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Lorna’s Garden puts Eden in the shade
Galway is blessed with gardens. Both city and county glow quite green with them. They can be public or private and come in many shapes, sizes, contents and purposes.
From walled gardens in Kylemore, Connemara to Woodville near Kilchreest, and on to Bridget’s Garden near Moycullen, or back to the Organ Donor Garden beside Salthill Prom, sure we are spoiled for choice.
BY PEADAR O’DOWD
Throw in the countless private gardens, blooming, not just when annual Tidy Town and Best Garden competitions judges come to view, and you see why many Galwegians delight in never washing green off rather special fingers.
One dedicated private garden in particular deserves mention as these words appear. Known not just locally, but internationally also, Lorna’s Garden in Ardcarraigh, Bushypark, is the dream in every gardener’s eye.
For Lorna MacMahon, a Redwood giant amongst Irish gardeners, has turned a once untidy wasteland, filled with granite rocks and lacking true top soil into a thing of beauty, winning both the Bord Fáilte Competition and National Garden Association’s best private garden award in Ireland, among many others.
Lorna McMahon’s garden
The garden started 44 years ago covering originally only one acre, but has since grown in size and stature into over four acres of designed delights, under the expert guidance of Lorna, who holds a Diploma in Horticulture from the Royal Horticultural Society of England.
Needless to say, her expert design has been governed by the natural landscape as indicated by the local names of Bushypark and Ardcarraig (High Rock). Today, her garden includes a stream, pools, bogland, rocky outcrops and even a hazel woodland, all filled with flora to suit each situation.
When the property was purchased by the MacMahons in 1971, there was no boundary fencing and only two trees. The back area of the garden was purchased later in several pieces and at different times. It originally consisted of a newly-built house, a hazel woodland, a stream, and a boggy field.
A number of separate gardens have since been made in clearings in the hazel woods, and in all, today, seventeen ‘garden’ areas greet the eye.
They consist of a Front Garden with heathers and various bulbs. There’s a Grass Border filled with ornamental grasses of many varieties. The Terracotta Garden is a formal sunken garden complete with old mill wheel.
A Back Area is designed to blend with the natural landscape, while including plants from other countries. The Mary O’Connor Garden is named in memory of a friend of Lorna, with more plants blending with a view over Lough Corrib.
Steps now lead you down to the Primula Pool, around which moisture-loving plants thrive. The Top Stream Section contains like plants. The Bog Field also contains moisture-loving plants with heathers in their element here. A small connecting garden with Acers to the fore lead to The Lower Stream area, planted with colourful autumn trees.
Rare forget me not in Lorna McMahon’s garden which she will have for sale
Next we meet the Fernery and Hosta Garden, before leaving Ireland for Japan, as we enjoy the main Japanese Section complete with lantern and granite rock in the shape of Mount Fuji.
Next comes Harry’s Garden in memory of Lorna’s late husband, filled with plants provided by friends in his memory, set among more granite outcrops, pools and stream. The Oak Garden comes next, with emphasis again on a Japanese theme.
The carpeted Moss Garden soon beckons, followed by The Madden Garden in memory of Mary Joe and Charlie Madden, who supplied most of the original plants. Directly behind the house one comes to the Patio and Herb Garden, laid out in the formal garden style with herbs related to Shakespeare’s plays and the Bible.
Finally, you arrive at the Dwarf Conifer Section, to complete a magnificent walk through what is really a feast of gardening delights.
In this brief ramble through Lorna’s Garden, one can easily understand the amount of work expended in bringing this treasure to our view, and, of course, it is an ongoing task to keep it at its best, especially when winters come to do their worst. Nevertheless, Lorna, thankfully, has opened her garden to the public for over 31 years now, and sadly, this year, because of the work involved, it will be her last.
These Garden Open Days, held on the last three Sundays in May in recent years, are all in aid of the Galway Mental Health Association, raising between €12,000 – €20,000 annually – Lorna is a founder member of the Galway branch. Admittance is only €5, and plants are also on sale for this good cause.
You can treat yourself to something rather special if you come along next Sunday, May 31st, between 2-6 pm. In this regard, Lorna offers a special thanks to the Galway Flower & Garden Club, whose members have helped so much in the running of these special days down through the years.
For her many efforts, Lorna, who has been a garden designer, judge, lecturer, demonstrator, writer, columnist, and horticultural therapist in the Psychiatric Unit of UHG, was honoured in 2006 when she received an Honorary MA from NUI, Galway.
Her garden, too, has featured widely on television, here and abroad, as well in publications worldwide – in fact it has been listed for many years in the English Good Garden Guide.
Lorna certainly has put Galway on the map in more ways than one.
