February is a fitting time of year to start a new gardening column and I’m delighted to introduce myself and my garden to you.
My husband Ross and I have an established garden in the midlands, near Castletown in Co Laois. The garden was originally developed by my dad, Noel Keenan, a dairy farmer with an insatiable passion for plants and gardening. In the early 1980s, he set about transforming four acres of pastureland, in which his cows grazed, into his dream garden. It wasn’t his best farmland – a flat uninspiring field, poorly drained and extending to the banks of the River Nore with a farm drain running through and a natural hedgerow along one side – but it was as good a canvas as any to start with.
In the years that followed, he gradually refined the farm paddock into a lawn area punctuated with colourful herbaceous borders and fine specimen trees including a handkerchief tree, Davidia involucrata, paperbark maples, Acer griseum, and the wedding cake tree, Cornus controversa ‘Variegata’. Rambling pathways now wind between beds and borders packed with billowing displays of flower and foliage from spring to autumn, while an archway of laburnum, glorious in May, leads to a shady fernery and along a path lined with beech hedging to a riverside walk along the River Nore where nature rules.
Water is a linking element throughout the garden with natural springs and the original farm drain modified to create a meandering stream and still ponds and there is a stone cavern, known as the “Moon House”, with a cascade tumbling past its circular window into a lily pond. The garden was never planned on paper – it evolved initially with my dad’s vision and enthusiasm for learning and in recent years, Ross and I have added a new pond and a Gothic folly. We are also constantly introducing new plants and revising planted areas in line with the changing growing environments within a maturing garden.
Growing up, I spent many hours working alongside Dad, pricking out seedlings, weeding and pottering in the garden and it was during these shared moments that the seeds were sown which would ultimately blossom into my own intense love for all things gardening too.
And so, my aim in this new column is to encourage and help you to embrace and enjoy the possibilities and opportunities of your garden.
When most trees and shrubs are still sporting bare twigs, the leafless branches of Cornus mas light up with frothy clusters of mustard yellow blooms bringing a welcome colour highlight to offset the starkness of freshly cut back herbaceous borders. \ Mary Keenan
Each month I will be sharing my own gardening experiences, what we are doing in our garden, favourite plants and practical gardening skills. Whether you’re a brand-new gardener or an experienced one, or if your garden space is a balcony, a semi-D, or an expansive patch in the countryside, I hope my garden musings will be of help. But ours is a busy household too, constantly ferrying teenagers and working on the things that earn us a living. There are limitations on our time to develop and care for our garden, which means finding a healthy balance between time spent tending to its upkeep and getting the chance to enjoy it.
It’s easy to become captivated with snowdrops this month but a few years back, I began planting a broader palette of small, early-flowering bulbs. One of my favourites is the winter aconite, Eranthis hyemalis, which looks great when naturalised in golden drifts under trees. If you didn’t get to plant bulbs last autumn, many garden centres sell potted bulbs ready to flower so you can transplant them into your garden and containers to create an immediate display.
When most trees and shrubs are still sporting bare twigs, the leafless branches of Cornus mas light up with frothy clusters of mustard yellow blooms bringing a welcome colour highlight to offset the starkness of freshly cut back herbaceous borders. Deliciously sweet, pervading scents are a bonus on other early spring flowering shrubs like Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postil, the shrubby honeysuckle Lonicera fragrantissima and Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Pallida’.
Hellebores reach their floral prime this month in an array of flower forms and colours. This is the best time of the year to buy these long-flowering, shade-loving perennials while you can see them in bloom. I usually cut the old, tatty-looking leaves of the hybrid hellebores right back to ground level in January or February. This allows the emerging new flowers to be seen at their best and makes way for fresh new foliage to develop.
Hellebores reach their floral prime this month in an array of flower forms and colours. \ Mary Keenan
Our main job is to cut back all the perennials and grasses in the flower borders. This leaves the borders looking a bit stark, but it is amazing how much the new growth will accelerate over the next few weeks. Tired and congested clumps of herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses are dug up and divided before new growth is too advanced. We discard the unproductive, worn out central portion of plants and replant the young, well-rooted outer sections.
As time allows, we try to operate a cycle of renovating different borders every few years. This involves lightly forking over the bare spaces between plants to relieve surface compaction, prevent growth of mosses and liverwort and improve drainage. A deep mulch (7-10cm) of compost is spread over the entire area to conserve soil moisture, help condition the soil and reduce annual weed growth. Over the coming months, earthworms work this material down into the soil enriching it for the season ahead.
The unusually mild weather means that the bare-root season will draw to a close earlier than usual, so make haste if you plan on purchasing and planting any bare-root hedging or trees this month.
Snowdrop Month in Carlow: Snowdrops take centre stage in Co Carlow throughout the month of February with several uniquely beautiful gardens open to visit and view some of the largest snowdrop collections in the country. Guided tours are available on certain dates. For more information visit carlowgardentrail.com
Hellebore Weekend at Mount Venus Nursery, The Walled Garden Tibradden, Mutton Lane, Dublin 16, on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 February (10am-5pm). A celebration of spring-flowering perennial hellebores with many choice varieties for sale. See mountvenusnursery.com
February is a fitting time of year to start a new gardening column and I’m delighted to introduce myself and my garden to you.
