is how it is pollinated. All apples belong to a pollination group defined by the number of pollinators they need for maximum fruit, as well as when they flower – obviously, two different varieties need to flower at the same time to pollinate each other. However, it’s worth noting that most apples will happily be pollinated by most other apple or crabapple trees.

Bramley’s Seedling is a good example of an apple with a particular pollination requirement. It’s known as a triploid variety, as it needs at least two other varieties to pollinate it effectively. It’s a good idea to speak to a local gardener who already has apples; their experience will be invaluable, as will their trees’ pollen!

FIVE FAVOURITE APPLES

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Cox’s Orange Pippin This is a well-known variety that has been around since the 1820s. For best results, it likes a well drained, good quality soil in a sheltered place. It doesn’t like wet conditions and is ideal near a south-facing wall. The Cox’s Orange Pippin has a rich sweet flavour with a slight nutty aroma. A perfectly ripe one is juicy and has a lovely creamy coloured flesh and a fine texture. Fruits are ripe from from mid to late October and will keep until the following January. Pollination Group 3

Purple Pershore

This early-fruiting variety produces gorgeous purple fruits with a blueish bloom. It has a good flavour and stays firm making it a good choice for cooking and preserves. Use them at the red stage for cooking or leave on the tree until they are dark purple for eating fresh.

One of the advantages of this variety is that it is self-fertile.

The root of the matter

When you are buying an apple tree, it’s important to choose a variety that suits what you want, but also to find out what rootstock it’s on. The rootstock controls the size of the tree, so you’ll need one that’s correct for your garden. Most apple trees you can buy at the garden centre are on one of the following three rootstocks: M27: produces the smallest tree, eventually up to 1.8m.

M9: a slightly bigger tree, 1.8m-2.4m. These two rootstocks are suitable for growing in large containers or half barrels, but you will need to keep the trees watered. They will start fruiting after two or three years.

MM106: This third rootstock produces larger trees, 3-4m and is a good all-rounder for orchard trees or if you just want big apple tree.

Ask at the garden centre when selecting

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Bramley’s Seedling In my opinion, this is the very best cooking apple. It’s hard to beat for performance, flavour and quality. It’s been around since the early 1800s and I can remember my grandmother growing it when I was a child. The flavour is a mixture of acid and sweet with plenty of juice, making it the perfect choice for cooking, especially for mouthwatering apple tarts.

Pollination Group 3

Idared This is a great dual purpose American apple that is also a great pollinator of other varieties. When established, it will produce heavy crops of bright red, great flavoured apples, ideal for cooking and desserts. Fruits are harvested as late as November and if properly stored, will keep ’til April. Pollination Group 2

Egremont Russet Many connoisseurs consider this dessert apple the very best for flavour of all the russet varieties. The flavour is nutty with sweetness and the apples are crisp. The tree grows upright and has a reputation for cold tolerance. Harvesting time is usually from September and is best eaten from October until December as the apples mature to full flavour and ripeness. Pollination Group 2

James Grieve This is a very popular apple that first appeared from Scotland in the late 1800s.

Noted for being an all rounder, fruits harvested in July can be used for cooking and if left until September into early October, James Grieve has a delicious sweet flavour with just the right hint of acidity. It develops a wonderful aroma when ripe, becoming soft and juicy. It also stores well until Christmas. It is a soft apple that is easily bruised, so handle it gently. Pollination Group 3 RTÉ GUIDE DIG! 9

Bundles of joy

Every gardener looks forward to the first green shoots and then the gleaming colours of the springflowering bulbs.

Dermot O’Neill reveals how to get the best from these floral time capsules

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“Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts.” (Steve Prefontaine)

SNOWDROPS Usually the heralds of spring, snowdrops emerge in the dark days of late December and January. I have a life-long love affair with snowdrops and gave them a whole chapter in my book about my garden at Clondeglass. I’m not alone in my obsession either; people driven by the urge to collect as many of the 500+ varieties are known as galanthophiles, after the plant’s scientific name of Galanthus. If you want to see a wonderful display of many snowdrop varieties, then check for details of Robert Miller’s annual Snowdrop Festival at his Altamont walled gardens in Co Carlow.