Some 60 tourism companies from Ireland attended ‘Flavours of Ireland’ 2022 in London last week – including Connemara Wild Escapes, DK Connemara Oysters and Killary Fjord Boat Tours.
‘Flavours’ is Tourism Ireland’s annual B2B tourism workshop, where tourism companies from Ireland meet and do business with top global inbound tour operators.
Now in its 20th year, ‘Flavours’ took place in the Guildhall, in the City of London, and was attended by around 100 global inbound tour operators who deliver business from all over the world, including the United States, Mainland Europe, Asia, Australasia and Africa.
‘Flavours’ provides an excellent opportunity for the participating tourism providers from Galway and Ireland to highlight and sell their tourism product and build valuable relationships with the key decision-makers in attendance.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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From the Galway City Tribune – The Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR) has asked Galway City Council to roll back material alterations to the new City Development Plan proposed by councillors.
In July, elected members voted through a raft of changes to zonings in the Draft City Development Plan 2023-29, which went out on public display.
But the Planning Regulator has now warned City Hall that many of the proposed changes do not comply with the OPR’s recommendations, and are contrary to national planning guidelines.
The OPR specifically highlighted problems with proposals to rezone as residential land deemed at risk of flooding.
Anne Marie O’Connor, Deputy Regulator, wrote to the Council’s Planning Department outlining the OPR’s fresh advice on the changes to the draft plan proposed and approved by councillors.
The draft plan will come before elected members again this month.
Councillors will be asked to row back on some of their previous material alterations, which ran contrary to advice of the OPR.
Ms O’Connor said the OPR welcomed many of the changes made by the City Council in its draft plan. She said, however, that the OPR “has a number of outstanding concerns relating to the response of the planning authority to its recommendations and to a number of proposed material alterations relating to the zoning of lands”.
These relate to changes that conflict with national and regional objectives for compact growth; with legislative requirements regarding climate action and core strategies; and with rezoning land at risk of flooding.
The OPR highlighted a dozen or more material alterations by councillors that are “not consistent” with the National Planning Framework for compact growth.
These include re-zoning of land from agricultural or recreational and amenity to residential.
The changes voted on by councillors, the OPR noted, were done against the advice of the Council’s Chief Executive Brendan McGrath.
The OPR said the changes proposed by councillors represented a “piecemeal approach” to zoning and were “inconsistent” with national policy.
These comments related to proposed rezoning of land at Rahoon; Dublin Road; Quarry Road, Menlo; Ballindooley; off Circular Road; Menlo village; Roscam and Barna Woods.
The OPR also raised “significant concerns” over five material alterations proposed for residential zonings of land at Western Distributor Road; Terryland; Menlo Village; Headford Road and Barna Woods which are located within flood zones.
The approach by councillors “may place people and property at unnecessary risk from future flood events”, the OPR warned.
Ms O’Connor told planners that if the draft plan ignores the OPR advice or is at odds with its recommendations, the Council Chief Executive must inform the OPR in writing the reasons for doing so.
Save Roscam Peninsula in a 33-page submission to the draft plan echoed many of the concerns outlined by the OPR.
The Council has pencilled in four dates in November and December to approve the plan.
It will meet on November 21, 24 and 28 and December 1 when material alterations will be voted on individually.
This article first appeared in the print edition of the Galway City Tribune, November 4. You can support our journalism by subscribing to the Galway City Tribune HERE. The print edition is in shops every Friday.
JOHN HARNEY from Mountpleasant first joined the Ballinasloe Horse and Agriculture Show Committee, all of 60-years ago, on April 24, 1962. Both John and the show are still going strong as they celebrate their 183rd event on this Sunday. Here, he looks back on his involvement with this iconic show through the years.
THE Ballinasloe Show back in the early 1960s was going well with both the Showgrounds and Duggan Park both used for running the competitions.
My first introduction to the show was stewarding the pony competitions in the Mountpleasant end of the Duggan Park with the rest of the GAA field being used for trade stands.
At that time, it was a very big show with horses, ponies, cattle and sheep, pigs and fowl – also there was a big garden and farm produce section as well as a home craft and baking section with flowers and plants supported by a very large women’s committee.
At that time, showjumping took place in the afternoon with the top riders in the country taking part. I was elected Chairman at the AGM in 1975, a position I held for ten years.
During that time, the Duggan Park Committee approached the Show Committee for a piece of the showgrounds behind the GAA Stand for dressing rooms.
This was brought up a number of times at our committee meetings, and at first, the view was that the Duggan Park Committee would buy the ground.
However, after much deliberation it was decided by the Show Committee to ‘give the ground’ for the sum of £1 with the proviso that the dressingrooms could be used on show days by the local ICA to do catering for the event.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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