Annes Grove Gardens Castletownroche co Cork

4 June 2021 4:51 pm
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Description

ANNES GROVE GARDENS DESCRIPTION

Annes Grove Gardens, now managed by Patrick and Jane Annesley were largely created by Patrick’s grandfather, Richard, in the early years of 20^th century, but also incorporate elements from mid 18^th and 19^th centuries.

The woodland, with its notable collection of species and early hybrid rhododendrons, is quintessentially a spectacle for spring and early summer, but overall, extending for some 25 acres along the banks of the River Awbeg and incorporating such a variety of planting and styles, these are truly gardens for all seasons.

In June and July the walled garden, originally an C18th orchard, comes into its own. The old walls and pergola drip with an insouciant display of climbing roses and a more disciplined planting of hybrid teas and floribundas light up the formal rose beds in the shape of a Celtic cross. Ribbon beds glow with lupins, a loosely Japanese-style water garden shows off its lilies, tree peonies and Solomon’s Seal and the early herbaceous borders provide early summer vistas of pinks, blues, yellows – the cool shades of early summer.

August and September bring a fresh flush of hot colours to the herbaceous borders in the walled garden. Along the cliff-edge and among the bamboos and Amazonian foliage of the wild water-garden below, the tints of the Autumn are already becoming apparent : parrotias, tulip trees, liquidambers, maples – and, leading the way, the cercidophyllums which overhang a quiet area of the river and whose leaves, as they fall, collect in the eddies and against the stones of the weirs into floating islands of pink and crimson.

With its maze of steps, winding paths and interconnecting bridges, Annes Grove gives up its secrets slowly.

At the extremities of the garden patience and a sense of adventure will bring the visitor at the upper end to a re-invented Victorian fernery and, at the lower, to the hidden 19^th century pen pond, tucked into the base of a steep bank of laurel.

Annes Grove is also the home of Rosamund Henley’s Annes Grove Plants, a nursery specialising in unusual perennials.

Opening details and prices:

17 March to 30 September. Mon-Sat 10.00 to 17.00. Sundays 13.00 to 18.00

Adults €6 Students & OAPs €4 Children €2