If you don’t have any in your garden, then you really need to plant them now to bloom this coming winter. The bulbs are small and should be planted as soon as you buy them.

In fact, the best way to increase snowdrops is to lift and divide clumps just after the flowers have finished, ‘in the green’, as it is known.

A HOST OF GOLDEN DAFFODILS One of the great joys of spring is the traditional yellow daffodil, but by Rijnveld selecting a number of Narcissus varieties, you can have flowers from December to May. All should be planted now in a bright position with well drained soil. You Thalia can also plant extra for cutting and bringing indoors. Here are three that cover this long season.

‘Rijnveld’s Early Actea Sensation’ – in a sheltered position, this classic yellow daffodil will often start to flower at the end of December.

‘Thalia’ – beautiful clusters of small white scented flowers in mid spring.

‘Actea’ – attractive white scented flowers with small red-rimmed yellow cups from the start of May.

and patterned frilly-edged flowers for many weeks in late April into May. One of my favourites is ‘Estella Rijnveld’, with huge white and red-striped frilly petals held 50cm above the ground. As with all tulips, buy them now and keep the bulbs in a cool dry place until planting in early November. Plant in large groups in fertile, well-drained soil in a sunny spot about 15cm deep.

You can also grow parrot tulips in containers. Choose a deep and wide container and plant in a double layer to maximise the display. Quarter-fill with free drained compost and put in a layer of bulbs, covering to just under the tips. The put in another layer of bulbs in the gaps between the lower layer and fill the container, leaving enough space for watering.

There are many parrot varieties, but some to look out for are Black Parrot – a wonderful dark maroon; Flaming Parrot – a goldenyellow flamed red that turns creamy white as it matures; Negrita Parrot – a deep purple-veined beetroot colour with exotic curled and twisted petals; Cerise Parrot – a brilliant cerise pink with hints of green.

BEFORE SPRING COMES

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PUT ON A SHOW WITH PARROTS! There are thousands of varieties of tulips, from the ground-hugging species of early spring to the tall multi-coloured wonders of May. However, if you really want to dazzle with tulips, nothing stops people in their tracks like a display of parrot tulips. These flamboyant beauties produce huge, striped

summer. The bulbs are very large with an indentation at the top. They have an odd musky, garlicky smell that is claimed to deter rodents from eating them. When planting in early autumn, dig a deep planting hole, adding rotted manure or leaf mould. If the soil is heavy, add a layer of horticultural grit to the bottom of the planting hole.

Re-fill the hole until it is about 15cm deep.

If you position the bulb on its side in the planting hole, it’s claimed this will help prevent the bulb rotting in particularly wet winter weather. Plant in full sun in groups of five or seven, spaced 15cm apart.

When happy, a large bulb will quickly grow to up to 1m with shiny green leaves arranged in whorls. At the top of the stem, the large orange or yellow bell-shaped flowers hang below a tuft of green leafy bracts.

A ROYAL SHOW One of my great favourites for the spring garden is the crown imperial fritillary, Fritillaria imperialis. It creates a spectacular display when it flowers in late spring early

If you’ve ever seen crocus-like flowers blooming in the autumn, then you’ve found the autumn crocus, Colchicum. There are many varieties, with the large crocus-like flowers appearing before the large straplike leaves, seeming to come from nowhere out of the ground. One of my favourites is ‘Waterlily’, with large lilac-pink double flowers, that look great in a grassy spot in the garden. They are usually available now for planting. It is best to get them into the ground as soon as possible as the corms can dry out quickly.

I originally planted three tulip-sized corms about 12cm deep in a triangle, spacing them about 18cm apart in a well drained spot.

After flowering each autumn they produce the large leaves that stay above the ground until late in the spring. They have multiplied well over the years and now give me with a spectacular display from September into October every year.

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If you are looking for inspiration and ideas, then the National Garden Exhibition Centre could be a great place to start. Donal O’Donoghue visits

GARDENS OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS

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own in Wicklow, in the county known as the Garden of Ireland, there is a place of many gardens.

