Ardan Garden

One of our highlights in 2022 was being included in the TV programme 'Home Grown' about the very best in Irish horticulture. It was fabulously made by @scealcreative for RTE and Bord Bia, The Irish Food Board. Wishing you all a very Happy New Gardening Year.

So far we are resisting the temptation to start sowing seeds. In other years we began in January and by March were tripping over ourselves in a glasshouse stuffed with seedlings not ready to go out. Here in in late September are several plants grown from seed last year: Annuals, Helichrysum ‘Orange Delight’ elevated in a pot. An annual Malva, seed thanks to @the_insomniac_gardener Ricinus communis ‘New Zealand Black’. And perennials: a Dahlia and Agastache both from our own seed.

A real challenge to achieving feeling in the garden was learning to leave things out. It took years of adjusting, reading and visiting to eventually learn to remove distractions that did not enhance the mood. In the exotic garden, that left us with layers of big leaves balanced by pops of vivid colour, including red foliage. Also key is narrow paths that bring you right up close so you are immersed among the plants. Gone are the mellow colours, frothy flowers and small leaves. For example, in the centre here a Dryopteris fern is topped by Sonchus congestus and then Musa basjoo and Ricinus communis 'Impala Red'. To the left is Tetrapanax papyrifer 'Rex'. In between are the strong colours of Alstroemerias, Ecchinacea, Canas, Gladioli, Dahlias and Lilies. #exoticgarden #exoticgardens #exoticgardening #foliageplants #plantingdesign #plantingdesigner #exoticgardener #homegarden #homegardening #homeandgarden #homeandgardening #planting #ourgarden #foliagegarden #bigleaves #gardendesigner #gardendesigns #gardendesignideas #gardeningtips #gardentips

About the best thing you can do for wildlife in your garden is include a pond. This one is fed by rain from the roof of the house, so the water changes and cools, making it more comfortable for frogs and newts. To the right, the pond is connected to the bog garden. This enables a different palette of plants, but also different insects, on which the young frogs and newts feed. Complete serendipity was the dry-stone wall to the left. South-facing, it makes the perfect winter hibernation spot for newts. We cannot say we were designing for wildlife, but that is how it turned out. The tall red spires on the embankment are the fabulous biennial (triennial usually) Echium wildpretii. It is more tender than E. pininana, so we have one under fleece at the moment, but most important is sharp drainage which is exactly what it gets on the embankment. Here it is flowering in June. #pond #pondgarden #gardenpond #gardenponds #watergarden #watergardening #waterwisegardening #wildlifegarden #wildlifegardening #organicgardener #echiumwildpretii #echium #gardenvisitor #gardenvisitors #newts

Hello again! With play suspended by rain, we thought we might look back at the year, including some photos we did not get to post during the summer when everything was moving so fast. This August shot looks over the cooler herbaceous borders, including two clumps of the very long-flowering Sanguisorba 'Lilac Squirrel'. It is a star perennial. To keep it looking its best, we do not use hoops as supports. Instead, we use one strong central stake and tie chord to the stems at different distances. This keeps the natural flow and movement of this fabulous perennial. With deadheading, it will look good for two full months. #lookback #lookingback #summergarden #summergardens #augustgarden #summergardening #plantsupports #plantsupport #gardeningtime #sanguisorba #herbaceousplant #herbaceous #perennialgarden #perennialgardens #perennialflowers #perennialgarden #perennialgardening

Visitors to Ardán open our eyes to so many aspects of the garden. They share their plant knowledge, introduce us to members of the natural world that we had not spotted, advise us where else to visit, and help us solve gardening problems. Followers on Insta do that also. So a big thank you to you all. This energetic shot was taken by Chreyl of @explorehowth on Saturday, our final day of opening for this season.

It was very moving that so many visitors came for our final open day today, and a lovely finale to a rich season. Pictured is Salvia 'Phyllis Fancy' close to the entrance, with Asters, Cosmos (both Cranberry and Dazzler) and Helichrysum behind. On the left (and close up in the second photo) is Gomphostigma virgatum, a great small shrub for bringing silver foliage into a planting design. It also has a delicate white flower. Yes, the books say it will grow 2.5m tall, but you can prune it in spring to the size that fits your arrangement. We use it as a punctuation plant at a few points along the border.

The front garden has a particularly autumn colour palette to greet visitors for our final open day tomorrow, Saturday. Kniphofia caulescens joins in as the Aralia elata take on their autumn colours. Then the sweet-gum Liquidambar styraciflua 'Worplesdon' russets-up and combines with the tree sculpture. In the foreground of the second photo is the hardy (for us) Roldana petasites that will give a lovely rich orange spray of flowers in March.

This Saturday is our final open day this year. Reimaginimg our use of the rock has been one of our new elements this year. We had been wary of this natural outcrop as so many alpines met a soggy death in its crevices in winter. So we learned to think of it as a summer garden. We plant out succulents that can manage the drought on the rock in summer. Some, e.g. aeoniums, do even better outside in summer, where aphids and mealybugs will not bother them. The photos are early one morning last week.

Visitors often ask who the head gardener is here at Ardán. And the answer is, it depends where you are in the garden. Pass through a gate or go down some steps, and it is a different head gardener. We both are involved throughout the garden, but in each area, there is one decision-maker. Opinions and plans are continuously discussed, and contrary views well aired, but then the boss for that area decides. And the other rows in. There is just the occasional incursion (such as the red bench in the herbaceous). At least, it works for us!

Roscoea purpurea 'Spice Island' has flowered continuously for over six weeks now, and still has a while to go. It has beautiful foliage also with dark undersides. About 80cm tall and now ready for division after several years. A relative of ginger, it is fully hardy for us. Deadheading involves pulling away the petals as they start to sag.

Do you know any richer blues that would give Salvia patens 'Guanajuato' a run for its money? Some Meconopsis, or Hepaticas, maybe. What others?