It’s a privilege to have any kind of a garden these days. Whether it’s a balcony or an urban trellised yard, a patch of grass or a windowsill filled with flowers, those of us lucky enough to have some kind of space to cultivate, whether big or small, usually cherish it. That’s why garden festivals have always had allure. People come to admire, to dream, to sniff, to take notes or pictures, to walk around, to learn something, to talk to the people who live there and whose gardens they are.
Carlow Garden Festival has been in existence for more than 20 years, and runs this year from July 25th to August 2nd. The events take place in many beautiful gardens and houses, including Kilgraney House, Hardymount House, Borris House and Huntington Castle. Among the many events is a talk called Gardening Along the Gulf Stream with John Anderson, at Altamont Gardens.
“He’s the king’s gardener,” says Robert Miller, chairman of the festival.
“The king’s gardener?” I say. “You mean, the king of gardeners?”
Miller guffaws down the phone. “He’s the king’s gardener. King Charles.”
Later, I google Anderson’s name. “He is currently the Keeper of the Gardens of the Windsor Estate” his short biography reads, because frankly what need is there to list much else when you have that on your CV?
Miller, who runs Altamont Plants at Altamont Gardens, has been chairman of the festival for the entirety of its existence. Along with a committee, he helps to programme the festival, which is the annual highlight of the year-round Carlow Garden Trail. A new house and garden to the festival this year is Sandbrook House in Ballon, where Arthur Shackleton will talk about A Tale of a Country Garden Reimagined.
“We have added a couple of evening events, as we are conscious that not everyone is available every day, or during the day,” Miller says. The festival receives some 3,000 visitors a year, and Miller says most are retired. They would like a more diverse crowd, and attract more visitors to Carlow in the process. The festival, as Miller puts it, “washes its face”, as in, it covers its costs, but there is potential for growth.
Some of this year’s speakers include Chris Beardshaw at Duckett’s Grove on Painting with Plants. Beardshaw is a regular on both BBC radio and television. Other participants are Oliver Schurmann, lately of Mount Venus Gardens at Tibradden in Co Dublin; Irish Times columnist Éanna Ni Lamnha, who is leading a biodiversity walk on the Ballon Tree Trail; and Tom Brown, who will be presenting a virtual tour of West Dean Gardens in Sussex.
Altamont’s walled garden in Co Carlow, managed by Robert Miller. Photograph: Richard Johnston 
Sandbrook House and Gardens
One return speaker this year, by popular demand via the questionnaire feedback forms attendees are invited to complete after each event, is British-born Bunny Guinness, who lives in East Anglia. Bunny is a nickname, and it’s not after a rabbit but a piece of baked confectionery. When born she apparently had two black eyes from delivery. “I came out looking like a currant bun,” she says. At Carlow, her upcoming talk at Huntington Castle is themed Designing with Plants.
The six-time gold medal winner at the Chelsea Flower Show is a landscape gardener and a newspaper columnist. Her YouTube gardening channel @bunnyguinness has 57,000 subscribers. She’s also a long-standing panellist on BBC Radio 4’s Gardener’s Question Time, an ever-popular programme now running for 70 years.
“You don’t know the questions in advance,” she says, so the panellists really do have to come up with advice and answers on the spot.
What is the single best thing one can do for a garden of any size? Is it careful weeding, watering, pruning, planting or something else?
“I think it’s the bones, the design of it,” she says. “With a garden, you might love your plants and know your plants but if you haven’t got the basic design right, it is never going to work so well. I think people get blurred with the love of plants. We all love plants, but you want to make those plants work with the basic design to really emphasise what you are trying to get across.”
She talks about visiting grandchildren in Killiney – a son lives in Dublin. Mentioning a park there that she visits with her grandchildren, she says: “I keep meaning to have a look at that Irish garden of … is it the famous Irish pop singer? I can’t remember his name. From a famous band. One of his band has a lovely garden near there [Killiney] and he said I could come and have a look at it.”
Credit: Carlow Tourism
“Bono?” I ask.
“No, not Bono. What’s Bono’s mate called, who’s in the same band? And they did a thing on his garden in Gardener’s World?”
Bono’s bandmate with a “lovely garden” that Guinness hasn’t yet visited, despite the invitation, is Adam Clayton. He is a keen gardener, and his Rathfarnham garden was indeed featured at length on BBC Gardener’s World in 2024.
“I would take up the invitation,” I say, and she says she must find the time.
“I’d like to see Jeremy Irons’s castle garden,” she says. “That’s quite nice, isn’t it?”
“I have not seen it,” I say. If you’re reading this, Jeremy, I am happy to visit your quite nice garden at Kilcoe Castle in Roaringwater Bay any time.
Mary Keenan co-runs the four-acre Gash Gardens in Castletown, Co Laois, and is a former editor of the Irish Garden magazine. Her Walk and Talk event at Carlow is at BEAM Barrow Experience Gardens in Bagenalstown on August 2nd.
Mary Keenan
What trends has she has noticed over time that people are including or omitting in their domestic gardens?
“In the last 15-20 years, there has been a huge move towards perennial planting and of grasses,” she says. “That has permeated gardens. People are also now planting food and herbs through their ornamental beds. Urban gardens are getting smaller and smaller, so people are putting in fruit trees and vegetables, and making good use of wall space. In recent times there is a move back towards appreciating shrubs. Shrubs give year-round structure to a garden.”
What is the secret in creating a successful garden, no matter what size?
Keenan emphasises the importance of shrubs again. “Focus on year-round interest,” she says. “A shrub or a small tree will give structure to a garden. No matter how small most gardens are, you can fit in a tree. It keeps you in touch with nature and you can watch it through the seasons. Even the lovely silhouette of branches in the winter adds another level of experience.”
She also suggests adding scented flowers. “Fragrance is very important. Roses, honeysuckle, lavender. The smaller a space is, the more intense a fragrance can be. Then there are bees, birds. Even a balcony garden is a connection with nature.”
The Carlow Garden Festival runs July 25th-August 2nd. carlowgardentrail.com
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