At first glance, the Arboretum at Kilquade looks like many other well-heeled gardening centres, with its aisles of pots and plants and flowering things. But walk through the restaurant and you enter another world, a labyrinth of horticultural delights that bloom and bud in 18 individually designed gardens. There is no entry Barry fee, although it is difficult Doyle not to be inspired and part with some cash when you exit through the shop!

The National Garden Exhibition Centre was acquired in 2015 by the well-known Carlow horticultural family, the Doyles, owners of the Arboretum in Leighlinbridge. Since then, the 5.2 acre site has been pruned and groomed into a favourite (and free) destination for families in the hinterland and beyond. On a recent sunny summer day, DIG! dropped by to smell the roses and have a chinwag with the boss, Barry Doyle (he is the horticulturalist and chief executive; his brother Fergal is the chief operating officer and mum, Rachel, is the MD).

Barry Doyle studied horticulture at the Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin, Dublin.

“I grew up in the garden centre in Leighlinbridge, so gardening was all around me,” he says. “I had no other career in my mind other than horticulture and first came here to the National Garden Exhibition Centre as a student.” Now he divides his 12 RTÉ GUIDE DIG!

time between the flagship garden centre in Leighinbridge and Kilquade. There are daily free guided tours of the gardens (just call in advance to book). “We are lucky that many of the staff stayed on and they bring their knowledge of the gardens as well as knowing the lie of the land locally,” says Doyle.

The central artery of the centre, fringed by roses, features a glistening sundial at its focal point and on either side of this ‘thoroughfare’ are the gardens, including an oriental space and a magnificent and ancient olive tree. “My favourite garden is the woodland garden, which was originally designed by Gordon Ledbetter,” says Doyle. “There is something in there for all seasons and something around every corner, from the water flowing down through the path to the water-lilies which are in flower at the moment and in springtime there are the bulbs coming up with the dappled sunlight through the trees.”

Doyle’s own top tip for aspiring gardeners is simple.

“Have a design in mind,” he says. “Many people make the mistake of just jumping in and planting stuff only to discover that it is in the wrong place. So get a structure to your garden and then work around that. Not everyone can afford to do their garden all at once, so if you have a design worked out

you can work to achieve the overall look bit by bit. Also, do a soil test to check the pH level, which is very important. It may be the case that you will also have to enhance the quality of your soil with the proper nutrients.”

If you’re wondering where to start your own garden venture, the National Garden Exhibition Centre is no bad place.

“Whatever garden centre you use, make sure to avail of the expertise of the staff,” says Doyle. “My own favourite plant is Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’, which is a really fantastic option for summer flowering. If I was to choose a tree, I’d probably opt for the Liquidambar, which looks great from August into autumn with its ever-changing colour and it’s so easy to grow. It’s for a bigger garden but for the smaller garden, an Acer is a great reliable.”

I later spend some time with Barry’s mother, the formidable and fascinating Rachel Doyle: a life-long horticulturalist, she founded the original Arboretum in Leighlinbridge in 1976 and is still the company MD. In 2013, she became the first Irish person to be elected President of the International Garden Centre Association (IGCA) and she also sits on the board of Bord Bia. “Mother is always the boss” says Barry Doyle.

*

More information on the Arboretum and the National Garden Exhibition Centre, Kilquade, Co Wicklow at arboretum.ie

SHRUBS UP WELL Looking for a shrub that will add class and colour to your garden? Dermot O’Neill nominates five of the best, from the late summer beauty of Hydrangea ‘Limelight’ to the autumn glory of Cotinus ‘Grace’

3Hydrangea ‘Limelight’

Limelight is a subtle beauty, with wonderful floral sprays of creamy green. A group looks magnificently cool and sophisticated. It flowers from late summer into autumn and as the weather gets colder, the floral sprays often develop a blush of pink. To get the best from this shrub, plant it in a bright moist spot, as Hydrangeas never like to dry out. Dead flowers are left on the plants over winter, as this gives some protection from bad weather and late frost when new growth starts in spring.

1Cotinus coggygria

This makes a fantastic bushy deciduous shrub. It is widely available and I highly recommend two varieties of this wonderful plant: Cotinus ‘Royal Purple’ has beautiful purple leaves from spring into autumn, when it comes into its full glory, as the leaf colour changes to create a specular display of dark red-purple to red. Cotinus ‘Grace’ has the same purple leaves, which turn in autumn to tones of bright, translucent scarlet. It is hard to find a more spectacular display in autumn.

