Master My Garden Podcast
Master My Garden Podcast
- EP285 Carlow Garden Festival Unveiled For 2025 With Eileen O Rourke Carlow Tourism
Garden enthusiasts, mark your calendars! The Carlow Garden Festival returns for its annual celebration of horticultural excellence, running from July 26th to August 3rd, 2024. This year's lineup features an extraordinary collection of gardening luminaries, innovative formats, and breathtaking garden settings across Carlow.
The festival opens with a fascinating pairing as BBC Gardener's World presenter Adam Frost sits down with Irish rugby star Peter O'Mahony to explore how gardening provides essential mental balance alongside a high-pressure sporting career. Watch as Frost suggests potential changes to O'Mahony's beloved garden – a moment sure to reveal the rugby player's passionate attachment to his immaculate lawn and treasured box hedges!
Throughout nine spectacular days, attendees can learn from horticultural heavyweights including June Blake on natural gardening techniques, Matthew Wilson on transforming challenging garden sites, and Fionnuala Fallon sharing sustainable cut flower garden wisdom. Chelsea gold medal winner Sarah Eberle reveals insights from her remarkable 19 medals, while Nick Bailey breaks down garden design into ten accessible steps.
The festival thoughtfully addresses practical elements with a new shuttle bus service connecting all venues, making it easier than ever to experience multiple talks. Each location – from historic Huntington Castle and Ducats Grove to the spectacular Altamont Plant Sales – provides a unique and inspiring backdrop for the presentations.
For those passionate about sustainability, GIY's Mick Kelly discusses food empathy and growing your own vegetables, while Mary Keenan from Gash Gardens provides guidance on designing fragrant gardens. The international perspective comes through Seamus O'Brien's botanical expedition to Yunnan, China, where he encountered rare blue poppies and Himalayan lilies in their natural habitat.
Join Irish Garden Magazine columnist Rosie Maye, also known as The Insomniac Gardener, for a special Walk and Talk through the award-winning Barrow Experience Gardens at BEAM Services, Bagenalstown, County Carlow
From forest ecology walks with Eanna Ní Leona to Robin Lane Fox's gardening shortcuts, the festival offers something for every gardening interest and skill level. Many events include refreshments, guided garden tours, and opportunities for book signings with your favorite gardening authors.
Book your tickets early at carlowgardentrail.com – several events are already selling out! Whether you attend for a single talk, a day, or make it a full gardening holiday, the Carlo Garden Festival promises to inspire, educate, and celebrate the joy of gardens in every possible way.
You can buy tickets here:
https://carlowgardentrail.com/festival-programme/
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Until next week
Happy gardening
John
how's it going everybody, and welcome to episode 285, master, regarding podcast. Now, this week's episode is one that we've actually covered before and it's to go through the schedule of the carlo garden festival, and this is not typically the type of episode I do, but over the last few years, the quality of speaker and the variety of speakers at the carlo garden festival has been so good that it would be a shame not to sort of mention it, not to highlight it in a big way to you guys, the listeners there's. There's so much happening from the 26th on 26th of july until the 3rd of august and, as I said, last year there was a fantastic array and variety of speakers. It's no different this year. We kick.
Speaker 1:It kicks off on the 26th and, you know, on the 26th there's peter o'mahony, who's coming across from his rugby exploits, along with Adam Frost in the Arboretum, and in between there's a variety of speakers June Blake, mary Keenan, rosie May, fanula Fallon, mick Kelly from GIY. There's a phenomenal amount of various speakers on different topics and different subjects across gardening. So, as I say, I think it's really, really worthwhile highlighting this and to go through it with us is Eileen O'Rourke, ceo of Carola Tourism. Carola Tourism are the people who drive this festival and who arrange this festival every year and, as I say, it has been bringing together really, really good voices and and gardening personalities over the last few years. So, yeah, as I say, this this year is fantastic. So, eileen, you're very, very welcome to Mastermind Garden Podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you, John, for having me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, lovely. As I say, we spoke last year just in relation to the festival and I did mention that it was in terms of the lineup. It was fantastic last year. This year every bit is good. There's fantastic array of speakers. Again there's, you know, fantastic array of speakers. Again there's some kind of highlights. I know everyone loves that first night kickoff with adam frost in the arboretum, um, but there's so much, so much, from from day one through to the very end, a lot of, a lot of speakers. So we're going to do a little bit like what we did last year. We're kind of going to go through it day by day and I'll throw in my, my tuppence words. You know when, when we get to it. But it kicks off on the 26th of July and runs right through to the 3rd of August. So a nice time kind of events. Two events a day, more or less give or take, and so let's kick it off on day one and maybe what's the?
