All roads lead to Kerry for Ireland's 'friendliest garden gathering'

Peter Dowdall is looking forward to the seventh Southern Symposium which is returning to Kells Bay Gardens this month

Fri, 09 Sep, 2022 - 14:55

Peter Dowdall

In the summer of 2014, after seven years in Kells Bay, Co Kerry. Billy Alexander reached what he considered was the “end of the beginning”.

The mammoth task of reclaiming the gardens and restoring the house was in hand and it was time to celebrate and publicise the achievement. A who’s who of gardening royalty assembled at Kells Bay and heard talks from the Oracle of Kilmacurragh, Seamus O’Brien, and the legendary Roy Lancaster.

Billy Alexander of Kells Bay House and Gardens.

Over the course of a memorable weekend it was decided to institute an annual event to celebrate gardening, plants and landscapes.

Since then, this quirky, friendly fun event has become the highlight of the Munster horticultural calendar and has been attended and addressed by some of Ireland’s most influential plants-people.

And then, Covid happened.

Now, following a two-year hiatus, the Southern Symposium returns to Kells Bay in 2022 and this year it should be better than ever. Billy Alexander promises “a great lineup of speakers, a more comfortable venue and a host of returning friends will ensure it remains the friendliest garden gathering in Ireland”.

The symposium takes place this year from September 30-October 2.

One of the speakers, Dr Darach Lupton PhD, the Curator of the National Botanic Gardens, Ireland will be speaking about some of Ireland’s lesser-known native plants.

Entitled, “Hop, Skip and Jump: the Curious Distribution of some of Ireland’s most Enigmatic Native Plants”, his presentation will look at native Irish pants from the Kerry lily to arctic willows, from wayward birds to Spanish smugglers.

Kells Bay Gardens the second gold medal at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2021.

He will explore the debated arrival and distribution of a number of Ireland’s most puzzling plants. Darach graduated from the School of Horticulture at the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland in 1998 – completing his sandwich year placement at the RHS Garden, Wisley (1996-1997).

He read Botany at Trinity College Dublin, graduating in 2002. He remained at TCD where he completed his PhD in 2007. From 2007 until 2010 he was back the NBG of Ireland working in the herbarium as research botanist. In early 2011 he moved to the Sultanate of Oman, where for 10 years he managed the department of Botany and Conservation at the Oman Botanic Garden. Darach returned to Dublin in early 2021 and is currently the Curator of the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland.

His interests include the conservation of the flora of Ireland and Oman, ethnobotany of Oman, and the promotion of botanic gardens and horticulture as essential tools in global plant conservation.

Other speakers at the event include the plant explorer Robert Wilson-Wright of Coolcarrigan Gardens who will give a presentation called “Isle of Bliss: The remote island of Socotra”.

On Saturday, October 1, we will have the fantastic opportunity to listen to Alasdair Moore, head of gardens, Lost Gardens of Heligan, who will speak on “Tresco and Heligan: plants, history and meaning”.

Kells Bay Gardens in Co Kerry which will host the seventh Southern Symposium at the end of September.

Also on the Saturday, John Anderson, keeper of the gardens, Windsor Great Park, England, will give a talk entitled “A Head Gardener’s journey from Mount Usher to Windsor”. It’s not all formal lectures as you are also invited to attend a banquet on the Friday night and a buffet lunch on the Saturday. Billy Alexander will guide an informal walk in the gardens with the speakers when they finish up. I have no doubt Billy will take questions on the magical gardens in Kells Bay which cover just over 17 hectares, containing a large collection of sub-tropical plants.

The gardens overlook the dramatic views of Dingle Bay, and are filled with a variety of rare sub-tropical plants and ferns from as far apart as Chile and Australia have taken up residence and thanks to the unique micro-climate, seem as happy as if they were in their native lands.

Positioned to the front of the house, and only developed over the last few years is The Palm and Succulent Garden and from here you can venture forth to The Ladies Walled Garden, The Primeval Forest, Waterfall Way, The Bamboo Glade, The River Ramble and the Cliff Walk and while your there, if you’re brave enough, make sure you take on the Sky Walk, Ireland’s longest rope bridge.

Billy achieved a gold medal standard for his nursery display at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in September 2021 and when I asked him if he intends venturing across the Irish Sea again in 2023 for next year’s Chelsea Flower Show, he answered with a non-committal: “I would look forward to going back again in the near future” — which, in my understanding means I’ll see him there next year. And who knows, perhaps the September sunshine will keep going to brighten up one of the most spectacular locations in all of Ireland at “the friendliest garden gathering in Ireland” this September.