Spring 2024
A couple of professional gardeners took on the challenge of making a garden for all seasons on a one and a half acre rough field in Ballyvoile Cove on Dungarvan Bay. It is bordering the beach in the Dallygan valley shaded on both sides by steep gorse and bracken, directly facing into the prevailing salty wind. Added to that it gets no sun before 10am in winter which goes again by 3pm and being a frost pocket temperatures of minus 12 Centigrade are not unusual.
You will never make a garden there we were told ‘it’s all stones’. However after 21 years of hard work mostly by hand there is a beautiful testament to a Vision and amazing plants from a generous ‘Creator’.
Stock beds Spring/Summer 2024
Making a start
The cottage had been empty for a while and no work had been done on the property since the 1970s.This had been an unexpected move for our family we had moved from Coolboy near Newbaun Co Wexford to an old farmhouse and garden about a mile away from Ballyvoile Cove. This was the ‘Celtic Tiger’ era we had moved for work in 2001 but by 2003 the landlord decided to put the farmhouse on the market. As in our previous garden there was already a productive vegetable garden and many tubs full of colour, these were the beginning of the present garden.
Tubs at our house at Glen which provided a good start for River Lodge only a short distance away
Floods don’t help.
Not the end of the world as while the ground can be too wet to walk on all winter it dries out very quickly. The soil what there is of it overlies layers of round pebbles. Flooding used to be worse but careful adjustment of levels around the house area means that the water from the river breaking its bank upstream is kept away. During bad storms in combination with a high tide there is also a tidal bore that comes at least 100m up the garden from the bridge.
Arriving in early Spring 2003 there was really no garden, just a Bay tree and an overgrown Albertine rose, there was a bank and barbed wire fence a few feet from the kitchen window, that was removed but the ground was very compacted full of stones some huge, Docks and Brambles were all removed by hand with pickaxe and iron bar. Next it was double dug by hand removing as many stones as possible.
At the same time the tubs and pots brought from our previous home added instant colourful impact around the cottage. A secondhand polytunnel was erected and we began sowing a variety of perennial seeds to give us as many plants as possible for the least cost. These were purchased from a UK company Chiltern Seeds now sadly unavailable in Ireland since Britain left the European Union.
An untidy bank was removed and a hedge made to divide the vegetable beds from the beginnings of a flower garden. For the first two years we worked on this piece of land.
The field between the garden and the bridge was a mass of Docks and Thistles with very course grass. We purchased a large tough petrol mower and for the next 4years it was repeatedly cut. (very good exercise)
Three large beds were cut in the field to begin the process of giving a featureless stretch of grass some interest. Now we begin to add trees and large shrubs with some specimen perennials.
Spring and Summer 2004.
To start with the ground just to the south of the house had to serve as a flower and vegetable patch, these were grown together to make the most use of the land we had cultivated. These photos show how good they can look together.
Taking photos to record this Spring 2024,prompted reflections about how all this got here. I realised what a huge part the surroundings of a garden play on its atmosphere, if l were asked what is the mood of your garden l would say Romantic. This valley has a river running through it whose moods have to be taken into consideration when planning and planting. What do l mean? The river is bordered by trees, just the usual natives, Willow, Alder, Sycamore, Hawthorn most of which lean and are festooned with Ivy. Under these in late Spring we discovered banks of Bluebells, closer to the waters edge there masses of Cow Parsley and Water Hemlock. It took several seasons of Bramble removal and total eradication of Japanese Knot Weed before it’s true beauty became apparent. This set the criteria for our plant choice, must harmonise with the surrounding countryside, must be able to tolerate being flooded and big enough to stay in the soil when there are surges of water.
Serendipity also played a huge part in how the garden looks this Spring, whilst weeding in the summer and autumn we left ‘self sown’ Foxgloves and Ragged Robin these now add a beautiful contrast to the new bright foliage on established trees and shrubs before the cultivated flowers are ready to bloom.
This is a section on the trees with planted. Photos to follow
Picea Sitchenies x3
Pinus nigra maritima
Pinus nigra
Populus canescens (not altogether suitable for the seaside but has lovely scented foliage in the Spring) x5
Tamarix gallica shrubby tree pale pink flowers I late Spring x2
Malus Golden Hornet ( wonderful tree well shaped with all round branches masses of apple blossom flowers April/May followed by bright golden yellow fruit in profusion, beloved by Black birds and Thrushes in late Autumn.)
Hawthorn Paul’s Scarlet, double scarlet flowers April/May will make a tree up to 6 meters, tough reliable flowering.
Metasequoia glyptostroboides Dawn redwood, plant by water or in a very wet area, grows very fast is a graceful deciduous tree will grow over 40 metres needs lots of space.
Prunus Tai Haku, great white cherry, stunning double white flowers, stately large tree, best planted near water.
Prunus Kanzan, popular showy double sugar pink flowers in March /April can have leaf burn from salty winds, needs protection.
Prunus Amanagowa, pale pink double flowers in March/April ideal for small garden but gets tall up to 10 metres.
Silver Birch x3 we took a chance on these because we love them, some years they have suffered in the salty winds but are now beautiful, graceful trees over 6 metres, gorgeous feature trees.