Speaker 2:the sort of the first event so, uh, we kick off on saturday afternoon, uh, with the lovely foraging adventure down by the river barrow in lachlan bridge. But I have to advise you, john, that that is already booked out and has been for a number of weeks I saw that one actually was sold out already, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's a very popular one. And Mary White if anybody knows Mary White, she runs Blackstairs EcoTrails, so she does foraging walks and tree trails. She's a brilliant speaker and very informative. So if you haven't got your ticket already, you'll just probably have to wait till next year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, mary is actually someone that's on the radar for the podcast. I haven't had her on the podcast before, but, um, I have. Yeah, some couple of people have mentioned that she'd be well worth getting on, and so she's definitely on the radar.
Speaker 2:So yeah, she's very, very interesting and very, very knowledgeable yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:So then that evening, as you said, we have our launch event, and it's a kickoff with two celebrities really as such. So Adam Frost will probably be very familiar to your own listeners from BBC Gardener's World, and we've also had him at the festival on a few occasions at this stage, at the festival, on a few occasions at this stage, but this time we're teaming him up with Peter O'Mahony, who himself is a celebrity for his exploits on the rugby field, and I suppose if anyone follows his Instagram and Facebook, they know that he's a really keen gardener, and the idea is Adam Frost is one of his, I suppose, people in gardening that he looks up to, and we decided, then to try and pair both of them together, and thankfully it has worked out. This year. The format of the event will be kind of there's two sessions to it, so the opening part will be a discussion about gardening and why gardening is so good for us and why Peter has found gardening very beneficial to both his own personal and professional life, as a kind of an escape from, you know, the rugby field and downtime and a chance to just, I suppose, devote the mind to something else. Adam himself is very into that whole area as well, about the importance of gardening for mindfulness, you know, for inner peace. And then we will have a break in the in the talk, a short break, and then it will take on what I think will be a very informative twist, but a fun twist. So basically, adam frost um will take peter's garden and he's going to suggest changes that he might like to see implemented in Adam's garden, in Peter's garden, and I'm sure there'll be a little bit of resistance along the way, because anyone who follows him knows that he loves his box edges and his lawns. But Adam will come up with a possible semi redesign of Peter's garden and I suppose peppered throughout all of that will be lots of information about gardening and what grows well and what grows well together, and we'll see where the conversation takes us, whether whether Peter will will agree to any of his suggestions or all of them. And then we finish that evening with a book signing from Adam Frost Books.
Speaker 2:The talk itself begins at half past seven, but we encourage people to come earlier because there's just so much to see in the Arboretum with the inspirational gardens. Then there's a two course evening meal with tea and coffee prior to the talk at half past seven If people would like to avail of that. And obviously you have everything else. That is, the boutique, the shop, the kitchen store, the beautiful plant sales area, so it's a good afternoon stroke, evening out For those who are staying locally.
Speaker 2:This year we worked with the Climate Action Office in Carlow County Council and with Ring-a-Link, the local bus service, to actually provide a dedicated bus service from Carlow Town out to all locations on the Garden Festival. So that will kick in on Saturday, both for the foraging adventure with Mary White but also then for the evening event with Adam Frost. And the whole idea is that it makes life easier for people in that you know they get to sit back, maybe enjoy a chat with other people. They don't have to worry about the road and where they're going and the bus leaves from the Woodford Dolman, the Talbot Hotel, the Seven Oaks and Carlo Bus and Railway Stations.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah, that's a nice addition to have that sort of shuffle service.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because we've often been asked about, you know, people get to Carlow Town and then how do they get further. And we've often been asked about the possibility of public transport and you know, in most, most cases it's not that easy. So we were delighted then when the climate action office approached us and we decided to work with them and the ring a link service and hopefully, you know, everybody will enjoy the experience because it takes a lot of the hassle of trying to get out to places and find them away from people yeah.
