The first major book on Irish gardens in well over a decade …
THE IRISH GARDEN
By Jane Powers
Photography by Jonathan Hession
£40׀ 2nd April 2014 ׀ 400 pages ׀ Frances Lincoln Publishers
The Irish Garden, written by Jane Powers, with atmospheric photographs by Jonathan Hession, visits sixty of the most beautiful gardens in Ireland. The book is laid out thematically, and takes you through a tour of gardens, from the grand old demesnes of the Anglo-Irish ascendancy to the intensely personal creations of passionate plants people and garden makers.
Visitors to Ireland are often surprised at the ‘palm trees’ that make so many gardens look as if they belong in a holiday postcard. How can such exotics survive on an island that is as far north as the prairies of Canada and the pine forests of Siberia? The answer lies in the tail of the Gulf Stream – the North Atlantic Drift – which wraps around this green land on the western edge of Europe.
Its warm and watery embrace bestows the renowned ‘soft’ climate that allows those palm trees (in fact, New Zealand cordylines) to make their homes here – along with tree ferns from Australia and bananas from Japan. Plants from colder regions, including rhododendrons, primulas and all manner of alpines, are equally happy. So, with a range of plants that runs from the subtropical to the subarctic, and a landscape that varies from gently pastoral to savagely rugged, Ireland has some of the most romantic and interesting gardens in the world.
JANE POWERS was born in Ireland to American parents, and spent her childhood moving back and forth between the United States and Ireland. Both her parents were writers. She has been writing about gardens and gardening in Irish and British publications for 20 years, and is the gardening correspondent for The Sunday Times, Ireland. She has also written about environmental matters, low impact and ethical living, food, property, art, crafts, and life in general — but her abiding love is gardens and gardening, and the people, plants and places involved. She is the author of The Living Garden. The Irish Garden is her second book. Jane lives and gardens in Dún Laoghaire, a coastal town near Dublin. She manages her garden organically, and with respect to the rhythms of nature. Jane Powers blogs at onebeanrow.com
JONATHAN HESSION is an Irish photographer who specialises in taking publicity photos on film sets. He has worked on most of the major feature films that have been shot in Ireland over the last two decades. He is also a keen landscape photographer and his book, The Atlantic Coast of Ireland, was published by Frances Lincoln in 2014. He is married to Jane Powers who has opened his eyes to the world of garden photography. They live in Dún Laoghaire, Dublin.
