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Powerscourt, Co. WicklowBelow the valley in a dell lies the Japanese Garden which was laid out on reclaimed bogland by the eighth Viscount in 1908. There is nothing particularly Japanese about this garden but it is a pleasant area with its many Trachycarpus fortunei palms, magnolias, maples, cherries and viburnums, although its tranquillity is rather spoiled by a collection of stone lanterns and intrusive red-painted bridges. Leaving this area the visitor will join the main path by the Triton Lake, passing on the right an exceptionally large specimen of an oval-leafed southern beech (Nothofagus betuloides). A short distance further up the path is an extraordinary specimen of a Monterey cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa) that was planted in 1898 by the eighth Viscount on his eighteenth birthday; it has a height of around one hundred feet and a multiple bole of thirty eight. On the opposite side of the path is a very large Winter's bark (Drimys winteri) which is claimed to be one of the tallest known in cultivation.Amidst these fine trees a pet cemetery lies on a grassy slope, one of the largest of its kind in Ireland and full of memorials to family pets that once claimed Powerscourt as home. Further down visitors will reach the rectangular Dolphin Pond, so-called from a large iron fountain that the seventh Viscount brought back here from Paris. This used to be a fish pond in the mid eighteenth century but during the nineteenth century was transformed into an ornamental area with sur rounding lawns and exotic plantings. Trees framing this scene include a line of Japanese cedars (Cryptomeria japonica), an incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens) and a hiba (Thujopsis dolabrata). The fine wrought-iron English Gates, which are believed to have come from a Royal Palace, lead onto a herbaceous border running through the centre of the inner Walled Garden. This is claimed to be the longest in Ireland, though sadly the quality of its planting is not matched by its grand pretensions. A line of Wellingtonias (Sequoiadendron giganteum) running alongside the Walled Garden is, however, a magnificent sight and much more worthy of the grandeur of Powerscourt. Other sights at Powerscourt include the wonderful late eighteenth-century beech avenue and, at some distance from the house in the deerpark, the famous waterfall which at 398 feet is the highest in Ireland.
Located 11 miles south of Dublin city, just outside Enniskerry. < < < Read the first part of this article From the Appletree Press title: Irish Gardens. |
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