Speaker 1:And for sure. And then when people are traveling to these events together, you'll get, you'll be on the bus with like minded people heading for the same event and on the way back you'll be able to chat about the event and it's a bit of a community element and I know that. That you know when, when you go to garden shows out, you know uk and holland and so on, that shuttle bus service is typically there as well, so it does it sort of completes it, I think. I think that's it's a lovely addition this year, yeah and so. So it was a very good idea to go back to the, the. You know that main conversation that night.
Speaker 1:I didn't know that that was the twist, that there's going to be some changes to the garden. And for anyone that is listening and doesn't or hasn't seen Peter O'Mahony on, say, instagram, for example, he loves his lawn, for sure, and you know rugby fans will have seen that competitive nature that he has on the field, but when he's in the, in the garden, it's it's a different, it's a very different setting. And you know to hear you saying about the, the balancing of work, life and and so on, and it just so happens that his, his work is, you know, rugby and a very competitive, very aggressive sport. And then to be able to come back to the calming gardening, I guess and there is a you know from watching the Instagram there is a real difference there and to be able to see that and hear about that, that'll be interesting. And then, obviously, the fact that there's a potential redesign of sorts on the garden. That's a nice twist and a nice sort of setup for the garden. That's a nice twist.
Speaker 1:And a nice, yeah, a nice, a nice sort of set up for the evening, I guess.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, no, I think it'll be very interesting. I think it'll be very informative, but also very enjoyable, because we've we've had Adam Frost before and he delivers a superb talk. We've had him now, I think, three years running. This will be our fourth year. He delivers a superb talk that's full of knowledge, but it's also yeah, it's also entertaining, and I think the fact that he is Peter's guru when it comes to gardening I think that fact that he is Peter's guru when it comes to gardening I think that will work well when they're both speaking about, you know, what they're willing to give up or what they're not willing to give up.
Speaker 1:And that's a brilliant evening there. Brilliant evening and a good kickoff, as they say. On the next day then, the 27th of July, what's the sort of format that day?
Speaker 2:So on the 27th of July we have two events. We have June Blake talking in on gardening bill and June is talking all about gardening. Naturally, she has gardened without a huge use of insecticides for for a number of years, so she's going to give an overview on how that can be achieved in people's own gardens. And then that afternoon at three o'clock we have Matthew Wilson, and Matthew will be talking about two gardens that he managed when he was a part well, he was working for the RHS and those are Hyde Hall in Essex and Harlow Carr in Harrogate.
Speaker 2:And we had Matthew back in 2023 in Altamont Plant Sales and he was really excellent. He was a brilliant speaker. So I think he'll give another very good talk and he's focusing really about, you know, the challenges, the opportunities in terms of trying to transform these two lovely gardens. At Hyde Hall it was a kind of a dry, windy hilltop site and then in Harlow Carr, it had a more wetter climate and they both demanded different approaches. So I think gardeners who attend will definitely get a huge amount of practical insights, you know, from plant selection to garden design to, you know, adapting planting schemes to the climate and conditions in which they live, and I think it will be, as I said, a very good talk.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure, and June Blake that morning. She's fantastic, so a lot of people. She's a former guest of the podcast. A lot of people will be familiar with her garden, known for her brilliant use of color. Uh, hot borders particularly she's brilliant at and yet to to you know, to hear about her garden and how she gardens, and it's in on garden bio as well, which is a lovely, lovely setting in carlottown and it's actually brilliant for for doing talks.
