A shale mulch has been used on the rockeries. The shale provides three benefits: it allows for better drainage around the alpines; it conserves moisture in the soil; and it helps to suppress weeds. It also improves the overall appearance of the rockeries. We have met with some problems during the time since planting took place. Horsetail (Equisetum sp.) has become dominant in portions of some of the rockeries and despite our efforts it does seem to be spreading. We believe that this weed was possibly lying dormant under the soil and once the soil was cultivated and loosened the horsetail came to the surface and thrived. This is being treated chemically, but it will be a long slow process. The Japanese anemone (Anemone japonica) took repeated spraying but is now nearly eradicated; just a few plants are standing their ground against us. Bindweed is present in some places also. This has been treated over the past two summers and is getting ever weaker. A very invasive species of Oxalis is spreading through the rockeries, and unfortunately roots through everything in its path, so this will be difficult to ever remove fully. It seems to be quite resistant to chemical treatment, and as it roots into every nook and cranny it is impossible to remove it all by digging.

The southeast section of the rockeries contained an area that had previously held a protective frame of some sort. Two rectangular concrete frames remained at ground level, surrounded by dry stone walls of large cut stone. This structure had been built into one of the rockeries. The walls were in very poor condition with many of the stones having shifted out of position. Tadgh Murphy carried out extensive repair work on the walls, rebuilding them from the ground up in many places. The frames were in such bad condition that they were beyond repair so it was decided to remove them.

This sheltered area provided the perfect location for a crevice garden. The aim of crevice gardening is to provide a suitable habitat to plants that naturally grow in deep cool crevices. This feature would allow us grow an even larger range of plants. We began work on the crevice garden in October 2007 with the help of Jimmy Currid and Stephen MacSweeney. The soil from the frames was dug over and much of it was removed. We found a lot of the stone needed within the estate and the remainder came from a quarry in Manorhamilton. The stones were laid in rows running in a southeast direction, so that we could fully utilise the aspect. The spaces between the stones were back-filled with a mix of grit and soil. The plants required are specialised for these growing conditions, and were sourced by Carl in Aberconwy Nurseries in Wales.

Once planted up, the crevice garden was mulched with fine shale. Most of the plants have established very well, though some appear to be quite appealing to slugs. Carl planted the surrounding walls with plants suited to growing in gaps between stones. These have settled in very well and really help to soften the wall.

Saxifraga paniculata ‘Cockscomb’ is one plant doing particularly well in these conditions. The crevice garden and walls now contain more than 100 species and cultivars of suitable plants.

The open sunny nature of the location means that fungal problems are minimal. Sawfly became a major problem during the summer of 2008, and the abundance of bees, butterflies and ladybirds made chemical treatment very difficult. There are more than 270 roses growing within the three beds so deadheading at the height of summer is a very time consuming process. Proper pruning and training of the climbing roses is very important and is an on-going commitment. Mushroom compost was used as a mulch on these beds initially. It greatly improved the quality of the soil, but we found that weed seeds readily germinated in it. We now use cocoa shell, which has proved much more suitable. In keeping with the original function of the revetment walls, the top retaining wall was planted with alpines in the winter of 2008. The plants used were taken from the rockeries in the garden.

A number of borders were present in the garden and most were in need of planting. The borders first needed to be cleared of excessive weed growth, and the soil was rotovated. The soil in the garden is a light clay loam and is very fertile. The soil had been worked for many years so the quality and structure was perfectly suited to planting. The fact that the garden was colonised by deciduous trees for nearly fifty years meant that leaf mould has naturally been incorporated into the soil over time, greatly increasing fertility. Brian Wood created the designs for the borders, and he, along with Carl Dacus, kindly sourced the plants for us. Carl was again on site to assist in the planting of these beds. The first border to be designed and planted was the long border running along the southeast wall. This border is approximately 80 metres long by 3 metres wide. The design incorporates both shrubs and perennials to give as long a season of interest as possible. Planting took place in July 2007 and the plants quickly settled in thanks to a damp summer. Many of the perennials provided a great show in their first year. We lost some plants during strong winds in the winter of 2007, as the lower half of this border is very exposed to the prevailing southwesterly winds. Those that survived are still going strong. Polygala x myrtifolia x oppositifolia ‘Bibi Pink’ andTeucrium fruticans are particularly good performers in this border, both consistently flowering for most of the year. A specimen of Arbutus unedo was planted at the top of the hill in 2008. Most trees would find it hard to grow in such exposed conditions, but the strawberry tree should thrive in this mild, windy spot.

A bed behind the freestanding peach wall was also planted in July 2007. The planting scheme for this bed incorporated many structural plants, including Dasyliron and Beschoneria, which add a tropical feel to this part of the garden. The plants are given the space they will need to develop and in time should fill out nicely. Two specimens of Romneya coulteri were planted in this bed, but unfortunately both disappeared.