2

Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii If you are looking

for an autumn shrub with a difference, then look no further. This medium-sized shrub produces amazing berries in a unique shade of violet-purple with a metallic sheen. They appear in clusters after the leaves fall and if you have room for more than one, they will pollinate each other to produce more berries.

This is an easy shrub to grow, happy in shade or sun in moist well-drained soil. It will eventually reach 3m high, a showstopper every autumn.

4

Rhus typhina

In autumn, the elegant dissected foliage on this shrub turns outstanding shades of vivid amber, gold, ruby and scarlet. This is an easy plant to grow and can become very big over time. When established, it also produces suckers that should be cut out to stop it spreading. There are non-suckering varieties, including a yellow form ‘Tigers Eye’, that changes to deep yellow and orange in autumn.

5

Acer palmatum ‘Osakazuki’ This Japanese

maple has reddish tinged leaves in spring and summer that turn a fiery scarlet in autumn. It is one of the most fabulous maples I know.

For best results, give it a sheltered spot, as the delicate new leaves in spring are vulnerable to wind and frost damage. Plant in deep moistureretentive soil and never let the plant dry out.

Do this and I guarantee you will get one of the most wonderful displays you will ever have in your garden.

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Me and my

garden Down Wicklow way, the horticulturalist and enthusiastic seeker out of exotic plants and seeds, Jimi Blake, has created a piece of garden magic on a 20-acre slice of the family farm at Hunting Brook just outside Blessington

N

o matter how busy my life gets, once I get out into the garden I am quickly connected in a deep way to the land again and it keeps me calm and focused. I love to see the effect that the gardens and valley have on people who come to visit.

Fifteen years ago, I was given 20 acres on the side of the family farm where I grew up and decided to create a garden and make it my business. I was working in Airfield Gardens in Dundrum at the time and decided it was time for a new challenge.

And it was a challenge: this was a field for sheep. You couldn’t even get a tractor into the field, but it was good deep acid soil.

Hunting Brook is also 1,000ft above sea level, so it can be very cold and wet!

My passion is to grow new plants and push the boundaries with what can be grown 14 RTÉ GUIDE DIG!

here in the Wicklow Hills. The garden has evolved over the years, but it is always a place where I could build up my collection of plants from around the world. I am very interested in modern plant design, so my challenge is to create interesting planting styles and combinations. I’d describe my planting style as experimental, fun and constantly evolving. It’s a mad mix of naturalistic and exotic plants and we are only now beginning to catalogue the collection!

I think that since 2010, it has got a lot easier to grow tender plants here, as winters have been milder, but I do dig up lots of tropical plants and bring them into the polytunnels for the winter.

The main part of the business here is our gardening courses. Sharing and teaching people about the gardens makes it all

worth while. I want people to get inspired to garden in a more creative way, with an interesting new palate of plants. We are open to the public from March ’til October, so people can see the gardens change through the seasons.

We usually close the place during December and January and this gives me space to travel and pull together plans for the next season. I am also passionate about food so the winter gives me time to do lots of cooking and find new recipes for the Hunting Brook supper clubs.

The best way for me to learn is to visit other people’s gardens. I love Mount Stewart in Co Down and of course my sister June’s garden, which is beside us here and also open to the public. My favourite garden is Chanticleer Gardens just outside Philadelphia.

“Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts.” (Steve Prefontaine)

For more information on Jimi Blake’s garden at Hunting Brook and for details of gardening courses, see huntingbrook.com. The gardens are open 11am-5.30pm, Weds-Sun until the end of September.

On Friday, September 1, join Jimi for a talk and walk in the late summer gardens at Hunting Brook, where he will introduce you to a wide variety of his favourite late summer plants and explain how best to grow them and how to combine them in the garden to create stunning effects, including new exotic planting and the extensive Salvia collection.

After the talk, Jimi will cook one of his favourite vegetarian dishes. Cost €35, including lecture and supper. 6.30-9.00pm, doors open at 6.15pm.

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