Garden treasure

THIS year, autumn has lived up to its title ‘the royal season’ for it was mild and pleasant in the main and wore a coat of many colours.

It prepares us for winter in the fall of leaves, a cooling of the air, and a shortening of daylight. And now that we are into winter it is often, regrettably, associated with melancholy and nostalgia. But winter can also be welcomed as one of our most rewarding seasons. The blowsy exuberance of summer is certainly gone, but texture, shape and form emerge as if an artist had suddenly uncovered a forgotten charcoal sketch beneath a current painting.

For the gardener, winter can be a treasured period, a time of surrender, of lengthening shadows and quiet reflection, broken only by the scream of high winds as they move through tree canopies and shriek about chimney pots.

The light too, is changing. Every day now the sun rises lower in the sky east of the church spire across the road from Villa Marie.

Its arc above the nearby houses gets lower and lower, until a point is reached in early December where it fails to light a sizeable portion of my garden, and theirs. This is normal, and the gradual withdrawal of light tells me yet again, that the whole pulse of life is slowing down, folding in on itself. Everything seems to carry the peculiar beauty of picturesque decline, and the garden instinctively knows that in just a few weeks it will be at its midnight point; the winter solstice.

On a more positive note, it is the season of compensation. Short days and terrifying weather may keep us confined indoors for long periods at a time, but there are occasions when you are very likely to be tempted to get out and about. One of these occasions is the annual opening of DJ Murphy’s Christmas decorated home at Bride View Cottages, Killumney, Co Cork.

Here, for the past 13 years, a quirky cottage and its garden is transformed each November and December with substantial Christmas floral exhibits with a view to raising badly-needed funds for worthy charities.

The informality at this annual event is quite unique. Unlike stately homes where you shuffle around rooms of pomp, portraiture, and roped off rugs, one can sit, lounge, or adjourn to any room you fancy. The visitors; gardeners, flower arrangers, home decorators, (and the inquisitive) who come to see this annual spectacle will get the chance to view everything at leisure, partake in seasonal refreshments and purchase arrangements from a display especially created in one of the many fine courtyard buildings adjoining the cottage. And if that’s not enough, there will be choirs in the kitchen every night to entertain (last year the Enniskeane/Ballineen choir were superb, so too the Gospel Choir from Cork City).

Finally, to add to the nightly festivities you will get the chance to partake in a monster raffle with very worthwhile prizes.

The beneficiaries of this year’s opening are the very deserving Marymount Hospice and Saoirse Alzheimers Unit West Cork. The open days are Thursday to Sunday, November 17 to 20, and Thursday, November 24, to Sunday, November 27. Times of opening are 6pm to 10pm on Thursday and Friday and noon to 8pm each Saturday and Sunday. Admission, which includes mulled wine, mince pies and tea or coffee, is €10.

Parents should note that Santa will be in attendance in his garden grotto with parcels and light refreshments on Saturdays and Sundays from early afternoon! It is going to be a wonderful experience and a great evening out. My notions about this particular event may indeed be fanciful, but is this not the season for fancies?