Two borders, approximately 20.5 metres long by 2.75 metres wide, run along the lower wall of the garden, the sea wall. These beds face north so get very little sun, especially during the winter when the sun is quite low. The layout of planting in both beds mirror each other, and the plants used are proving quite shade tolerant. Shrubs dominate the planting scheme with favourites like Escallonia ‘Gold Ellen’ and Hypericum x inodorum growing very well. Herbaceous perennials have been used towards the front of the borders to provide additional summer colour. Two specimens of Solanum laciniatum have been trained on to the wall and have grown exceptionally well since planting, reliably setting fruit both years.

A new border was dug out in the lawn sloping up from the ponds during the summer of 2007. It was thought that this part of the garden looked slightly unbalanced, so the new border was added to provide a balance to the border planted by Jimi Blake. It measures 55 metres long by 3 metres wide. The planting plan for this bed allowed for the fact that we did not wish to block the sweeping view up over the lawn to the roses in the revetment beds at the top. This border contains a range of herbaceous perennials and specimen shrubs. Clumps of Stokesia laevis ‘Purple Parasols’ attract great attention while in full flower, while Chrysanthemum ‘Mei Kio’ provides great late colour.Miscanthus sinensis ‘Malepartus’ and Melianthus major add structure to the bed. One of the Melianthus flowered for the first time in autumn 2008 and continued flowering through the winter.

Cocoa shell is used as a mulch throughout most of the herbaceous borders. It has proven very successful at suppressing weeds. We apply it directly to the soil, without the use of a weed suppressing liner. Weed seeds so not seem to germinate as readily in it, and where they do the loose nature of the mulch allows the seedlings to be easily pulled out. Blackbirds, thrushes and robins seem to love foraging through it, but as it is easier for them to move about than bark chippings even the larger birds don’t create the same mess. Cocoa shell is quite high in nutrient so it should prove beneficial to the soil in time. In the very exposed parts of the garden it does tend to blow around during the winter, but in most places it sticks quite well. It is a very lightweight material to work with, so it is perfect to use in a garden where access with wheelbarrows can be difficult. We top up the mulch once a year with a light coating to keep it looking fresh.

A fernery measuring 18 metres long by 2.5 metres wide survives in the northeast corner of the garden. It has been planted with a wide range of hardy ferns, Helleborus niger cultivars and spring bulbs. Galanthus, Fritillaria,Narcissus and Cyclamen provide spring interest. Anemone nemerosa naturalised in the fernery over the years of neglect, and this provides a vibrant carpet of blue and white in spring.

The Alpine Garden of the early 1900s had numerous island beds in the lawn. Photographs from the period show many circular, rectangular and kidney-shaped beds containing roses, Magnolia x soulangeana, Romneya coulteriand Meconopsis cambrica, among others. In 2007 these beds were covered over by the grass lawn but the lighter shade of the grass made their location and shape very evident. Pat dug sixteen of these beds out again during the summer of 2007, seven rectangular in shape and nine circular.

There was a huge volume of stone present in each bed. The stone had been graded for drainage purposes, with the smallest sharpest stone at the top and the largest rounded stones at the base. Most of the soil had been leached out of the beds over the years. It was necessary to remove large amounts of stone from many of the beds before planting could commence. The height of the beds was then built up using excess soil from the rose beds. This was very time-consuming as the rose beds are on a raised height over the lawn. The only possible way to complete this task was for Pat to fill a wheelbarrow with soil on the rose beds and tip the contents into my empty wheelbarrow waiting on ground level, which I then emptied into the beds in the lawn. The planting of these beds was a hotly debated topic for a while with many discussions on possible planting ideas. Eventually we decided to use a mix of architectural standards and hardy plants that would definitely stand up to the elements. Some of the more experimental plants used include two specimens of Magnolia stellata and two quarter-standard Callistemon citrinus. Neither was expected to perform very well in these windy conditions but so far neither had been inadvertently affected. We have used Phormium in three beds, as we know these will thrive in the conditions given, and one specimen of Grevillea rosmarinifolia that is also doing very well. We have used shell as a mulch on these beds. The shell is given to us by a local business that harvests mussels and oysters from Lissadell Bay. The shells stand out well against the colour of the lawn, and when present in a thick enough layer do seem to suppress weeds quite well. The smell of fresh sea shells on a warm summers day raised a few eyebrows and wrinkled a few noses, but provided a welcome diversion to the flies, keeping them away from the gardeners for a while.

The three interlinking ponds in the Alpine Garden were once a long canal that is shown on the 1837 Ordnance Survey map of the area. In the early part of the 20^th Century the canal was divided into three separate ponds connected by stone channels. The ponds lie in a natural valley in the garden and run in a northeast / southwest direction. The ponds have a total length of 55 metres and are approximately 3 metres wide. The source of the water feeding the ponds comes mainly from a natural underground spring and the water enters the top pond from beneath an ornamental bridge. The water has a high Calcium content and leaves a natural tufa-like deposit on stone it comes in contact with. In 2003, when the garden was opened for the first time in nearly fifty years, the ponds were completely silted up and had created a marsh. Lysichyton americanus (skunk cabbage), Iris pseudacorus(flag iris) and Caltha palustris (marsh marigold) had created a dense mat of vegetation, thereby compounding the problem.