These form the broad outline of the garden, providing shelter for smaller trees and shrubs, there is extensive under planning now, a list of additions will follow soon.
This project to make something beautiful in an inauspicious space has taken our combined skills, in our previous employment on a large estate in Surrey England the job naturally became divided according to our strengths. One of us began with training in Tree Surgery and Landscaping also with Machinery and Hard Landscaping. The other one comes from a long line of gardeners with skills in Plantsmanship and propagation, also with many skills in the Visual Arts, this has proved to be a winning combination.
We have joint interests in the environment and conservation. When we arrived in the valley in 2003 the land had been rough grazing and was covered in all Ireland most common plants, Nettles, Brambles. Horsetail grass, Couch Grass and Creeping Buttercup, Ragwort, and Thistles not to mention Japanese Knot Weed. Their is high fertility naturally being a silted river valley but added to that had been annual artificial fertilizer. We needed to reduce the fertility as many of the most beautiful flowers require low fertility also Nettles and Brambles flourish in these conditions.
As previously mentioned the immediate area around the cottage was cleared of debris and double dug by hand. This is the most effective way of discovering the condition of the soil, it seemed very low in hummus (organic matter) this made it poor in worms which are nature’s Natural aerators. Large stones were removed and used to make natural low walls around the flower beds, repairs to drains were made at this stage, deep rooted perennial weeds were removed and vegetables such as Broadbeans, Potatoes, Runner Beans, were sown for food and to fix Nitrogen in the soil. Annual flowers like Poppies, Sweet Peas, Antirrhinum, and Sweet William were used until we had a good selection of seed grown perennials to plant and until we had the desired structure for the space worked out.
If you have been looking at the pictures on this website you have probably noticed we have gone for a naturalistic look in the garden. This is a very rural garden so formality is out of place, no rows of upright flowers all evenly placed or lollypop tress exactly equidistant however that said there is a defined structure caused by the necessity of shelter belts, wind breaks in other words. We made an early decision to use Willow as best suited to a regularly flooded garden. We chose a Specialist Grower and have about 20 varieties, a list on a separate page, anyone who lives in this part of Ireland will know how easy it is to grow Fuchsia so cuttings were locally obtained and there is now a fantastic ‘statement’ hedge protecting our vegetable plot. We are fortunate that there was already a magnificent common Willow at the entrance to the property whose shade and shelter have allowed us to begin a ‘Woodland’ area planted with young Magnolias, Rhododendron, Azalea, underplanted with rare bulbs and a luxuriant Tree Fern, variegated Hollies and a Golden Hop that brings brightness into a shady corner. We have added drama in the winter with several varieties of Dogwood and Bamboo (not for a small garden or where you have close neighbours).
As the garden has established small trees that were planted over time have grown and now add to the shelter for more delicate plants. I will write a separate account describing Hydrangeas and Lilies that now give colourful displays however these would not have thrived without the protection the trees provide.
Trees that provide interest as specimens and protection are, Variegated Pittosporum, Twisted Hazel, Aralia, Catalpa, Paulownia tomentosa (cut back each year to produce huge showy leaves), Sumach, Stag’s Horn if suckers are not removed regularly you will get a forest of Sumach. We also have 5 specimen Trachycarpus Palm these are hardy even in our frost pocket and salty gales and add a Tropical look. Added to these to attract butterflies and bees are several Buddleia deep purple, mauve, burgundy, pink and white.
Here we are in mid August and at last we have summer weather, the garden is full of colour but already the first tints of Autumn are present. Huge white Lillies are eye catchers and waufts of perfume fill the warm evening air. Hydrangeas are starring and form the backbone of the beds, many were planted over 15 years ago and are huge at least 6 metres across and 2 metres high. The flood of the previous autumn and an extremely wet Spring have created the conditions that the Hydrangeas and Osmunda fern enjoy, the Mophead Hydrangea ‘Annabel’ has the largest blooms l have ever seen. In recent years we have purchased several hybrid Hydrangeas that have different star shaped flowers they have many shades within the same flower head. (plant lists on a separate page). It is also heartening to see many types of bee, hoverflies and at last a few butterflies.
Better late than never we have warm days and blue skies, the garden is responding with a burst of colour and the loud hum of bees getting as much food as possible before the cold sets in. I was stopped in my tracts this morning by the sound of bees in a cascade of common ivy flowers on an old tree so heartening to hear, l have noticed a huge lack of all pollinators in the last five years and this late heat is giving them a greater chance of surviving winter cold.
Several weeks have passed and we have survived Autumn Storm Ashley but it has left bare trees and damaged plants. After a storm it is important to check trees and shrubs to see if roots have broken and the whole plant has pulled out of the soil. If you spot this sort of problem replant to original depth, reduce top growth and provide support if needed. Avoid a single tall stake instead use 3 or 4 short stakes and support the plant from all directions to promote root regrowth.
If there are a lot of leaves to deal with, go over course leaves like Sycamore with the lawn mower on a high setting, they can then be left on grass. On paths sweep into piles and use to mulch beds or mix with the last grass cut and compost.
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info@ballyvoile.com