Speaker 1:I've given talks in there myself before, so it's a really nice setting for for for talks and presentations as well. So, yeah, I think people will like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it suits the subject title so well. Yeah, um, and you know, I suppose june has gardened for many years without sprays or chemicals. She is a kind of a tolerant approach to weed. So I myself am looking forward to hearing about that, as to how she is a tolerant approach. Plus, she uses careful plants and between both, I'm looking forward to seeing how she's still able to keep her garden looking really well. And she's a very good speaker. We've had her on a number of occasions in the past.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she's brilliant. She's brilliant, I suspect, in terms of weeds. She distracts you in her own garden so that you don't see the weeds. There's so much else going on that you wouldn't even notice them. I'd imagine that that's a big part of it. You, her garden is phenomenal. Um, at certain times of the year, as I say, her use of color is unbelievable and the heart borders, yeah. So I'd imagine, like, like most places, there is weeds there, but you're not going to notice them because there's so much else going on, so many other things to catch your eye. So, yeah, now that's another great day, and then on today onto the 28th, um, john, I forgot to mention.
Speaker 2:Just if people are coming to ducats grove, just to make them aware that they're also guided tours of ducats grove that day. They're free of charge, you just book them online and they're taking place at two o'clock, so you know for the hour before the talk and then at 4 30 after the talk. And they're taking place at two o'clock, so you know, for the hour before the talk and then at 4 30 after the talk. And they're led by danny mcdade and he's a brilliant local historian who has great knowledge on. You know the ducat family, um, you know the history of them coming to carlo in 1695, everything that that that family would have been involved in till they left in the early years of the 20th century, because they had a really big impact on Carlow itself and the people who worked for them. And the guided tour will then be interspersed with some feedback from Eamon Wall, the head gardener out in Ducats Grove, who will join the tour for the garden element and he will explain the approach they're taking to gardening there at the moment. And to say as well that there is a horse box, as in a horse box, serving teas, coffees, kind of light treats um on the day.
Speaker 2:And there are two lovely um craft units that are in the original farmhouse buildings in the courtyard of ducats grove. Um one is nick angel's candles, so they they hand marble candles, as the name suggests uh beautiful candles. And then they also have um crafts for sale from throughout carla, from other makers, and then we also have the red admiral by a tanya dean, and tanya is making authentic irish country clothing. It's, you know, tweed jackets, waxed uh coats, woolen jumpers, um very nice high quality clothes and that's also open on the day as well lovely.
Speaker 1:Yes, there's lots there, and I know amon actually amon very good gardener, so you know, for for the gardening element of that talk around ducat's grove, yeah, amon will be able to add lots of insight and a very, very good gardener. So yeah, that'll be. That'll be interesting for sure on the 28th.
Speaker 1:Then we've another busy day um so 11 am, I think, kicks off in hunting brook, I think yeah, huntington castle sorry, huntington castle yeah, um, a garden that I worked in about 25 years ago, um, so a long time ago. But yeah, yeah, beautiful, beautiful, you walk there and nice gardens. And yeah, that's the first talk today, so what's yeah about that?
Speaker 2:so, uh, thomas Pakenham has recently published a book, another book, um, it's not his first book by any means, and it's titled the Tree Hunters how the Cult of the Arboretum Transformed Our Landscape. So, basically, the talk will focus on the 19th century tree hunters and you know their own passion for exotic species and how that, in turn, from their travels and their expeditions, fueled a whole wave of arboretum building across the uk and then in ireland as well. And he's a very, very witty speaker and a very good speaker, thomas packenham. So for anyone who I mean for anyone who loves trees, anyone curious about botanical collections, anyone who loves gardens, I think this is going to be a very special talk and a gem of a talk. Really. There's very good interest in it in the advanced bookings, and Thomas is bringing signed copies of his book on the day that if anybody wants to get one of those, um, it will be signed individually, um, by thomas. Brilliant.
Speaker 2:So that's the. That's the morning and, as you said, it starts at 11 o'clock and then in the afternoon, um, we move on to delta sensory garden. So the way the garden festival works is, um, usually it's the monday and the saturday. Delta and, uh, huntington castle share that day, so it's either morning or afternoon in one of the venues and then it turns over for the following day, um, and they have the afternoon or the morning with the workshop.
Speaker 2:So on Monday in the afternoon it's Fionnuala Fallon and she's talking all about creating sustainable perennial cut flower garden, and I would have heard this talk perhaps 10 years ago. Fionnuala hasn't been back in Delta for a few years now, but it was a superb talk and it's basically the whole idea of it is how to create a beautiful, long-lasting flower garden that's really in harmony with nature and that supports biodiversity in the environment. And the whole idea is to look at plants, you know, hardy, pollinator friendly perennials that thrive in Irish conditions and that really offer good value in terms of being a cut flower and then going into your vase in the home yeah, and she's replicating what she's what she's doing at her own home and business anyway and yes and yeah, it's.
