John Grimshaw and Seamus O'Brien Talk for Carlow Garden Festival
This July 31st for The Carlow Garden Festival we will have John Grimshaw and Seamus O’Brien both talking in our garden at 12.00 noon and 3pm.
‘A Botanical Scramble for Africa - Plant Exploration in the Cape and the Drakensberg’
Seamus O’Brien re-counts the story of an expedition he recently led to South Africa where he and a keen group of enthusiastic Irish plantspeople (including Lesley Fennell from Burtown) studied the flora of the Cape, including Table mountain and the flowers of the Drakensberg Range into Lesotho. The talk concludes with images of plants and animals in Kruger National Park.
Seamus O’Brien is a well known horticulturist, and he currently manages Kilmacurragh Botanic Gardens, part of the Dublin Botanic Gardens. He is internationally recognised as a leading expert on plants from the temporate regions of China, and is author of the acclaimed”In the Footsteps of Augustine Henry” and is currently writing a book “In the Footsteps of Joseph Hooker”, where research has led to travels in India and Sikkim. He is a regular contributer to “The Irish Garden” and other publications, and is much in demand as a speaker. His last botanical expedition was to South Africa in February 2016, particually to the Drakensberg Mountains and Natal. This talk will be his first on this latest botanical expedition.
Plants, Gardens and People: Gardening Life over the last 40 years
John Grimshaw, Director of the Yorkshire Arboretum at Castle Howard provides an entertaining account of his life in gardens and the lessons learned. Using the gardens at Burtown House as a backdrop, John covers herbaceous borders, adding magic to your late summer borders and good planting marriages. John also discusses some of his favourite plants from surprising novelties to rising stars.