Around St. Patrick’s Day I like to dip into Thomas Cahill’s wonderful book, How the Irish Saved Civilization. The title is lofty, but the book is very accessible and focuses on how Irish monks helped preserve great works of Classical learning as civilization traveled the path of time from the Roman era to the medieval period. Those same monks were great gardeners; producing edible crops that fed the monasteries, as well as herbs for medicines and flavorings, not to mention flowers to ornament alters and bedeck the churches and chapels on feast days.
But the Irish gardening tradition goes beyond the monks. England has been called “a green and pleasant land,” but the same can easily be said of Ireland. At this time of year, I think of Ireland’s strong connection to that most welcome of spring flowers, daffodils. Guy Wilson—1885-1962—was a wonderful Irish daffodil breeder, especially famed for his white-flowered cultivars. Hailing from Broughshane in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, Wilson stood front and center on the world daffodil stage, but also led a pack of other notable Irish daffodil breeders in the twentieth century. One of Wilson’s best daffodils, the ruffled white ‘Broughshane,’ named for his hometown, grows in my garden. Sometimes its pointed blue-green leaves have emerged from the earth by St. Patrick’s Day. This year it is anyone’s guess.
Modern gardens just about everywhere owe a debt to Irishman William Robinson—1838-1935–who was born in County Waterford and received his early training on Irish estates. A consummate writer, designer and student of gardening, Robinson ended up in England, creating a celebrated garden at Gravetye Manor in Sussex. He was a pioneer of the naturalistic style of planting, which moved the horticultural world away from the rigid bedding schemes beloved of high Victorian gardeners. He created abundant mixed borders of annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees and planted them in a style similar to that used by his contemporary and friend, Gertrude Jekyll. Robinson founded an influential magazine, The Garden, and produced many books, the best of which, The Wild Garden, is still a great reference source.
In our own time, the Irish have given us Helen Dillon, a celebrated gardener and entertaining writer who lives and works in Dublin. Her garden is open to the public as are her opinions, frequently expressed in books, newspaper and magazine articles. Some of the best of them have gone into Down to Earth With Helen Dillon, which covers many aspects of the gardening process. Dillon’s garden is dynamic, with changes happening all the time. A small pool is installed, later filled in, and still later undergoes a renaissance as a focal point at the end of a constructed rill. For those who tire of garden authors who have clean fingernails and perfect borders, Dillon is refreshing. She admits her mistakes, laughs at them and moves on. It is no wonder that she is popular on both sides of the Atlantic.
Any number of good garden plants have come from Ireland. There is, of course, the shamrock, which may be one of several different species belonging to the genus Trifolium. Some merchants also offer forms of oxalis, which have trefoil-shaped leaves, as shamrocks. The trifolium species are native to or long naturalized in Ireland, while oxalis came from elsewhere. If you are going to grow anything shamrock-related in your garden, try white clover, a true trifolium.
You might also plant the ‘Butterfly Blue’ variety of perennial scabiosa or pincushion flower, which was discovered growing in an Irish garden. It was honored as the Perennial Plant Association’s Plant of the Year in 2000, in recognition of its beauty, hardiness and ease of culture. The powder-blue pincushion flowers sit atop twelve to fifteen inch stems, which are also adorned with feathery leaves. Blooming in summer, ‘Butterfly Blue’ prefers full sun and good drainage.
If you are in the mood for a trip to Ireland, there are many gardens, great and small, to be seen. A good place to start is the Houses, Castles and Gardens of Ireland website at http://www.gardensireland.com/about-us. HCGI is a group of seventy-three properties in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland that are open to the public. The National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin, near Dublin, was a training ground for William Robinson and remains a good place to get a feel for Irish gardens, horticulture and research.
I won’t get to Ireland this year, so I will have to content myself with a few Guy Wilson daffodils and the patches of white clover “shamrocks” that come up unbidden in my garden. I doubt that any of my clovers have four leaves, but in this year of eternal snow, I will feel lucky just to see the three-leafed variety.