The lower two ponds were dredged and the water finally found its correct balance. In 2007 the top pond was still very silted and the lower two ponds were very overgrown with algae, oxygenators and rushes. The top pond had become more of a bog garden so we dug out channels to create islands, thus allowing the water to run freely. Large amounts of skunk cabbage, flag iris and marsh marigold had to be removed by hand – not an easy task – as these were the main cause of the problem. This pond needs regular maintenance to keep the level of silt down, so that the watercourse does not block up again. The two lower ponds require regular clearance to remove algal growth and to keep the growth of oxygenators in check. We used barley straw in the summer of 2008 to try control the growth of algae in the ponds. This was very successful for a period, but despite replacing the barley straw with fresh straw the algae came back as profusely as ever. It seems the only way to control it is to regularly skim it off the surface of the water. In July of 2007 we planted the two lower ponds with eight cultivars of water lily, includingNymphaea ‘Escarboucle’, N. ‘Rose Arey’, and N. ‘Attraction’. Some of these have performed very well and some are yet to flower. Some may find it difficult to compete with the oxygenators and so do not grow as well as they should, or maybe they just need extra time to settle in. Deep water aquatics such as Nuphar luteum and Nymphoides peltataare thriving in the lower pond, while Stratiotes aloides, the free-floating water soldier, has multiplied ten-fold in the middle pond. The quality of the water in the ponds must be of a good standard as every year there are a number of frogs that come to the ponds to spawn, producing copious amounts of tadpoles. A visiting duck does her best to reduce their numbers, but there are still plenty of baby frogs hopping around the garden for the summer months.

The walls of the ponds are constructed with stone and tree roots growing too close to the walls have done severe damage. One section of the wall in the lower pond had collapsed above water level and this was re-built in 2008. The two side walls of the middle pond have both buckled under the strain so it may only be a matter of time before there is a serious leak in the pond. A border runs adjacent to the ponds on both sides. These are planted with a large range of Primula, such as P. florindae, P. japonica, P. viallii, P. denticulata and P. veris. A large selection of P. japonica cultivars from Timpany Nurseries has been planted in the border alongside the bog garden. A number of clumps of Arisarum (mouse plant) have survived the years of neglect at the lower end of the ponds and provide a point of interest every year. The remainder of the pond borders are planted with a mix of shrubs and perennials. Horsetail has become a serious problem in some parts of the borders so we have had to remove plants before it reaches them.

There are three separate lawns in the Alpine Garden, two of which are bisected by paths. The seed that had been used to sow the lawns was very coarse and more suited to meadow or pastureland. The grass had not been regularly cut so the lawns were in very poor condition with patchy growth and poor colouring. We had two options open to us – to remove the grass present, cultivate the soil and re-seed the lawns; or to try to work with what we had and improve on it. As the garden was due to be open in early May 2007 we decided that the best option was to leave the grass as it was and try to work on it over the coming year. With all the planting work going on simultaneously it was difficult to find the time needed to devote to the lawns. I mowed them once a week when possible, and the regular cutting allowed finer grasses to develop within the lawns. A balanced fertiliser was applied in Spring 2008 and this greatly promoted the health and growth rate of the grass. Over the course of 2008 the quality of the lawns greatly improved. Regular cutting and feeding will be the key to maintaining the lawns.

During the re-development of the Alpine Garden we have been extremely lucky with the quality of the soil. The texture, structure and fertility of the soil have meant that the plants have become established very quickly. In some cases, particularly with some of the plants in the rockeries, the growth rate was phenomenal. Some found it hard to believe that the plants were in the ground only a short time. The soil, having been left undisturbed for so long was technically virgin soil and all the nutrient that had built up over the years was just waiting to be used. We know that this nutrient level will balance out in time and that the day will come when we will have to start feeding some plants, but for now the soil is doing a fantastic job.

The garden and its staff have faced and are still facing a number of challenges. The invasive weeds present have all been mentioned before and all that can be done to alleviate this problem is consistent treatment, by hand where possible and by chemical where not. We have never liked using chemicals in the garden, especially when wildlife is so abundant, but in some cases it is the only practical solution. We have seen signs of honey fungus in the garden, some shrubs like Choisya ternata, Genista fragrans, Genista hispanica and Perovskia atriplicifolia have died with no apparent reason. There have been signs of a white fungus beneath the bark of many of these so it may be that honey fungus is the cause. If this is the case there is very little that can be done, other than to remove the infected material and only replant with shrubs that are not susceptible to honey fungus.

Over the last eighteen months slugs and snails have become a significant problem in the garden. We have tried to reduce the plants in the garden that are particularly appealing to them, but those that remain unfortunately have to be protected by slug pellets. We don’t use these in the herbaceous borders as there are too many birds foraging there but luckily there are not many susceptible plants in the borders. So we concentrate the use of pellets on plants in the rockeries that really need protection, fortunately there are not too many.