Speaker 2:I haven't heard this talk, but I know people who have and they said it's a fantastic talk and what's a fantastic talk and she goes into everything from you know, the soil health, plant division, mulching, organic pest control. It's a really interesting talk.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's. It's actually something we've covered on the podcast quite recently how to create your own cutting garden and this will be. You know, this will be another extension of that. I think it's, it's, it's a. It's going to be a very good talk now. I would think that one.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah to that I think it's, it's, it's a, it's going to be a very good talk now, I would think that one.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, that's the, that's the 28th, so yeah, there's still. We're not even half. I think we're halfway through the festival now and there's already a fantastic array of speakers. So, moving on to the 29th. Then what have we got?
Speaker 2:so on the 29th. Um, your listeners will probably know of John McCullen, dr John McCullen. He was the chief park superintendent to the Phoenix Park for a number of years and he published back in 2009. He published a history of the Phoenix Park up until 1880. So this talk takes us from 1880 to 1980 and I think it's going to be again a really interesting talk. John has a lovely kind of approachable style of presenting. So during that time there would have been the introduction of the ornamental plantations and the landscape schemes and then infrastructural developments as well, like the bandstand, the tea kiosk. Um, the park's own physical landscape went under, uh, underwent a lot of changes, and then there would have been a lot of large-scale events hosted in the Phoenix Park. I suppose the one that I remember would be the 1979 Papal visit, but I would have heard people talking as well about the Eucharistic Congress that went there in 1932. And, even further back, the international speed trials in 1903 that were connected to Gordon Bennett. That would have been down around this area as well at.
Speaker 2:Milo Leach in Kildare. So again, I think that could be a very interesting talk for anyone. You know we're probably all familiar with the Phoenix Park and have been in it on a number of occasions, and John will also have copies um his book available on the day as well super and then that afternoon, uh, we um go over to hardy mount gardens.
Speaker 2:So always we have arbory uh ultimate in the morning, and then we head over to hardy mount Gardens in the afternoon and we meet Dara Stone, who's the head gardener of Dennis Moat Gardens up in the Dargill Valley in Dublin. And basically, I suppose in 1988 Adam Clayton of U2 would have purchased that estate and thereafter started just a whole journey to restore and enhance the gardens. Um, they planted about 4 000 trees and restore the garden to its original splendor and it was, I think last year. It was on bbc gardeners world. Adam frost featured it um.
Speaker 2:So this is an opportunity to really find out more about the gardens, their, their plantings, their magnolias, their rhododendrons they're very known for those. And then after that, um, there is the afternoon tea, um, on the lawns of the walled garden, on the lawns of hardy mount gardens, and anyone who would like to um visit the walled garden, which is a beautiful walled garden maintained for many years by the late great gardener Sheila Reeves Smith and now maintained by her daughter, justina, and son-in-law, mark McKeever. So it's another lovely event and I suppose what I say to people an afternoon tea is a delectable thing at its best. But this is even no ordinary afternoon tea. It's just a superb spread, very best of Irish ingredients and it's a lovely way to finish off the afternoon.
Speaker 1:Yeah, brilliant, sounds like a gorgeous day, for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And then we're on to the 30th, I think, are we?
Speaker 2:We're on to the 30th then, and on the 30th we're in Burntown House in the morning and then we're in Shankill Castle in the afternoon. So in Burntown House is Seamus O'Brien and last year Seamus went on a summer expedition to Yunnan in China and it's basically looking at his 18-day trip. He went in July last year. Um, it was peak flowering season, blue poppies in particular uh, they were very rare, and then rhododendrons were in abundant flowering season at the time and also um himalayan lilies. So james will guide us through um everything they found on that trip. And that's at 11 o'clock in the morning in Burtown House and then at three o'clock in the afternoon we go over to Shankill Castle and I won't I can't really pronounce Tangi's surname, so I'll do my best, but it's tangy de tool good from the dunmore school, the dunmore country school.
