Ireland’s gardens are blazing with autumn colour and it’s a fantastic time of year to set off for a bracing walk around some of the best to collect inspiration to take home for your own garden. It’s also prime time for planting new trees and shrubs – so if your garden is short on autumn fireworks bring your notebook to the garden centre here in Athlone after your visit and we’ll help you create a display to end the year with a bang!
The National Botanic Gardens in Dublin is home to an arboretum filled with truly beautiful mature trees, while the Japanese Garden at Powerscourt, Co. Wicklow, is ablaze with scarlet maples at this time of year. At Rowallane Gardens, County Down, you can go on a fungi foray and discover curious inkcaps, bracket fungi and a huge cauliflower fungus (though best to look, not touch!)
But among the most famous autumn landscapes in Ireland must surely be the gold, bronze and russets of the beautiful treescape at Mount Stewart in Newtownards, Co. Down, reflected to perfection in the still waters of the lake. Recreate the same look in miniature with a formal pond planted with Japanese acers for a picture postcard perfect scene in your own back garden.
