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.