A World of Gardens

Our gardening guru, Conrad McCormick, explains how to bring the beauty of your favourite destinations home with garden ideas inspired by travel.

I never return from a holiday with a tan, but I invariably come home with hundreds of photographs and ideas for things I want to change in the garden. For me, travelling can be a dangerous business. While everyone else is admiring the view, I’m peering over walls, photographing unfamiliar plants and wondering whether that enormous succulent might, with a little optimism and a sheltered spot, survive an Irish winter.
Some of the most memorable gardens I have visited have been in places where the climate bears little resemblance to our own. Spain, France, Morocco and, more recently, the Italian island of Ischia have all provided plenty of inspiration, but recreating their planting literally at home could be doomed to failure. I am not about to plant swathes of cacti into my heavy Antrim clay and hope for the best. Fortunately, we don’t need to.

Read more in the October issue…