Lynn O’Keeffe-Lascar explains how Irish garden owners and operators are collaborating to promote and develop Ireland’s wealth of garden treasures
Open gardens’ is a very broad sector. It stretches from large publicly funded free entry parks such as the Phoenix Park and the National Botanic Gardens to successful commercial enterprises like Blarney Castle and Gardens to ‘plantsman’ gardens open by appointment only, for instance, Cahir Bridge in Fanore, Co Clare, to gardens that open as charity fundraisers. Size, visitor numbers, design quality, accessibility and facilities available vary considerably. Some have grouped together into trails and others battle it out to promote themselves on their own. Some have joined Houses, Castles & Gardens of Ireland, some have linked in with the RHSI, but all feel we would be better facilitated by Failte Ireland and the marketing bodies of Tourism Ireland and Discover Ireland as one united group to gain more impact for the gardening sector.
On 24 October last year, the first Open Gardens conference was held at the beautiful Inish Beg Estate near Baltimore, West Cork. The turnout was great, with over 60 participants from gardens in Donegal to Connemara to Carlow.
The day was very well organised with inspiring speakers. Paul Keane of Inish Beg Estate spoke about how a representative group could work more effectively with Bord Failte, Discover Ireland and Tourism Ireland to maximise promotion and marketing.
Jane Powers was in attendance, author of the recently published ‘The Irish Garden’ book, and she is very passionate about the quality and standard of gardens in Ireland. She gave some good advice about what the visitor is looking for in a garden: escape, inspiration, unusual plants, plants for sale, good design, a nice cup of tea and a clean bathroom.
Micheal O’Neil of West Cork Tourism and Tim Lucy of Cork County Council spoke about the nuts and bolts of attracting tourists. They talked about sustainable destinations (an EU initiative) and the different categories of tourists: those that want the “Experience Package, the Culturally Curious, the Great Escapers and the Social Energisers”. The culturally curious look for friendly welcomes, knowledge, learning and an authentic experience, all of which can be supplied by a well run open garden. The great escapers want to relieve stress, get into the outdoors, and like a multi-sensory experience. So these are the two groups open gardens need to market to.
Following on from these talks, we split into groups to brainstorm various topics, came together to debate the answers and elected an interim steering committee. It was also decided that meetings would be held in a different location each time, moving around the country. A delicious lunch was served, followed by walks around the gardens and woodlands of Inish Beg Estate.
The second meeting was held at the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin on 16 April 2016.
Another beautiful location, which always adds to the appeal of the meetings. The interim committee had done a lot of work since the first meeting and had a possible name and logo for approval.
About 20 people attended, including representatives from tour operators and big-name gardens such as Altamont, there to show support and discuss the practicalities of turning this diverse group of garden-loving individuals into a properly structured organisation, to promote Ireland as the Garden Isle.
This meeting was a lot less idealistic and much more technical with debates as to the merits of being a trust, whether or not to have a CEO, Board of Directors etc. Also discussed were types of memberships, sources of funding, minimum standards for gardens, and as proved very controversial, a star rating system for gardens, as used by B&Bs and hotels. There were plenty of suggestions, but the idea was scrapped in favour of categories like ‘Formal Parkland Gardens’ or ‘Small and Quirky’.
The interim committee suggested that the purposes of the group would be to:
● represent gardens open to the public on the island of Ireland
● manage the membership and website
● organise an annual garden tourism conference
● promote garden tourism
● run a garden awards system
● liaise with garden trails
● attend garden open days
● and also to evaluate and measure the development and performance of the Gardens of Ireland body
A committee was elected, which included garden tour operators, which is great to see as their input is essential to the successful promotion of gardens. The next stakeholder meeting was set for 21 October at a venue to be arranged. If you’d like to attend please email Trevor@trevoredwardsgardens.com ✽
 Lynn O’Keeffe-Lascar, DSc Amenity Horticulture, is a horticulturist based in Co Galway. She works with community groups, Tidy Towns, the OPW and for private clients. She can be contacted at lynnsirishgardens.wix.com or via Twitter at @OkeeffeLynn |
