Follow nature and use contrasting colours in your garden

On his travels in County Kerry Peter Dowdall is enthralled by the perfect mixture of colour and texture on the roadsides as well as the gardens

Thalictrum's pale purple/dark pink creates a restful, calming spectacle. File Picture Dan Linehan

Visiting gardens is one of those pleasures that has remained largely untouched during the last two years and I had the pleasure recently of travelling around Kerry admiring so many beautiful spaces. It’s always nice to see what other people do, the plants they put together, the styles that they use and the effects that are achieved.

In one herbaceous border that was in full bloom when I visited I spotted, from a distance a large clump of Thalictrum Hewitt’s Double. A particular favourite of mine, I was surprised to be able to make it out from so far away. It was growing near enough to the equally tall, Verbena bonariensis, that the flower stems could easily grow through each other. Beyond them there was the thuggish, pink Autumn Anemone and the colour combination was really quite something. The entire area was alive with butterflies when I called. They were enjoying the spectacular sunshine that we enjoyed last week as was I, for it seemed to really bring life to the flowers.