Nothing world class about new garden

I HAD the pleasure last Friday of strolling around the newly-restored Fitzgerald’s Park with my mother, on a beautiful May evening.

I was looking forward to the reopening — to see what had been achieved. I’ve always loved this park and my family too, have a long association with it— my grandfather and grand uncle were involved in the Great Exhibition which led to the park’s creation.

First impressions as I walked through the gates were good, bright new paths with an open green area in front of the museum building — complete with the much-heralded 21st century design.

The rose beds in front of the house which were kept impeccably by the Parks’ Department are gone and whilst I was sad to see them go, I do love the open space and the design of the Pavilion. This area was alive on the day with a brass band playing on the bandstand and creating a wonderful atmosphere.

Several years ago, more rose beds were planted at the back of the park near the Shaky Bridge and they are still there and looking superb at the moment, with some stunning weeping copper beech like sentries among them.

Much had been made over the last number of years about Diarmuid Gavin’s Sky Garden which had been purchased by the local authority to be constructed in the Park — this was to be its formal unveiling.

It had, of course, courted much bad press with a war of words between Mr Gavin and Cork City Council and it seemed to the onlooker to be a bit of a shambles. Personally I was delighted to see time, money and imagination being spent in Cork and in particular on this fabulous space on the Mardyke. And I was very keen to see if we had received value for money.

From the point of view of creating a nice urban open space it is fabulous — but then again it always was. I know the City Council and Fáilte Ireland believe that there is a strong tourism market for horticultural and garden attractions and they hope that the Mardyke Gardens will be at the top end of these attractions.

I’m afraid it won’t. It is a lovely green open space and will be a great venue for small concerts and events and it will prove to be a much improved amenity for Cork. Credit is due to Cork City Council for that. But the hype of Fáilte Ireland and the council that it will be a spectacular world class garden is wrong. It is not world class.

I walked through the gates last Friday evening really wanting to be blown away but unfortunately what struck me, as a plantsman, was the blandness and the terrible standard of planting.

Let me start with the positives — there are some lovely features — some mature specimen-shaped Taxus, a lovely copse of silver-stemmed Betula jacquemontii; some Tilia over by the famous pod and a beautiful Magnolia soulangeana across from the museum entrance. There are also some lovely beds of ornamental grasses which should mature nicely.

However, and this is what, to me is unacceptable, there are many dead and poor quality plants; bark mulch spread on the beds as if an afterthought, and not applied to the correct depth to prevent weed growth. This may sound like nitpicking but details like this are important if you want to achieve a world class garden.

What Cork City Council has achieved is a beautiful outdoor space; what it has most certainly not achieved is a garden of horticultural merit. I truly get no joy from saying this, as I really wanted to be impressed and I know several of the City Council personnel who have been involved with the project who are fine people. So where have we all been let down?

Where we had roses and herbaceous beds we now have Pachysandra terminalis planted in their hundreds. It seems to me the landscape architects responsible for the choice of plants and design of the beds used absolutely little imagination and gave no thought to the planting in this special place. Pachysandra is a plant often used in difficult spaces such as the side of a motorway to provide ‘greenery’.

Fine perhaps for a shady corner of a shopping centre car park and even then, there are better and nicer planting combinations. Planting in the new parts of the garden lacks imagination and I am saddened and shocked. This project has had such publicity and received so much public money it is quite simply not good enough.

I say this, not for the sake of being critical, but to state that we cannot be happy with mediocrity. We had a glorious opportunity here to develop a garden of world renown but we failed — and I want to know why.

Who said it was acceptable to sully Fitzgerald’s Park with hundreds of Pachysandra? Who allowed dead plants to be put in the beds? One of the Buxus balls underneath the Pod which is supposed to be the focal point of the whole place is suffering from Box Blight and will soon be dead. Who allowed this? What self-respecting horticulturist planted it?

I have tremendous regard for the Parks’ Department in Cork City Council and there is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that if they had been allowed to redesign the park, they would have done a far better job.

I asked one woman on her feelings of the pod and she looked at me and said ‘an obscene waste of money’, I didn’t catch her name, however asking a friend of mine Claire Murphy, what she thought of the gardens: ‘Loved it, Peter’ was the reply.

I wholeheartedly commend the City Council on redeveloping the park but I am angered and upset at the standard of what is achieved. Yes we now have a civic park suitable for events and family fun and that is necessary and great. But we were led to expect a garden of a high standard, we have been short-changed. Where we had roses we now have Pachysandra, where we had herbaceous beds we now have dead Lavender.

It would not be true to myself if I failed to write this and if I just joined in with the back slapping and made the right noises and told everyone they were wonderful. I’m sure I won’t be popular for criticising.

However, I feel this magic place deserved better, this great city deserves that spectacular world class garden — and it didn’t get it.

Or maybe I have just become a grumpy gardener.

Visit and let me know what you think.