Airfield Estate Blooms

I love when I discover new plants, or at least new to me. Recently I paid a visit to the gardens at Airfield Estate in Dundrum, Dublin and realised that there was a large range of plants at Airfield which I was not familiar with. I booked a horticultural tour with the Head Gardener, Colm O’Driscoll who, despite the inclement weather, cheerfully described his enviable job of growing, designing and managing the huge range of plants in this wonderful estate.

The gardens underwent a major redesign in 2014 with the expertise of plantsman Jimi Blake and designers Lady Arabella Lennox-Boyd and Dermot Foley. Together they created an amazing range of planted spaces from the sunken garden at the entrance, to the walled garden with its amazing wisteria, to the beautifully restored Victorian glasshouse with its fantastic range of succulents.

There is something for all ages at Airfield, with fantastic flowering gardens, beautiful farmyard areas where you see the Jersey cows being milked, to the vintage car collection or you can just enjoy a walk through the native woodland trail. They have lots of childrens’ events during the year too.

Read more in the July issue…