This is the journal of my endeavours to grow a range of fruit, veg and flowers from seed, grow organically, and my attempts to create a personal paradise with 1/2 acre of maintained gardens and 1/2 acre wild meadows. Northern Ireland's average daily high temperatures are 18 °C (64 °F) in July and 6 °C (43 °F) in January. Soil type: Clay

Wednesday, 4 May 2011

Inspiration - Mount Stewart day out

A day out at Mount Stewart National Trust Property, County Down, Northern Ireland. It was an overcast day - the gardens look even better in sunshine! Click on photos to enlarge.
 The garden is described as "Lady Londonderry's playground: a unique and whimsical fantasy to mirror her varying tastes."  It has Italian and Spanish influences. A great place to visit.

Isn't this boat fantastic. Probably some of the best topiary in Ireland!
The Shamrock Garden - originally 30 topiary figures were in this area. Today there are eight, reinstated in the 1990s in Irish yew.
A Royal Crown.
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10 comments:

  1. Jo4 May 2011 at 01:47

    It looks a lovely place for a day out. It's nice to be able to take some inspiration from these kind of gardens.

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  2. Hazel4 May 2011 at 05:46

    wow! I was admiring the hedges and then I saw the boat etc. How fantastic!

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  3. Karin / Southern Meadows4 May 2011 at 06:09

    What a fabulous place to get inspired! I love the color combination of orange, purple and blue blooms. It works!

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  4. Elly's kleine idylle4 May 2011 at 07:25

    Wow, wow, wow, what a beautiful garden. It's a place to be, so nice. The figures are wonderfull.
    Thank you for sharing us this beauty.
    Lovely greetings, Elly

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  5. Malay-Kadazan girl4 May 2011 at 08:30

    A fun and relaxing outing. Wish I can visit this place too. Kelli, I would like to post some seeds to you, I hope you don't mind giving me your address to my mail diana.demiyah@gmail.com

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  6. Mark Willis4 May 2011 at 09:28

    Ah Kelli, I see what you are aspiring to now! Wouldn't it be just fantastic to have a garden like that - and the staff to maintain it? Topiary must be so much easier since the invention of the electric hedge-trimmer!

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  7. Peggy4 May 2011 at 10:38

    I love visiting country houses and admiring the gardens, if you see just one thing to inspire your own garden then it is worth it.The scale is huge but good ideas can be resized!
    Our rhubarb is producing at a great rate this year too,swiss chard is not one of our faves or radish so we don't plant either of them.

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  8. HolleyGarden4 May 2011 at 18:36

    Wow- this is great inspiration! *sigh* I just need a crown in my garden! ;O Actually, I just bought a couple of books on topiaries for inspiration! So, maybe one day I'll have something (probably not a crown). I love the sunburst gardens, too!

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  9. ann4 May 2011 at 19:06

    What beautiful gardens.

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  10. Egretta Wells blog5 May 2011 at 11:26

    I love Mount Stewart and fondly remember visiting it! How inspiring it is. The gardens are lovely and I really love the color combinations they use. The topiaries are excellent! Beautiful post!

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