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The garden is open by appointment only.

Throughout the year, Ballycommane Garden offers an array of colour, featuring an abundance of flowers as well as a huge variety of mature shrubs and trees. From the ancient boulder-burial site, there is a panoramic view over the broad valley of Four Mile Water and you’ll see sheep grazing peacefully on the green hillsides.

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Lush vegetation around the pond (left), including orange flowering Euphorbia griffithii 'Fire Glow'. Right: path leading through the garden, with palms (Trachycarpus fortunei, Chamaerops humilis) and other plants from subtropical regions around the world.

Many exotic plants from all over the world can be discovered in the gardens, including rare subtropical species thriving in this mild climate. Bathed by the warm waters of the Gulf stream, even tender plants such as palms, tree ferns and myrtles from the southern hemisphere easily grow outdoors.

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Established hedging throughout the grounds and the cover provided by the extensive foliage have created tasteful, secluded areas for private contemplation. We invite you to walk around, sit down, relax and escape the pressures of everyday life.

Crinodendron hookerianum

Crinodendron hookerianum

Camellia x williamsii 'Debbie'

Camellia x williamsii ‘Debbie’

Among the specialist collections in the garden are plants from the southern hemisphere (Gondwana flora), including different species of southern beeches (Nothofagus), tree ferns (Dicksonia antarctica, Cyathea cooperi), New Zealand tea tree (manuka, Leptospermum scoparium) and Eucryphia. Enthusiastic visitors to the garden will find this a bit like stepping into Jurassic Park ...

A sensory delight

Ballycommane Garden has been featured by Shirley Lanigan in the Irish Garden Magazine, June/July 2020. Find the feature here.

Local Heroes: Ballycommane Gardens – and Bronze Age  Site! Posted by Finola on Roaringwater Journal.

We feel greatly honoured to feature as partner garden of the Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland.

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Another specialist collection in the garden focusses on the flora of the Azores. This archipelago of nine volcanic islands in the North Atlantic Ocean forms a unique ecosystem that includes the macaronesian subtropical laurel forest (laurisilva). Of its many endemic species, a considerable number is cultivated to great success in Ballycommane. These include Picconia azorica, Prunus lusitanica subsp. azorica, Hypericum foliosum, Euphorbia stygiana, Scabiosa nitens and Tolpis azorica, to name but a few.

Scabiosa nitens Euphorbia stygiana

Top left: Scabiosa nitens; top right: Euphorbia stygiana; bottom left: Hypericum foliosum; bottom right: Prunus lusitanica subsp. azorica.

Hypericum foliosum Prunus lusitanica subsp. azorica
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This gable wall gives evidence of the old turfhouse, with flowering agapanthus, Tolpis succulenta, Scabiosa nitens and Festuca petraea bedecking the cobbled floor. Prickly pear cacti are growing in the window.

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Arbutus unedo P7051167

Left and bottom: Cordyline indivisa, Leptospermum scoparium (manuka) and tree ferns (Dicksonia antarctica). Top: Arbutus unedo, the Killarney strawberry tree.

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Henhouse field P7031056

Award winning horticulturist Peter Donegan of The Sodshow Garden Podcast visited Ballycommane Garden for an interview. It's in iTunes, all good podcast stores and on facebook.

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