See a garden fit for a President as the Donegal Garden Trail opens for business with a new addition to its sparkling lineup of the county's best gardens.
'Irish Garden for the White House' was created by Ireland's best-known designer, Diarmuid Gavin, for the US President in Washington DC and is currently being built in the gardens of the White House. For the first time you can see an exact replica at Castlefinn, Co. Donegal, a walled garden packed with many of the plant species which have arrived in Ireland from America over the centuries.
Other highlights of the 21 gardens on the trail include traditional vegetable gardening using Donegal 'lazy beds' at Salthill Garden in Mountcharles, exotic tropical plants at Cluain nadTor Nursery Gardens in Falcarragh and the delightful wildlife gardens at Ros Ban, near Raphoe. There are pretty cottage gardens like Mrs Jessie Mahaffy's Garden in Lifford, and romantic grandeur from the magnificent Glenveagh Castle Gardens in Letterkenny.
Take your notebook along, as there's bound to be tons of ideas and inspiration for you to take home and recreate in your own garden with a little help and advice from your favourite garden centre. For more information about the Donegal Garden Trail, which runs all this summer, visit www.donegalgardentrail.com.
