HC Spring 2016 – Horticulture news

NEW ‘GARDEN CAFÉ’ RADIO SHOW SEEKING A SPONSOR

A new radio show ‘Garden Café’ is currently under development and seeking interested sponsors. Creator Eugene Higgins and producer Andrew Mangan of Castaway Media recently recorded the first demo episode. Eugene Higgins tells HC that ‘Garden Café’ was created and designed as a ‘Top Gear’ type of experience for gardeners. Informative to gardeners while also entertaining enough to retain the general listening public. It is being offered as a seasonal radio programme with perhaps two runs a year of 8 episodes.

Eugene says “This type of programme can be worked into a radio schedule with relative ease. The Garden Café team includes most importantly a non-gardener in our guest presenter Sile Seoige, who represents the audience who are sometimes bamboozled by too much latin based gardening talk.” The concept is currently being pitched to all the main national broadcasters and the production team would also ideally like to be bringing a sponsor to the table, which will help it secure a prime slot in the broadcasting schedule.

The ‘Garden Cafe’ team are Eugene Higgins, Marie Staunton and Peter Donegan.
Listen to the demo at www.horticulture.ie/garden-cafe. Interested sponsors can contact Eugene on 087 225 7310. ✽

HAPPY 200TH BIRTHDAY TO THE RHSI

On the 30th of September 2016, the Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland’s 200th birthday Gala will bring renowned gardeners Monty Don, Dan Hinkley and Roy Lancaster to speak at the RDS, Dublin 4. Chelsea Gold winning florist Jenny Murphy will also be demonstrating for floral art enthusiasts. Gardeners, active and armchair, whether members of the RHSI or not, are all welcome. The RHSI originated when a group of professional gardeners gathered in a Donnybrook tavern in September 1816 to drink beer and worry about ‘the art of gardening falling away and rapidly declining’. The modern RHSI has a more sanguine view of the future of Irish horticulture. With a mixed membership of hobby and professional gardeners, the organisation offers lectures, workshops, garden visits, overseas tours and hands-on volunteer gardening in the walled garden renovation project at Russborough, Co. Wicklow. To book tickets for the RHSI Gala on 30th September go to www.ticketmaster.ie ✽

RIP KIERAN SKELLY OF K&M NURSERIES

The team at HC would like to pass on our condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of a well-known nurseryman Kieran Skelly. Kieran was also the breeder of Potentilla ‘Glamour Girl’, which was launched at Glas 2013. A full Obituary will follow in the summer edition of HC. ✽

ITB HORTICULTURE NEWS UPDATE

After the success at Bloom 2015, ITB horticulture lecturers and students will once again be collaborating on Fingal County Council’s garden entry for Bloom 2016. The syllabus at their horticulture department continues to adapt to the sectors needs with a new course module ‘Health, Recreation and Green Infrastructure’ being added to their industry offering. Prospective industry members and new students can meet with staff and tour the new horticulture facilities at their upcoming ‘Open Evening’ which takes place from 5-7pm on Thursday, April 14th. ✽

GLDA MEMBERS VISIT TULLY NURSERIES

Over 20 Members of the GLDA recently visited the family-run nursery in Ballyboughal. The founder of the business, Martin Tully gave a talk about how the nursery has developed over the last 30 years. They also toured the production facilities and were shown an extensive range of perennials, multistem trees and shrubs grown specifically for the landscape sector. Also, on display were two new Prunus varieties, rotundifolia ‘Greenpeace’ and ‘Genolia’. ✽

ILI LANDSCAPE DESIGN AWARDS

The winners of the ILI Landscape Awards 2015 were announced late last year at a reception in the Irish Architectural Archive in Merrion Square, hosted by Acting President, Tim Austen MILI. A superb collection of projects was entered across eight categories, demonstrating the scope and skills of Irish Landscape Institute members within a range of practice sectors.

The ILI Awards give recognition to exemplary landscape projects and celebrate the contribution of landscape architects to the public good. And, as Tim Austen put it “the awards is also our chance to have a bit of fun, and to show off what we do.” Despite some difficult times in recent years, Irish Landscape architects continue to work on exceptional projects, and in many cases, fabulous projects have been achieved on low budgets, reflecting the creative adaptability of landscape architects.

