Garden Digest: All roads lead to Carlow for garden festival

Check out all the garden visits, tours, talks, events, campaigns and online resources for the room outside

Members of the Carlow Garden Festival Committee. This year's event runs from July 27 to August 4. Picture: Marc O'Sullivan

• The annual Carlow Garden Festival takes place from Saturday, July 27, until Saturday, August 4.

Now in its 22nd year, this eight-day festival will see 20 acclaimed gardeners and garden designers from Ireland and Britain deliver an inviting range of events that includes specialist talks, garden tours, and workshops. Afternoon tea and evening meals along the Carlow Garden Trail add to the mouth-watering mix on offer.
The festival opens with a double line-up of two acclaimed gardeners in Arboretum Home and Garden Heaven. Ann-Marie Powell is fresh from her win of the People’s and Children’s Choice Awards in Chelsea. Alan Gray, of East Ruston Old Vicarage in Norfolk, will share the meticulous process of transforming a blank canvas into one of Britain’s finest contemporary gardens.
For more details and tickets take a look at the website carlowgardentrail.com.

• The RHSI Bellefield is hosting open weekends on July 20-21 and again on September 21-22. They take place at Bellefield House, Shinrone, Offaly (R42 NW82). The gardens are open each day from 11am to 4pm. Tours with head gardener Paul Smyth take place between 12pm and 2pm. Entry is free for RHSI members and €8 for non-members. Plant sales will also take place on the open weekends.
• The RHSI is holding a tour to Altamont Gardens in Carlow on August 10, from 8.30am to 6pm.
  Tickets include bus travel from Dublin and entry is €95. There will be tea/coffee on arrival followed by a guided tour of the gardens. See rhsi.ie for ticket details.
• The National Botanic Gardens host drop-by events (no booking required) every Tuesday and Sunday in summertime in the Erasmus Children’s Garden. These events will take place once in the morning between 11am and 12pm and again in the afternoon between 3.30pm and 4.30pm.
  The children’s activities include learning how to sow your own vegetable and flower seeds, playing nature-themed games, and learning how to reuse everyday items to create your own piece of eco-art. The activities are suitable for children aged from four and up.
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