Past Events

Borris demesne is a fine example of how a formal Baroque landscape has evolved over centuries into the impressive parkland setting visable today. Seamus O’Brien, manager of National Botanic Gardens, Kilmacurragh in Co. Wicklow, will offer his unique insight into this mature estate with its many specimen trees, original Stew Pond and 18th century Ice House.

Fiann Ó Nualláin is a long-time proponent of gardening for health and wellbeing. A horticultural therapist by profession and a community gardening advocate for over two decades.  He is the author of several bestselling gardening and health books. A regular on Tv3’s Ireland AM to chat about foods and herbs for physical wellbeing and illness management.  

A celebrated Designer, Plantsman and Broadcaster Chris Beardshaw has clocked up over 30 years’ experience in the horticultural world. Known for his BBC television and radio work Chris is also a well-loved speaker and lecturer and is the author of 4 books.

Burtown House is one of two 17th century houses in Kildare to never have been sold, and the only house that you can visit, and have guided tours by family members. It is the only original Quaker house in Ireland that can be visited that is still lived in by the family that built it from this period.

Dermot O’ Neill, with us each year by popular demand since the start of the Carlow Garden Festival back in 2002, visits Huntington Castle for a garden tour taking in the many delights of this attraction, from the 17th century parterres to the ancient Yew Walk, the “Wilderness” woodland, the kitchen gardens, the Greenhouse and the recently restored Rose Gardens.

Elma Fenton, renowned Irish and international ecological landscape architect and garden designer promises an interesting and informative tour of the Delta Sensory Gardens. Elma designed the beautiful “Circle of Life” at Delta Sensory Gardens and will impart some of the thoughts behind this. Explore the delights of these beautiful surroundings where Elma shares her passion and knowledge of plants and garden design. Visitors will have a unique opportunity to rest and indulge their senses of touch, taste, smell, hearing and visual delight at this wonderful garden tour.

See all these events with one ticket:

Adam Frost at Duckett’s Grove - 28th July
Alys Fowler at VISUAL - 1st August
Troy Scott-Smith and Dan Pearson – Altamont Plant Sales - 2nd August

Thank you for your interest in this event. As we are now sold out we would like to advise you of another workshop titled "Living a Wildlife" by Colin Stafford Johnson being held in Huntington Castle, Clonegal, Co. Carlow on Saturday, July 27th at 3 p.m.

Colin Stafford-Johnson is one of the world's most acclaimed and internationally awarded filmmakers. Throughout his legendary career, Colin has won countless awards from wildlife festivals and events around the world.

Adam Frost is an award-winning British garden designer, television presenter and Chelsea Flower Show winner. If you have ever wondered how to approach designing your own garden, what you need to know to be a garden designer or the skills involved, then join Adam as he reveals the process and principles.

Join Fionnuala Fallon, Irish Times gardening correspondent, as she talks about the changing world of Irish gardens. If you are passionate about growing plants you cannot miss this wonderful tour where visitors will be amazed by the flamboyant perennials and striking foliage which create an opulent display of summer colour.

Frances MacDonald, with her husband, Iain, is joint owner of The Bay Garden in Camolin, Co. Wexford which is open to the public. She has been gardening for over 40 years, writes and talks about gardening and take gardeners on tours at home and abroad. Frances promises an interesting and informative tour of Delta Sensory Gardens exploring the delights of these beautiful surroundings while sharing her passion for planting.

Shirley Lanigan has been writing about Irish gardens for two decades in books and magazines, and is a regular columnist with the Irish Garden. With a background in art, she has a keen interest in the use of art in gardens and believes that artists' gardens are particularly fascinating.

Join Neil Porteous, head gardener at Mount Stewart, Co. Down on a walk through Corona North's unique creation, Altamont. This 'Robinsonian' garden looks fabulous in late July and has a great variety of interesting plants from mighty sequoiadendrons and scented roses, down to an unusual array of herbaceous plants and bulbs.

The Carlow Garden Trail is delighted to welcome Steven Desmond, chartered horticulturalist and journalist with Country Life. The garden seat has many roles in the garden: as an eyecatcher, viewpoint and decorative object in its own right. Some of them are reasonably comfortable to sit on too.

Carl Wright, columnist with the Irish Garden, takes a look at how most gardens contain at least one section of woodland! The talk explains the actual meaning of the term and how the woodland 'system' works from the top canopy to the woodland floor.