Three new awards categories were launched in 2015: the Diane Nickels Memorial Award for Hand drawing, the Universal Design Award, and the ILI People’s Choice Award. The People’s Choice Award for Outdoor Spaces was introduced to give the public a chance to vote for their favourite landscape design projects, and to raise awareness of the work of landscape architects in their own streets, towns, parks and playgrounds.

Announcing the Winners:

● The Award for Public Realm Design went to Northern Ireland Landscape Practice The Paul Hogarth Co. for their Donegal Quay project in Belfast city centre. AECOM won a Highly Commended merit for their work on the Connswater Community Greenway. In the same category, commendations were received by Stephen Diamond Associates for Nenagh Town Park, Cunnane Stratton Reynolds for Mardyke Gardens and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Co. Council Parks Department for their Raised Promenade project.
● The Commercial & Institutional Design award was won by Stephen Diamond Associates for the Mater Misericordiae Hospital.
● The winner of the award for Design for Landscape, Heritage & Conversation was Airfield Estate by Dermot Foley Landscape Architects.
● There were joint winners in the Residential & Private Spaces category: Deirdre Walsh + Gavin Foy for The Pantry Garden and Digby Brady for Front Garden 30, Wellington Road.
● The Liberties Greening Strategy, by Dublin City Council and ÁIT Place won Highly Commended in the Landscape, Urbanism & Planning category.
● There were two Highly Commended awards in the Landscape Management, Policy & Research category: The Onshore Wind Farm Sector In Ireland by The Heritage Council, and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Green Infrastructure Strategy – Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Co. Council Parks Department.
● The inaugural ILI People’s Choice Award was won by Landscape Architect and ILI Vice-President Tim Austen for his work on the World War 1 Memorial at Woodenbridge, Co. Wicklow. Over 1200 votes were cast by members of the public, and the Memorial won first place from among twenty-five landscape projects.
● The inaugural Diane Nickels Award For Hand Drawing was won by Peter Hutchinson for Giant’s Park.
● Tim Austen presented the ILI PRESIDENT’S AWARD to the Paul Hogarth Co. for their work on the Wild Atlantic Way
● The reception closed with the presentation of the Outstanding Contribution To Landscape Architecture award jointly to Dr. Karen Foley & Desmond Fitzgerald. ✽

GARDEN SHOW IRELAND RETURNS TO ANTRIM CASTLE

Antrim Castle Gardens will once again be abuzz as Allianz Garden Show Ireland returns to the beautiful venue for a three day festival of flowers, food and fun. With a renewed focus on gardens this year there will be more to entice and inspire every level of gardener. Show Patron Monty Don returns once again and is a big fan of the historic venue. The theme of the NI Year of Food & Drink 2016 runs throughout the Show with a strong focus on the edible element of gardens in all of the Garden Visuals on display.

This year’s event will showcase a stunning large feature garden which vows to engage and excite visitors. It is being designed by married duo Michael Evans and Rohanna Heyes. The garden which will be the centre piece of the Show is entitled “Nourishing Tradition: from the Past, for the Future” and is based on the shape of the Brigid Cross. Rohanna told HC “We feel really fortunate to be given this project of designing and building a feature garden for this year’s Allianz Garden Show Ireland. In our garden, we celebrate the NI Year of Food and Drink 2016 with key edible plants and also by creating an emphasis on nourishment for the body and mind with symbolism throughout the garden. We hope to capture something of the ancient wildness of Northern Ireland and create an interactive space that is both fun as well as thought-provoking.”

New to the Show this year is the “Cameo Gardens”, smaller in design these inspirational and achievable gardens are based on the theme of ‘It starts with a Pot’. Other highlights include the Antrim Garden Trail gardens which are made up of a series of gardens from members of the Antrim Garden Trail which include the beautiful Kilcoan Gardens, Antrim Castle Gardens, Ballyrobert Cottage Garden and the stunning Walled Gardens at Greenmount.

