Iris Dungan is on a mission to help people. The Wexford woman who turned 100 years of age in March is a passionate gardener and has a garden that she is very proud of.

Only twice in 36 years has this great-grand mother opened her garden to the public. The first time was on her 90th birthday when she raised funds for a variety of local charities. The event was such a success that she again opened her newly extended garden to the public when she turned 95.

Iris Dungan celebrated her 100th birthday this March.

To celebrate her 100th birthday and raise funds for the workshop for handicapped people in Enniscorthy and St Peter’s Church of Ireland in Monart. Iris was all set to do the same again on 28 June this year. However, due to COVID-19 that hasn’t been possible.

Determined gardener

Undeterred Iris has set herself a target to raise €5,000 and if she can’t have people visit her garden then she will bring the garden to them via her website www.greatgrandmasgarden.com. Her hope is to raise the funds and then when the rules allow open her garden to the public. This website has a ‘go fund me link’ and Iris would love to receive your messages of support and/or donations to the site.

According to her son, Graham, Iris is fortunate to have the lovely surroundings of her garden but due to cocooning lacks the social contact which she is accustomed to.

A lifetime’s work

Iris and her husband Victor moved to Wexford in 1984. They bought an old school house right beside St Peter’s Church of Ireland in Monart.

It came with half an acre of ground, some of which was a vegetable garden. “It is a lovely part of the country and we enjoyed making a garden here. I love flowers that have a scent and my favourites are roses and lilies and also primroses which I remember from the time I was a child.”

Iris is not a fan of weeds. “I don’t like weeds and nowadays they are being promoted as wild flowers. I have a son who has swapped his front lawn for wildflowers but that’s not for me. They are grand in a hedge but not in the garden,” she says.

Everything grows well at ‘The Brambles’ and Iris is especially proud of her two fig trees which produce copious amounts of fruit. “I have great support from my four children and my wonderful neighbours especially local farmer Eugene Nolan who arrives in for a chat with a half dozen eggs. I love my garden and enjoy working in it and I hope you like it too.

You can see photos of Iris’s great garden and help support her efforts to raise €5,000 by checking out her website www.greatgrandmasgarden.com