🌺Enchanting Gardens: Today We Visit Dana And Her Garden In Ireland #GardeningTwitter #LoveGardening

Over the next few weeks I will be adding to my regular #SixOnSaturday posts with Sunday spots for fellow gardeners.

Our visit today takes us to the Ireland. Let’s find out more about Dana and her garden.

Please tell us where in the world you live and how long you have had your current garden.

I’m American and we’ve been living at our home in County Louth, Ireland (on the east coast), for the past 13 years.

What is the main soil type and what benefits or challenges this and the climate cause.

We have alkaline soil that is very rocky. Parts of the yard retain moisture, while other parts have very good drainage. It can also be very windy in our yard, with minimal shelter. Thankfully, the yard gets a lot of sun throughout the entire day (the back is south-east facing).

Have you made any major changes to your garden or have you any new plans for changes?

There were only a few lavender plants at the house when we moved in, so we’ve done a lot of work! Two years ago we completely reworked a raised bed area, which I’m really happy with. I had fun making the borders using Rosemary, lavender, and dwarf little lime hydrangeas (our beech hedge is one side of the border, too). The raised beds are for annuals: usually pumpkins, garlic, sweet pea and sunflowers. This is also home to our blueberries. We originally put in raised beds in this area when we first moved in, so we learned a lot over the years. This time, our wood was wider, the area was better defined, and we put down weed control fabric underneath new hoggin paths.

This year I added a cutting garden for dahlias and sunflowers.

Do you have a particular garden style that you try to keep to? ie organic, cottage garden, rose garden, traditional for the climate etc.

I’ve always gardened organically, which means I am O.K. with weeds! I would love to say that I have a formal garden, as I use boxwood around my rose beds, and the above-mentioned borders around my raised beds. But that’s about where the formal side ends. There is a bit of a cottage garden feel to the rest of it.

Tell us about some of your favourite plants and why you like them.

I love scented flowers, so my top plants would be lilies (preference for pink), roses, sweet pea and lavender. Lilies just command attention, whether by scent or by sight. Roses are lovely for arrangements – and for drying. Sweet pea are super for having sweet little posies all summer long. Lavender is wonderful to work with, whether making wands or wreaths.

I know that you enjoy making garden wreaths, tell us about your favourite ones .

I really enjoy working with my hands and creating things. I’ve experimented over the years with using different dried flowers, but I have to say that making lavender wreaths is definitely my favourite. It truly is a relaxing experience as you get to enjoy the fragrance the entire time! I sometimes add dried roses too, which adds another dimension. (A close second would be hydrangea wreaths!)

For more beautiful garden ideas from Dana, follow her blog Mom In The Garden.

Dana is also on Instagram here.

Catch up with previous posts in this series below:

Fred and his garden in Normandy, France here.

Sarah and her Australian garden here.

Páraig and his Irish garden here.

Selwa and her Belgium garden here.

Amelia and her garden in Florida here.

Kate and her garden in Finland here.

TopDock and his garden in Alabama here.

Arwen and her garden in Wales here.

Catherine and her Nottingham garden here.

Jude and her garden in Cornwall here.

Graeme and his garden in Somerset here.

Gill and her garden in Welsh here.

Jim in his Cornish garden here.

Please join me in thanking Dana for taking time to answer my questions and provide some lovely photos for this post.