Back in September again and I was in Ireland and my friend Orlaith Murphy had set up a diverse tour of great local gardens for me! Day two, we visited the National Botanical Gardens in Kilmacurragh which is still undergoing restoration after being taken over by the main botanical gardens in Dublin in 1996! There’s been a garden here for a long time and you can read more of its history here: http://botanicgardens.ie/kilmacurragh and its monumental trees here: https://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/irl/leinster/wicklow/2531_kilmacurragharboretum
As usual, most of the pictures are of useful and unusual edible plants discovered on our visit! See also the two videos at the bottom!
Back in 2011, I visited the main botanical garden in Dublin and here are a series of blogs from then:
Approaching the National Botanical Gardens of Ireland in Kilmacurragh
Ring of dead trees…the shallon is growing from the tree on the right!
Gaultheria shallon growing out of a dead tree (bird sown?)
Go on…have a taste ;)
A magnificent Podocarpus salignus
Rosa spp.
Rosa spp.
Rosa multiflora?
This Rhododendron species looks at first sight to be dying but the rusty brown appearance is natural onf these young leaves
Mandarin rose, Rosa moyesii “Pink Form”
Typha
Typha
Gunnera and Typha
Orlaith showing me the Ha-ha; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haha
Very sad that these old yew trees are dying (Phytophthora I think?)
Yew
Yew
Aralia cachemerica – I haven’t come across this one being eaten
Luma apiculata
Ostrich ferns (Matteuccia)
Tree fuchsia (Fuchsia excorticata) from New Zealand. I wonder if it produces berries much loved in the past by the Maori! This must be one of the biggest in the British Isles?
Cardiocrimum spp.
Surprised to see this! I don’t think this is proven scientifically…in fact it can have the opposite effect, spreading spores!
Lilium leichtlinii, one of the species used for food in Japan
Aster macrophyllus “Twilight” (Native Americans used the young shoots)
Aster macrophyllus “Twilight” (Native Americans used the young shoots)
Luma apiculata “Glanleam Gold”
Cornus capitata
Taxus spp.
An orange berried yew
The Big Tree
Field mushrooms
The Big Tree
The Big Tree
The Big Tree
The house has suffered two fires
Ochagavia carnea from Chile
Myrceugenia leptospermoides (I haven’t seen mention of the berries being used)
Sampling Fuchsia fruit!
Gunnera
Drimys aromatica, one of the mountain peppers
Gunnera
Fuchsia
Fuchsia fruit
Edible Ugni molinae
Edible Ugni molinae
A newly planted avenue of monkey puzzle trees
Angelica sylvatica (wood Angelica) growing wild on the edge of the garden)
In early October 2011, I was on a work trip in Ireland (Cork) and stopped off to see the city’s botanical garden for the first time!
Here’s an album of pictures of mostly edible plants spotted during my day in this wonderful garden!
In early October 2011, I was on a work trip in Ireland (Cork) and stopped off to see the city’s botanical garden for the first time! I found this border composed of medicinal and edible ornamentals…a medimental border…
In early October 2011, I was on a work trip in Ireland (Cork) and stopped off to see the city’s botanical garden for the first time! Here’s a series of pictures of unusual fruit bushes and trees taken on my recent visit to the National Botanical Garden in Dublin. I’d never seen such a good collection of Berberis before – impressive diversity…
Poncirus trifoliata, Hardy Orange/ Dversitron – never seen a bush quite this large. It wasn’t hardy enough for my garden and I lost mine after it sulked for 3 years
Back in September again and I was in Ireland and my friend Orlaith Murphy had set up a diverse tour of great local gardens for me! My first blog was from Carraig Dulra Permaculture Farm, here: http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=19592
After Carraig Dulra, the plan was to visit one of Ireland’s great gardens, Powerscourt and to kick off we were to meet Bruce Johnson (a member of the family that owns the house and gardens). He very kindly treated us to lunch at Powerscourt. As we sat eating lunch, Bruce commented that there weren’t many people around today and we put it down to the storm (Ali; see link below) that had hit Dublin and Wicklow in the night, putting people off travelling. After lunch we discovered there was another reason when we were told at the garden entrance that the gardens had been closed because of danger of falling trees and branches after the storm….
What to do? Bruce suggested seeing a video introduction to the amazing story behind the house and gardens including Ireland’s tallest waterfall, the Powerscourt Waterfall at 121m, a 6km walk from the house on the river Dargle (you can see it too here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxrFPrJlTQc ). Briefly: the house was originally a 13th-century castle and was extensively altered during the 18th century by German architect Richard Cassels, starting in 1731 and finishing in 1741. A fire in 1974 left the house lying as a shell until it was renovated in 1996! Originally the family seat of the Viscounts Powerscourt, the estate has been owned by the Slazenger family, founders and former owners of the Slazenger sporting goods company since 1961.
