Courses

Students and staff on the HND Horticulture and Garden Design courses at the Ayr Campus have recently returned from a study tour to Ireland. Some of the finest gardens and nurseries in Ireland were visited and the students had the opportunity to see a range of different career opportunities and learn something of the work involved from the gardeners and production managers.

 

The first garden visited was Belfast Botanic Gardens where the curator discussed the public role of the garden with its Victorian style plantings of flower beds, its use for events and the important features like the 19th century Palm House and Tropical Ravine House.

This was followed by Seaforde Gardens with its plants from the far East collected over the past 40 years. South of Dublin Kilruddery, one of the earliest gardens in Ireland is being restored by a very energetic and knowledgeable head gardener. Designed by a student of Le Notre, who designed the gardens at Versailles, it is a garden of classical symmetry and other features like the Sylvan Theatre.

Close by two further gardens were visited; Mount Usher, whose design was inspired by William Robinson whose ideas of the ‘wild garden’ evolved into the English Cottage Garden. Trees and shrubs planted in irregular layouts with dense under planting makes a fascinating garden to explore. The group then returned to a much more formal style of garden design at Powerscourt which is famous for its Italianate Garden.

The final garden visited during the four days of the tour was Talbot Botanic Garden at Malahide Castle. A garden specialising in plants from the Southen Hemisphere it was on a smaller scale than the other gardens and perhaps provided design ideas for plantings on a scale more useable in typical back gardens of Scotland.

In between garden visits the group also visited several nurseries. A mushroom grower was a must as it has been an important crop in Ireland for many years. This was followed by Tully’s nursery that provides trees and shrubs for the landscape and garden centre market. A modern, mechanised nursery the students saw efficient plant production to a very high standard of husbandry. New selections, being introduced to the market were also shown to the group. Glasshouse nurseries producing sweet peppers, strawberries, pot plants and herbs were also visited. The investment in modern glass and equipment was very impressive and the students also learnt about the use of biological control to prevent pests.

Unfortunately the weather was not good during the visit to Ireland but the quality of the gardens and growers visited and the knowledge and enthusiasm of our hosts meant that not only did the group learn a lot during the tour but also enjoyed the visits despite the weather.

Peter Macdonald
May 2009