Jekka McVicar has been leading the way on the cultivation and the use of herbs for the past three decades. Started in 1984, her farm has evolved from supplying garden centres to an online mail order business and in 2013 it became a unique herbetum and school.

Aaron Bertelsen's gardening year starts on November 1^st, with the closure of Great Dixter. Aaron discusses the important work undertaken during the winter months preparing the soil for the next growing season. His workshop also covers spring and summer crops and the practical side of vegetable gardening including stacking, watering and weeding.

Between 2015 and 2017 Blarney Castle and Gardens under the collection banner of Botanic Network Ireland set out on a series of plant collecting trips to Northern Vietnam. Rory Newell, who by his own admission is “plants mad” delivers an informative and entertaining talk on the trips, covering a broad range of topics including conservation/exsitu conservation, growing, propagating and developing a living catalogue of the plants in the gardens of Blarney Castle.

The Festival always offers a special night in the iconic VISUAL Centre. This year join Alys Fowler, gardening correspondent with The Guardian. Whether you're new to gardening or are looking to spruce up your vegetable patch, balcony or windowsill, this talk is full of practical advice and tips.

Troy Scott-Smith, head gardener at Sissinghurst Castle, gives an interesting and entertaining talk focusing on the decisions he faced when appointed to this iconic English garden - to continue along well established lines of the previous forty years or to make changes.

Alasdair Moore is Manager of Estate and Gardens at the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall. A magical garden hidden for generations beneath a forest of brambles and self-seeded trees, liberated by a hurricane and revitalised by an extraordinary individual, Heligan is quite a story.

A lecture about the different stages involved in creating beautiful gardens, with emphasis on details such as soil, structure (hedges / hard landscaping, while also discussing features such as lighting, sculpture, water features and most importantly planting.

Monty Don makes a welcome return to the Carlow Garden Festival. In this talk Monty explores the history, customs and wonders of the Japanese and Paradise gardens he has visited and the lessons he has learned from them in developing his own garden at Longmeadow. Monty discusses the most beautiful and famous gardens he has visited on his recent travels to the East. Features extra large LED screens for easy visibility.

Dermot O’Neill is one of Ireland’s best-loved gardening experts. His exciting and colourful style brings the joy of gardening to a wide-reaching audience. He has served on the Council of the Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland and was a founding committee member of the Irish Garden Plant Society.

Monica Alvarez discusses garden design and more specifically addresses boundary issues and large existing hedges. Monica will then bring her talk outdoors into the beautiful gardens at Delta and will also do a demonstration on proper pruning techniques and carrying out pruning in situ.

Join Paul Martin, Gold Medal winner RHS Chelsea and Hampton Court Flower Shows, on a journey through the many wonderful gardens that have been created at Delta over the years including the Celtic Walk, the formal Rose Garden, the Five Senses Garden and the Stolen Child Garden.

Éanna Ní Lamhna, environmentalist and RTÉ personality leads a leisurely walk along the lovely banks of the River Barrow in Leighlinbridge, highlighting the history and heritage of this great river while identifying a wide variety of local flora and fauna.

Most garden owners long to have a garden that looks good all year round. While there will always be a high and a low season in the garden, it should never look completely devoid of life, colour or interest.

As a painter and artist Philippa Bayliss’ garden is all about colour and this talk by GLDA member Patricia Tyrrell discusses and explains how to work successfully with colour in the garden.

Paul Maher, recently retired Curator of the National Botanic Gardens will discuss gardening techniques and thrifty design principles to allow you enjoy your garden for many years to come.

In these times when it is often much harder to get the seed you want, discover how to collect your own.

Klaus Laitenberger covers how to grow your own organic vegetables, salads and fruit by choosing the right varieties, the best sowing dates and how to prevent pests and diseases as well as keeping weeds under control.

Arthur Shackleton, renowned gardener designer shares his background in garden consultancy showing examples of his design approach to gardens he has worked on in the past and continues to work on today including Ashford, Dromoland and Glin Castles, Lyons Demesne, Coolmore Stud and Airfield House in Dundrum and Butler House in Kilkenny.

Experience the magnificent Borris House with Thomas Pakenham, exploring its many rare and unusual great trees including a number of beautiful specimen trees.

What is it about gardening that tends to lead to longer more fulfilled lives?

