Fionnuala Fallon

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Fionnuala Fallon

We have a holly tree growing in our garden for at least 20 years. In 2024, for the first time, in October, it produced red berries. These berries have remained on the tree, untouched by birds and now the tree is shedding. The drive is covered in holly leaves. This has never happened before, and we are mystified. Our garden is in rural Mayo, which has seen a lot of wind and rain this winter.

2 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Fionnuala Fallon

Who doesn’t, I ask you, love a properly sumptuous, decadently lush display of summer containers, with all its fleeting, peacock-ish beauty and promises of long, lazy, sunny days. Few things we do in the garden can so quickly pack a powerful visual punch, as well as an emotional one, reconnecting us with childhood memories of sun-kissed terracotta pots filled with scarlet geraniums, and trailing lipstick-pink petunias spilling out of hanging baskets.

2 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Fionnuala Fallon

In the world of gardening, plant collectors are something of a breed apart, with an endearingly boffinish passion for their chosen subject that can often border on the obsessive. In the case of Billy Alexander, owner of the otherworldly Kells Bay House & Gardens in Co Kerry, this genial, deeply knowledgeable horticulturist is what the Victorians would once have described as a “pteridomaniac”, a man whose decades-long, unwavering fascination with ferns has shaped his life in countless ways.

3 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Fionnuala Fallon

I’ve very recently purchased a polytunnel for my garden that I plan to use for growing vegetables and maybe a little fruit. I already have some outdoor vegetable beds, so I’m not short of growing space. But I’d really appreciate some advice on what kinds of crops you’d recommend for growing under cover. – Mary Heffernan, Co DublinCongratulations on your new polytunnel.

3 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Fionnuala Fallon

In the world of gardening, plant collectors are something of a breed apart, with an endearingly boffinish passion for their chosen subject that can often border on the obsessive. In the case of Billy Alexander, owner of the otherworldly Kells Bay House & Gardens in Co Kerry, this genial, deeply knowledgeable horticulturist is what the Victorians would once have described as a ‘pteridomaniac’, a man whose decades-long, unwavering fascination with ferns has shaped his life in countless ways.