Ciar Byrne

England, United Kingdom

Freelance Gardening Writer at Daily Mail

Gardening Writer at Freelance

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Articles

7 garden design rules you can totally break, and the one you never should

4 weeks ago | gardensillustrated.com | Ciar Byrne

When it comes to the layout and planting of our gardens, most of us have fixed ideas about how things should be done. Perhaps it was the way our childhood garden was arranged (large lawn with pencil-thin flowerbeds around the edges, anyone?), or something we’ve read in a book or seen on a TV show.
Gardening expert issues warning about plants that should NEVER be seen in your garden - and shares the most trendy ones to have this summer

1 month ago | dailymail.co.uk | Ciar Byrne

Never mind the celebrities in their floral frocks and shirts, it was the plants that were the stars at last week’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Every year breeders introduce dazzling newcomers you will want to take home and grow in your garden, patio or on a balcony right away. Fashions in plants change with all the vagaries of the catwalk. Sometimes the trends are trivial. For example, a shade might match perfectly with the Pantone Colour of the Year.
how to get in for free

1 month ago | gardensillustrated.com | Ciar Byrne

When holistic gardener Kim van Niekerk received a phone call from South Korean garden designer Ji-hae Hwang asking if she could help as a volunteer with the planting of her RHS Chelsea 2023 garden, A Letter from a Million Years Past, she dropped everything and got on a plane to Londonfrom her home in South Africa.
Action plan: CIAR BYRNE'S essential jobs for your garden this week

2 months ago | dailymail.co.uk | Ciar Byrne

SOW COURGETTES AND MARROWSBotanically speaking, courgettes and marrows are the same species. The main difference is that courgettes, or zucchini, are best eaten while they are young and fresh. Marrows can be left to grow bigger and stored to eat over the autumn and winter. Choose varieties selected for growing as marrows such as ‘Tiger Cross’ and ‘Long Green Trailing’, or as courgettes such as green ‘Defender’ and yellow ‘Parador’. Sow seeds indoors individually in small containers.
Hail the purple reign of lilacs: Sow these beauties now for glorious blooms that will last through to autumn

2 months ago | dailymail.co.uk | Ciar Byrne

Hail the purple reign of lilacs: Sow these beauties now for glorious blooms that will last through to autumnBy CIAR BYRNE FOR THE DAILY MAIL Published: 14:55 EDT, 27 April 2025 | Updated: 14:55 EDT, 27 April 2025 Lilacs are only in flower for a few weeks a year but they have inspired great art, music and literature. Van Gogh and Monet painted them, singer-songwriter Nick Drake sang about the ‘lilac time’, and T. S.
Action plan: CIAR BYRNE'S essential jobs for your garden this week

2 months ago | dailymail.co.uk | Ciar Byrne

ROLL OUT THE BLUE CARPETOur garden is awash with bluebells and although they are not the native ones, I still appreciate the splashes of colour they provide in mid-spring. They are just as popular with pollinators, too. If you go for a walk in the woods at this time of year, you might see carpets of blue.
Go native with pleasing perennials

2 months ago | dailymail.co.uk | Ciar Byrne

There is a reason why Flora, the goddess of flowers, takes pride of place in Botticelli’s famous painting Spring, with petals on her dress and strewn at her feet. This is one of the loveliest times of year when spring-flowering perennials, many of them native, come into their own – those plants that return annually to bloom as the days grow longer. Now the ground has warmed up, April is a great time to plant perennials.
Your journey from plot to plate: Britain's starriest chefs have their hands in the soil - and so can you

2 months ago | dailymail.co.uk | Ciar Byrne

Your journey from plot to plate: Britain's starriest chefs have their hands in the soil - and so can youBy CIAR BYRNE FOR THE DAILY MAIL Published: 15:28 EDT, 13 April 2025 | Updated: 15:28 EDT, 13 April 2025 Top UK restaurants are increasingly growing their own produce to serve to diners. Raymond Blanc’s signature restaurant, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire, has an abundant organic potager.
Action plan: CIAR BYRNE'S essential jobs for your garden this week

2 months ago | dailymail.co.uk | Ciar Byrne

CULTIVATE AN ALPINE LANDSCAPE Spring is the perfect time to bring a touch of the mountains to your garden or balcony by filling a bed or large container with alpine plants. These tiny gems are perfect if you are short of space, as they don’t take up too much room and work well in troughs or old butler sinks. Plant a few different varieties together, arranging them to look natural, with small rocks, stones or gravel around them.
Action plan: CIAR BYRNE'S essential jobs for your garden this week

2 months ago | dailymail.co.uk | Ciar Byrne

Action plan: CIAR BYRNE'S essential jobs for your garden this weekBy CIAR BYRNE FOR THE DAILY MAIL Published: 16:34 EDT, 6 April 2025 | Updated: 16:34 EDT, 6 April 2025 Harden off tender plantsTender plants need to be out in the garden by the end of this month once the risk of overnight frosts has passed. But they need to be toughened up first, so the transition is not too much of a shock. This process is called 'hardening off'.