Seamus O’ Brien, internationally renowned plantsman and Curator of the Botanic Gardens in Kilmacurragh picks out his top plants from surprising novelties to rising stars for your garden.

Seamus O’Brien explores the evolution of the gardens at Huntington Castle focusing on both historic and new planting, including the planting of acid-loving rhododendrons under his advice in recent times.

Garden designer Diarmuid Gavin and Carlow plantsman Paul Smyth tell the story of their Garden Conversations lockdown broadcasts, introducing us to the community of gardeners around the world who it built while also sharing an invigorating tour of their respective plots in this light hearted and informative talk. 

Join Shirley Shirley Lanigan, the noted Irish author as she talks about the changing world of open Irish gardens, with reference to the growth of interest in tings organic and responsible, and will take parts of the garden as illustration.

Nature Sketching Walk with Melissa Culhane along the River Barrow in Leighlinbridge Melissa Culhane, award-winning illustrator of Naturama, the number one bestseller in Irish children’s non-fiction […]

Design Off - Choose Between Garden Designs by James Alexander Sinclair and Adam Frost A very special start to mark the 20th anniversary celebrations of the […]

Planting Yourself Better in a Sensory Garden Leonie Cornelius, gold medal winner at Bloom, shows you how to plant yourself happy with sensory garden ideas that […]

Cut Flowers - From the Garden to the Vase In this hands-on workshop Fionnuala Fallon, Irish Times gardening correspondent explains the key principles of cut flower […]

Being Energy Aware Matters Shirley Lanigan explores why being energy aware matters – the code by which The Barrow Experience project operates. It is a code […]

20 Years of TV gardening - Joe Swift Joe Swift talks candidly about his experiences being a TV gardener. Having presented Gardeners World and most of […]

Garden tour of Delta Sensory Gardens with Arthur Shackleton Enjoy a tour of Delta's sixteen sensory gardens, many of whom were designed by national and international […]

Garden tour of The Meadows by Arthur Shackleton Renowned garden designer Arthur Shackleton leads this tour around the garden of the great artist and painter Philippa […]

A Talk on Altamont Gardens - the Creation of an Important Irish Garden Turtle Bunbury charts the story of Altamont through the centuries from its reputed […]

The Gardens of the Newt – A Journey Spanning Three Centuries Travel back in time with Arthur Cole to discover the origins of an exceptional garden […]

Petal to Plate As the interest in unusual edibles continues to grow, this workshop provides helpful information and advice allowing you to pick plants that make […]

Delivered by UK gardener Stephanie Hafferty, this afternoon of talks and supper is a must for anybody interested in growing their own food. Stephanie Hafferty has […]

Search and Rescue - Bringing Gardens Back to Life In this special 20th anniversary programme, garden historian expert Belinda Jupp makes her first visit to the […]

Horticultural Happy Pill The evidence for the mental and physical benefits of gardening is stacking up. James Wong is a Royal Botanic Garden, Kew-trained botanist, international […]

The Great Indoors From tiny moss terrariums and planted tanks, to indoor lily ponds, fern-encrusted fountains and lush living walls, James will take you on a […]

Continuing the Magic at Gravetye Manor (11.30 a.m.) and Shrubs - Always the Bridesmaid, Never the Bride (3 p.m.) Continuing the Magic at Gravetye Manor Head […]

Woodland Gardening with Ken Cox Kenneth Cox presents his most popular and spectacular talk, a 1 hour visual feast on his 2018 publication Woodland Gardening. The talk […]

Garden Talk Finola Reid promises an interesting and informative tour of Burtown House and Gardens exploring the delights of these beautiful surroundings while sharing her passion […]

Talk 1: With a background in social and therapeutic horticulture, Fiann Ó Nualláin has extensive experience in creating community gardens as an outreach horticulturist working across Dublin and Leinster. In this talk Fiann will explore the health and well-being benefits of gardening and the bridge building that happens within community spaces.

Talk 2: In this plant safari walk around An Gairdín Beo, Fiann presents both vegetables, native species, medicinal herbs and other plants grown on site to explain their health benefits. Have your notepad and questions ready to solve those garden problems you may have and to tap into Fiann’s wonderful expertise on human health.

Eanna Ni Lamhna, President of the Tree Council of Ireland promises an informative and entertaining walk around the village of Myshall and its tree trail, which features twenty five notable species, both native and non-native.