Overview

A beautifully written celebration of the essence of the Irish Garden. Don't leave yet. Let there be one more piece of magic to remember the place by. Is there something especially Irish about Irish gardens? The climate, soils, availability of plants and skills of green-fingered people generate an unusually benign environment, it's true, but not one that is unique to Ireland. Irish gardens tend to avoid magnificence in favour of a quiet and domesticated beauty, but that is not peculiar to Ireland either. Strains of Irishness run through these gardens like seams of ore. Seen not just as zones of horticultural bravura, but also as reflections of historical, cultural, political and religious events and values, the gardens accrue an unusual richness of surface and depth of meaning. Atmospherically illustrated by Brian Lalor, The Irish Garden wanders into individual gardens, rather than presenting a sweeping chronology. This book is a rhapsody on themes of Irishness, as if the spirit and soul of Ireland itself were sometimes more visible in these places than in the more conventionally visited locations of battlefields, breweries and bars. AUTHOR: Peter Dale is a poet, lecturer and long-time contributor to the Hortus, the world's leading gardening periodical. Brian Lalor, artist and writer, has exhibited and published widely. He is curator of the Ballydehob Arts Museum.

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9780750998093

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In almost thirty years of garden publishing I have seldom come across such a wealth of knowledge and original observation, written with panache, elegance and deep affection. My readers and I have been extremely lucky; so too the gardens, now finding themselves so skillfully chronicled. -- David Wheeler, Editor * The Penguin Book of Garden Writing * In almost thirty years of garden publishing I have seldom come across such a wealth of knowledge and original observation, written with panache, elegance and deep affection. My readers and I have been extremely lucky; so too the gardens, now finding themselves so skillfully chronicled. -- David Wheeler * Editor, The Penguin Book of Garden Writing *

Author Information

Peter Dale is a poet, lecturer and long-time contributor to the Hortus, the world’s leading gardening periodical. Brian Lalor, artist and writer, has exhibited and published widely. He is curator of the Ballydehob Arts Museum.

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