Speaker 1:Yeah, again, uh, another former guest of the podcast. In fact, we we did an episode, or a two-part episode, on companion planting and that continues to be one of the most popular episodes of the podcast. A fantastic gardener um, really, really unique techniques that he's been using in his own garden is in his own dunmore country school for years and years. Yeah, that'll, that'll be a an unbelievable talk very good yeah I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 2:And he, he has a strong name. He writes himself for the irish garden as well, and, um, I you know he's going to look at biodiversity friendly practices, permaculture, his own kind of french style potager gardening, so, um, it should be a very good talk as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:Then in the afternoon, or that is the afternoon, that's the afternoon on the Wednesday and then we're on to Thursday and we have Sarah Eberle, who's another of our UK speakers this year, and she's basically sharing the story of winning 19 Chelsea gold medals in Chelsea with those in attendance at Burroughs House. And she began exhibiting at Chelsea with a garden on the main avenue and then since then she's had gardens in every single garden category, from artisan to sanctuary to major show gardens and exhibits in the Grand Pavilion and revealing, you know, lots of useful planting tips. You know that everybody can take home and try for themselves. And she's also going to look at the trends that have come and gone and probably come again within her gardening career, and I think that's. We had a lovely talk there last year, uh, with bonnie guinness, and I think that's going to be an equally enjoyable talk, uh, this year yeah, for sure yeah, and that afternoon then we take over to a grainy house and herb gardens.
Speaker 2:So we're in burr's house at 11 o'clock and then there are two sessions with um, um, with mckelly of giy, in uh kilgrainy house and herb gardens, which is just a couple of miles over the road. Uh, the first one, um, is at three o'clock and the next one is at five o'clock. And I suppose, as somebody who grew up just having to run to the garden to get literally outside our door at home to get the freshest of every kind of vegetable imaginable, my father was a brilliant vegetable gardener. Now, he wasn't that interested in the flowers but loved vegetable gardening and how much we took it for granted and didn't realize what we had at all. And now, um, as someone who who just buys vegetables in the supermarket, um, I love the title of this uh, food empathy growing your own food for a healthy, sustainable future. So, for all of us who aspire to actually getting back to even a smidgen of what people did 30 or 40 years ago, um, I think this is this is a very good talk yeah, for sure, and yeah, that it's.
Speaker 1:It'll be a brilliant talk, mick, mick is brilliant. Um geo, the whole giy movement is very good and that's something that you know. What you just said there, that's something that we work very hard on on the podcast and and we talk a lot about is people growing their own food, showing people, teaching people how to do that. So, yeah, that'll be a really, really, really good uh talk for sure yeah, um, so that's.
Speaker 2:We have two sessions there, at three o'clock and five o'clock, so they tend to get booked up quite fast. So what we've done for the past couple of years is we've added a second uh talk at five o'clock. So, um, if people don't make the first session, we always say you know, take a walk? Um through the village of boris, a beautiful village, and the step house straight opposite the um, straight opposite the gates of borough's house is is open, um, if people want to enjoy, you know, a late lunch or a relaxed cup of tea or coffee. And if you don't make the three o'clock, well, then you'll be able to um, to head on to the five o'clock one, very good. And then the following day we have the double header in Ultimate Plant Sales.
Speaker 2:The first talk in the morning is at 11 o'clock. It's from the back garden to gold medals, by Rosie Hardy. She's an RHS vice president. And then later that day at three o'clock, we have Nick Bailey, again a fairly regular presenter on BBC Gardener's World, and Nick is going to talk about designing gardens in 10 easy steps. Now there's a change to the format somewhat of this event for this year, john, so we always had this as a full day ticketed event, so you bought your ticket for for the two talks. This year we decided, um to offer them as individual talks, um, so they they cost 20 euro each, but if people want to stay for the full day, um, and we think they both speakers, merit the investment of stay for the full day, um, and we think they both speakers merit the investment of time for the full day um, it's a reduced fee of 35 euro. So rosie hardy, again, um, she started off in her own back garden, um, and she also has gone on to win a number of Chelsea gold medals and she talks about. You know what it takes to actually succeed to such a level on the Chelsea stage. But then she's also going to focus quite a bit of her talk on planting advice, choosing the right plants for the conditions, long lasting color and kind of maintaining structure in the garden, and that will be a very good talk.