My husband Ross and I have an established garden in the midlands, near Castletown in Co Laois. The garden was originally developed by my dad, Noel Keenan, a dairy farmer with an insatiable passion for plants and gardening. In the early 1980s, he set about transforming four acres of pastureland, in which his cows grazed, into his dream garden. It wasn’t his best farmland – a flat uninspiring field, poorly drained and extending to the banks of the River Nore with a farm drain running through and a natural hedgerow along one side – but it was as good a canvas as any to start with.
In the years that followed, he gradually refined the farm paddock into a lawn area punctuated with colourful herbaceous borders and fine specimen trees including a handkerchief tree, Davidia involucrata, paperbark maples, Acer griseum, and the wedding cake tree, Cornus controversa ‘Variegata’. Rambling pathways now wind between beds and borders packed with billowing displays of flower and foliage from spring to autumn, while an archway of laburnum, glorious in May, leads to a shady fernery and along a path lined with beech hedging to a riverside walk along the River Nore where nature rules.
Water is a linking element throughout the garden with natural springs and the original farm drain modified to create a meandering stream and still ponds and there is a stone cavern, known as the “Moon House”, with a cascade tumbling past its circular window into a lily pond. The garden was never planned on paper – it evolved initially with my dad’s vision and enthusiasm for learning and in recent years, Ross and I have added a new pond and a Gothic folly. We are also constantly introducing new plants and revising planted areas in line with the changing growing environments within a maturing garden.
Growing up, I spent many hours working alongside Dad, pricking out seedlings, weeding and pottering in the garden and it was during these shared moments that the seeds were sown which would ultimately blossom into my own intense love for all things gardening too.
And so, my aim in this new column is to encourage and help you to embrace and enjoy the possibilities and opportunities of your garden.
When most trees and shrubs are still sporting bare twigs, the leafless branches of Cornus mas light up with frothy clusters of mustard yellow blooms bringing a welcome colour highlight to offset the starkness of freshly cut back herbaceous borders. \ Mary Keenan
Each month I will be sharing my own gardening experiences, what we are doing in our garden, favourite plants and practical gardening skills. Whether you’re a brand-new gardener or an experienced one, or if your garden space is a balcony, a semi-D, or an expansive patch in the countryside, I hope my garden musings will be of help. But ours is a busy household too, constantly ferrying teenagers and working on the things that earn us a living. There are limitations on our time to develop and care for our garden, which means finding a healthy balance between time spent tending to its upkeep and getting the chance to enjoy it.
It’s easy to become captivated with snowdrops this month but a few years back, I began planting a broader palette of small, early-flowering bulbs. One of my favourites is the winter aconite, Eranthis hyemalis, which looks great when naturalised in golden drifts under trees. If you didn’t get to plant bulbs last autumn, many garden centres sell potted bulbs ready to flower so you can transplant them into your garden and containers to create an immediate display.
When most trees and shrubs are still sporting bare twigs, the leafless branches of Cornus mas light up with frothy clusters of mustard yellow blooms bringing a welcome colour highlight to offset the starkness of freshly cut back herbaceous borders. Deliciously sweet, pervading scents are a bonus on other early spring flowering shrubs like Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postil, the shrubby honeysuckle Lonicera fragrantissima and Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Pallida’.
Hellebores reach their floral prime this month in an array of flower forms and colours. This is the best time of the year to buy these long-flowering, shade-loving perennials while you can see them in bloom. I usually cut the old, tatty-looking leaves of the hybrid hellebores right back to ground level in January or February. This allows the emerging new flowers to be seen at their best and makes way for fresh new foliage to develop.
Hellebores reach their floral prime this month in an array of flower forms and colours. \ Mary Keenan
Our main job is to cut back all the perennials and grasses in the flower borders. This leaves the borders looking a bit stark, but it is amazing how much the new growth will accelerate over the next few weeks. Tired and congested clumps of herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses are dug up and divided before new growth is too advanced. We discard the unproductive, worn out central portion of plants and replant the young, well-rooted outer sections.
As time allows, we try to operate a cycle of renovating different borders every few years. This involves lightly forking over the bare spaces between plants to relieve surface compaction, prevent growth of mosses and liverwort and improve drainage. A deep mulch (7-10cm) of compost is spread over the entire area to conserve soil moisture, help condition the soil and reduce annual weed growth. Over the coming months, earthworms work this material down into the soil enriching it for the season ahead.
The unusually mild weather means that the bare-root season will draw to a close earlier than usual, so make haste if you plan on purchasing and planting any bare-root hedging or trees this month.
Snowdrop Month in Carlow: Snowdrops take centre stage in Co Carlow throughout the month of February with several uniquely beautiful gardens open to visit and view some of the largest snowdrop collections in the country. Guided tours are available on certain dates. For more information visit carlowgardentrail.com
Hellebore Weekend at Mount Venus Nursery, The Walled Garden Tibradden, Mutton Lane, Dublin 16, on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 February (10am-5pm). A celebration of spring-flowering perennial hellebores with many choice varieties for sale. See mountvenusnursery.com
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