The 2016 Allianz Garden Show Ireland will run from 6th – 8th May at Antrim Castle Gardens and is open daily from 10am-6pm with parking in town centre car parks and at Junction One. Adults are £10 (concession £8) and the event is FREE for children under 16. There is a reduced rate for online booking and for more information visit www.gardenshowireland.com. ✽

SUCCESS FOR NANGLE & NIESEN AT HOME AND ABROAD

Nangle & Niesen have won a substantial contract to supply leading UK tree grower, Deepdale Trees. Based in Bedfordshire, they specialise in growing spring-ringed trees for the domestic market. This new order sees the continuation of a relationship that began in 2012 and continues to flourish for the Cork-based company. On the home front, they have also been selected to supply trees to the new O’Flynn Construction site in Lucan, Co. Dublin

The development called Rokeby Park comprises over 70 detached and semi-detached houses aimed at the upper end of the market with most houses going for in excess of €700k. The contract includes supplying trees for the entrance and the common areas as well as the front gardens and show houses. It also includes supplying over 90 large Carpinus betulus ‘Fastigiata’ for screening purposes at the rear of the development. Ronan Nangle told HC “We are really pleased with the level of new business that the company is winning in Ireland and especially Dublin, where we have not been as widely known as we would like to be. What we really want to see are designers and landscapers from across Ireland visiting the nursery to really see and experience the quality of our unique offering”. ✽

OPEN DAY & INDUSTRY TRAINING AT TEAGASC COLLEGE OF AMENITY HORTICULTURE

The Teagasc College of Amenity Horticulture is continuing to expand its suite of courses which may suit people who are already working in the sector or who would like a taster of what a horticultural course feels like at the National Botanic Gardens. Recently they teamed up with ALCI to deliver a short training course for staff in the sector concentrating on planting techniques and plant identification. It was delivered by Chris Heavey in the College and was attended by 40 members of the association. The college is exploring further training options, with interested trade groups that will deal with specific topics of interest in relation to their business. College principal John Mulhearn told HC ” We are committed to being both reactive and proactive to the ongoing training needs of the horticulture industry.” Prospective new students and industry members can attend a ‘Course & Careers’ afternoon on Thursday, June 30th at 1 pm. More at www.teagasc.ie/botanicgardens. ✽

YOUNG HORTICULTURIST OF THE YEAR IRELAND FINAL 2016

The Chartered Institute of Horticulture (CIoH) Annual Young Horticulturist of the Year (YHoY) 2016 competition completed its local heats early on this year in all the horticultural colleges in the island of Ireland (North and South). About 220 budding horticulturists competed in the heats. The students with the highest scores went through to the Ireland final which was held on 25th of February in the fabulous Ardgillan Castle in Balbriggan. The day-long event started off with a tour of the immaculately kept garden by the head gardener Dominica. A large crowd of family, friends and CIoH members came to support their star horticulturalists in the quiz. HC was there on the day. It was an excellent quiz with a clear winner, Francis Mulholland from CAFRE, Greenmount Campus, who took the lead in round three and retained it all the way. Second and third were Conor Gallinagh (UCD) and Ruta Makaraite (Teagasc College Dublin).

Francis Mulholland won a voucher for €200 (courtesy of Bord Bia), a fork and spade (courtesy of Bulldog) and the beautiful book ‘The Wildflowers of Ireland’ by Zoe Devlin. All contestants got a year’s’ free subscription to Horticulture Connected as well as prize money from Bord Bia. Francis will represent Ireland in the CIoH Grand Final for the second time as he also won last year. The Grand Final will be held this year at the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin in Dublin on Saturday, May 7th. Dr. Paul Fitters who is instrumental in organising the event tells HC that “The Ireland Branch of the CIoH is very grateful for the continued support and sponsorship from Bord Bia. I also wanted to say a special thank you to Tom, Danielle, Cormac, Dominica and all the Ardgillan team for being so welcoming and helping us so professionally.”. ✽

SOUTHERN MACHINERY WINS REDLOUGH LANDSCAPES SUPPLY CONTRACT

Redlough Landscapes recently took delivery of four 2016 Hustler Z Diesel Mowers supplied by Southern Machinery. The company will operate the machines in part, on behalf of Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council and to also service an ever-growing commercial grounds maintenance portfolio. Aaron Redmond tells HC “These machines are geared toward increased output and efficiency, providing our clients with a high quality and cost-effective solution to their grounds maintenance needs. This latest delivery reinforces our annual commitment to investment in modern fleet and equipment across our grounds maintenance division.” It’s one of a string of recent sales to clients in the landscape sector for Southern Machinery’s Phillip Tutty. He told HC “We are now seeing a sustained growth in sales to commercial clients both large and small. The focus for all these buyers is to be able to minimise both the running and maintenance costs of their machinery.” Our Hustler offering is reaping the rewards due to these demands”. More at www.southernmachinery.ie. ✽