Speaker 2:And in the afternoon then, and nick bailey covers, as as it says on the tin as such, designing the garden 10 easy steps he's going to cover selecting the right plants for the right space, how you get year-round interest in the garden, how you get color into it all the time and how you can try and revamp a tired looking garden or, if you're starting from scratch, how you do that as well. And I heard Nick's talk in Duckett's Grove in 2023 and again it was a packed out talk um very, very interesting talk on the day, um, and he's promised to share with us um kind of some of the I'm not saying juicy gossip, but some of the little tidbits, uh that come from being a presenter on bbener's World and all the behind the scenes insight that happens in the gardening world as well. So that's the key day in Ultimate Plant Sales and we leave a nice break between the morning and the afternoon job. So we start at half 11. We're finished kind of about one o'clock.
Speaker 2:There's a good um two hours, then till three, so people love to walk down the main gardens uh, they all. There's, obviously sugar and spice cafe. They're doing um salads and sandwiches, um, and for anyone who wants um something, you know, a main course lunch. The forge up at the crossroads, uh, about a mile from ultimate, has just reopened and they're open on the day, obviously, uh doing uh lunches I didn't know that had reopened.
Speaker 1:That used to be brilliant, yeah, it used to be really good and and we, we passed it. I was in ultimate, not that terrible long ago, but less than a month ago, um, but we, we would have been in the forge lots of times over the years as you'd be traveling typically towards wexford, um and it was a good stop it was a great stop. Yeah, and I was. Yeah, I was surprised it was closed because it was always always chock-a-block when you went into it. That's good to know.
Speaker 2:It's back open yeah, it's back open and um under um ph. Phil and Kay are the two owners involved. Phil is the chef, kay is front of house. But a lot of you know the focus on local, the warm hospitality. You know that's still very strong.
Speaker 1:So it's great to see Brilliant, for sure. So then we're heading for the last couple of days here now.
Speaker 2:So on Saturday, then the 2nd of August, this is our day when we split between Delta and Huntington Castle. So in the morning we have Mary Keenan, and Mary Keenan is talking about designing and planting a fragrant garden, and I suppose Mary has a huge amount of experience in this because she's owner of gash gardens in county leash and obviously she's had big roles in in public park design, editor of the irish garden, um. So she'll have lots of practical advice and inspiration for people, um. And basically she will focus on the right plants, the right choices to fill the space with scent throughout the year. So everything from old-fashioned roses and sweet peas, um to herbs, you know, aromatic shrubs, um. So that's in the morning and it's at 11 o'clock and then anyone who would like to they can go on a guided tour after the walk around the gardens.
Speaker 2:And in the afternoon then we go to Huntington Castle and we meet the celebrated garden writer, robin Lane Fox. He's, I think, the longest gardening columnist in the UK. He writes for the Financial Times. He's written a number of books as well. So he's going to look at how gardening itself is changing and he's kind of tried and trusted shortcuts that can really help transform a garden space without too much effort, or maybe less effort than you might have thought necessary. And again, um, I think this is our third time over all the years having robin, but like thomas packenham, he's a very, very witty speaker, um, but also a very knowledgeable speaker. So he's there in the afternoon at three o'clock and that leads us in nicely into the last day, which is Sunday, the 3rd of August.
Speaker 2:In the morning we're doing a guided walk of the Bean Barrow Experience Gardens, um in bagnalstown, with rosie may, um, also a writer, in the irish garden and obviously, um, she's a big social media presence as well with the insomniac gardener and she'll take us through the 10 different gardens, um, within the beam barrow experience gardens, and they're beautiful, uh, beam, for, for your listeners who aren't aware, it's a training center for people with disabilities and um, the participants would garden, would maintain the gardens there, and over the years, uh, they've added a number. They have a mindfulness garden, a french, a convent garden, because the site would have originally belonged to the nuns, the monastic courtyard. Our gardeners love picking up tips, so it's practical advice as well on planting and composting and garden structure and colour. And then that afternoon we have a walk and talk with Eanna Ní Leona at the forest in Rathwood.
