Terence Reeves-Smyth explores the development of the famous Robinsonian garden outside Saintfield, County Down
Rowallane’s fame as one of the great gardens of Ireland was established during the inter-war years, when numerous published articles praised its beauty, originality and plant collections. Eminent horticulturists like Frank Kingdom Ward and William Bean, came to admire the enonnous rockery; the walled garden with its rare and unusual plant treasures and the extensive woody plant collections, notably its great banks of rhododendrons and azaleas, which so impressed the plant hunter George Forrest, that he thought it resen1bled ‘a bit of Yunnan’. These were exciting times for gardeners. Plants were arriving in ever-increasing numbers from distant parts of the world, whilst nurseries were crossing stock to create numerous new hybrids forms. The challenge for collectors like Hugh ArmytageMoore, the owner of the 58-acre garden at Rowallane, was to skilfully accommodate these new arrivals into a harmonious setting within their gardens. Armytage-Moore’s noted success lay in utilizing William Robinson’s wild garden ideas, finding the right place for each plant, avoiding monotony and combining, as the writer George Taylor remarked, ‘the artistic with the practical in a treatment where everything is right andvbeautiful and in complete accord with the site and the landscape of which it forms a part.
In his assessment of Fitzgerald Kavanagh and Partners’ award-winning Student Centre at UCD Seán ó Laoire charts the evolution of Ireland’s largest campus since its foundation
Carissa Farrell reports on sculptor and multi-media artist Andrew Kearney’s new installation ‘Tell Me Something’ for Limerick City of Culture, which continues Kearney’s focus on the policing of the private individual
Without decisive action, our glass heritage will once again be lost, argues Eleanor Flegg, as Róisín de Buitléar’s exhibition’Caution! Fragile’ receives an enthusiastic reception Stateside