Bruce’s next suggestion was to go do the adjacent Cool Planet Experience, an “interactive climate action experience” for all ages (see https://powerscourt.com/estate/cool-planet-experience). Very different from what we had expected when we arrived at Powerscourt, but we had great fun!
Before parting ways with Bruce, we visited a wooded area just outside the main garden and saw the best avenue of monkey puzzle trees I’ve seen in the British Isles!
Thanks again, Bruce!!
Storm Ali : https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/storm-ali-two-dead-and-thousands-without-power-1.3634177
Arriving at Powerscourt
Video introduction to Powerscourt with the waterfall
Video introduction to Powerscourt
Powerscourt restored ballroom
Powerscourt restored ballroom
Great Sugarloaf Mountain from Powerscourt
Great Sugarloaf Mountain and gardens from Powerscourt
He was also instrumental in suggesting that the Ecoaldeia de Janas should invite me to give a course! Added to that, he did almost all the driving on my trip. I also spent two nights at his house on the hills in Calhandriz above Alverca near Lisbon and was able to see his edible water gardens for the first time! So here are a few pictures of the garden, sadly neglected as Jorge wasn’t living here for some time! He has a large water tank under an outhouse to supply the water for this project! The pond is an oasis for wildlife in the dry countryside which has been suffering from drought for several years! Many thanks, Jorge!
Other edible water plants in the pond: Bacopa, Acorus, Oenanthe, Houttuynia, Aponogeton and watercress. Elsewhere in the garden, Jorge has planted apples, pears, orange, plums,fig and edible bamboos! A great little garden!
Jorge and his pond
Jorge gets a lot of his inspiration from this book!
The garden is located high in the hills above Lisbon
Prickly pears
Interesting to see Menyanthes trifoliata (bogbean), a common plant in arctic bogs growing in this warm climate!
Typha has invaded much of the pond in Jorge’s absence!
Taro (Colocasia esculenta)
Water mint
Alisma and Typha
Pomegranates
Rosemary and blackcurrant sage
Artemisia
Banana
Typha (cattails / bulrush), supermarket of the swamps
Jorge also has an interesting collection of edible trees, like this Elaeagnus
On the afternoon of my arrival at Freixo do Meio (see previous posts and also http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=20042), Jorge Carona and I were loaned an electric vehicle to explore the farm. Jorge proposed we go over to a property within the main farm practicing regenerative agriculture using keyline design.
Catarina Joaquim and Carlos Simões have designed and established this impressive garden (see
On a work trip to Italy on 4th April 2009 I took the opportunity to visit Orto Botanico in Padua. Founded in 1545 by the Venetian Republic, it is the world’s oldest academic botanical garden that is still in its original location! Here’s an album of pictures of mostly edible plants I took that day!
Gingko biloba
Platanus orientalis from 1680!
Magnolia liliiflora
Musa basjoo
Cercis siliquastrum
Koelreuteria paniculata( Golden Rain Tree) has edible shoots and the seeds were roasted
There are many records of Tamus communis being eaten traditionally in the Mediterranean countries (from Spain to Palestine), butcareful preparation is needed to boil away the saponins
Viola banksii from Australia
Cardamine enneaphylla
Asparagus acutifolius
Polygonatum hybridum
Asparagus tenuifolius
Asparagus tenuifolius
Polygonatum odoratum
Melittis melissophyllum is sometimes used as a flavouring in drinks, like maibowle
Hosta fluctuans
Hosta nakaina
Hosta capitata
Hosta crispula
Hosta elata
Hosta rectifolia
Hosta decorata
Oenanthe pimpinelloides
Smyrnium olusatrum
Ferula assa-foetida (?); most accessions of this Indian spice are wrong in European botanical gardens
Crambe cordifolia
Boehmeriabiloba
Rumex patientia
Sagittaria platyphylla
Polymnia uvedalia, north American relation of yacon
Rosemary
Wild olive
Allium triquetrum
Asparagus officinalis ssp maritimus
Hemerocallis “Bowl of Roses”
Hemerocallis graminea
Asphodelus ramosus
Allium suworowii
Zanthoxylum schinifolium
Sugar cane
Jasminum officinale
Ceratoria siliqua (carob)
Loquat
Eriobotrya deflexa (Bronze Loquat)
Fallopia japonica
Huge labels in the rock garden!!
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