Speaker 2:So to the right hand side of the entrance to Rathwood is a beautiful forest I think. It's about 170 acres of native flora and fauna, and Lena will take us on a guided walk there. You park within the car park in Rathwood and you know we will take the visitors down then to the forest itself and she will go through the importance of our forest for biodiversity, for our native fauna, and that's as well proving to be a very popular walk and that's as well proving to be a very popular walk. So it could be just literally walking under beech, oak, birch, douglas fir and learning all about the importance of trees to our daily lives.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sure, and the last couple of days they're like some fantastic speakers. You mentioned Mary Keenan, again a fantastic gardener and going to talk about you know well her experience, which is phenomenal. Her gardens themselves Gash Gardens are brilliant, and if she's talking about, as you said, putting the right plant into the right place or that type of a talk, you'll get really good practical advice. And Rosie May, obviously a fantastic gardener, brilliant speaker as well, a fantastic gardener, brilliant speaker as well, and really, really good at, I suppose, translating information that people can take away. As you say, gardeners like to get things that they can take away and use in their own gardens and definitely rosie is one of the best at that. You know she makes, she makes things sound and and and shows things that are simple to do and, yeah, really great two days there. So, again, a fantastic lineup of speakers the whole way through.
Speaker 2:So you know, well done again on putting this all together you, you, you were very kind at the beginning, john, in that you um you were saying carla tourism uh brings the festival and arranges the festival, but we do it very um much in tandem with the carlo garden trail committee and our chairperson is robert miller of ultimate plant sales, and then all the members um would feed into the program very strongly. They would all have their own thoughts as to potential speakers, um, and that's really what makes it great. I suppose we do a lot of the practical things in terms of organization, bookings, all of that. But one thing that um I hear again and again from people is, above all, they love the speakers, that the speakers are so knowledgeable and so varied and there's, you know, different topics. There's something to suit everybody really. So it's the, the members of the garden trail who come up with those um, so the biggest debt is is to uh that committee yeah, for sure, I know, and it is fantastic, fantastic lineup again this year.
Speaker 1:There's so many there that people would be interested in and it's definitely, you know it's. It's unique in that it's several days in a row, but what is it? Five or six, six days in a row? And it's actually nine nine days, wow, and yes, we know, because we collapse and yeah, but someone can.
Speaker 1:Someone can sort of make a nice mini break out of it and take in two or three days, or they can make a full holiday out of it and take in a week. You know people, people that you know, are into that and it's unusual to have such a collection and variety of speakers in you know relatively, relatively condensed space. You know you'll often see these individual speakers coming for brilliant talks here and there, but to have such a variety and to you know, to have so much over the course of of nine days, as you said, it's a, it's a fantastic, a fantastic lineup. Um, yeah, so well done again. Um, it sounds brilliant.
Speaker 1:I'll put the link for tickets in the show notes so people can can can click through there. And one or two are sold out. Others are definitely in high demand. So if you are are interested or you have any mind to go, just start having a look now at your tickets because, yeah, as I say, some of them do sell out. Eileen, it's been brilliant, brilliant having you on again to hear all about carla garden festival.
Speaker 1:Well, done on everything that's organized and thank you very, very much for coming on master my garden podcast. So that's been this week's episode. A huge thanks to eileen for coming on. As I say, a really, really great uh lineup again. It was a fantastic lineup for the last few years, but this year is top class.
Speaker 1:As I said, the variety that's really what catches the eye is you. You get every type of speaker. So, whether it's the historical garden element that interests you, whether it's the growing your own food that interests you, whether it's planting combinations, gardening, sustainability and forage and you know there's, there's something for everybody there and I think that's the big thing. Then you're going to see, obviously, a lot of the gardens from carlo garden trail as part of those talks and I think that's, you know, another added bonus to that. So, yeah, really, really worth checking out. Link for tickets is in the show notes and uh, yeah, I think you'll get something for it if you do, if you do come along and visit. And that's been this week's episode. Thanks for listening and until the next time, happy gardening.