End of Year Meeting of Gardening Group ( 14/6/2023 )

On Wednesday the 14th of June we went to Kilcoan Garden in Islandmaghee for our final meeting this year.

We have been to this garden several times but, it is always wonderful to revisit because there is always something new to discover  and something new to learn from Cherry Townsend the owner of this fantastic organic garden..

It was a glorious summer day and the  garden   was at it’s best in the sunshine..

We started our day with coffee and an abundance of homemade Tray bakes in cherry’s Barn and then had a long guided tour of the whole garden with Cherry as our expert.

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She is truly a wonderful plant’s woman and knows every single plant in the garden. Its botanical name,  it’s common name, it’s heritage, conditions to grow it etc.

She shares all this knowledge very easily and such a friendly fashion.

The garden is totally organic and about one acre in extent.

Within it there is a  wonderful cottage garden  full of healthy and obviously very happy plants, a herb garden, pond area, a wild Meadow and an area which Cherry calls the Prairie garden.

The herb garden was particularly interesting because  cherry knows the uses and benefits of each one.

They are common things like mint, and ladies mantle or sage and it’s always interesting to know their uses.

Everybody will remember different particular plants within the garden, but for me, the wonderfully intense blue Japanese irises or the fragrant  Isfahan roses  stand out

We finished are garden tour by going to Cherry’s greenhouse and buying some of the plants which we particularly admired.

Finally we were glad to get out of the heat and share our picnics under the shade of the trees overlooking the garden with the sea in the distance.. 

Altogether a wonderful and memorable end to our garden group year.