Yesterday I got to go back to Mount Congreve, which is my Garden of Eden. It’s just a few miles from Tramore and has opened again for this season.
Mount Congreve is beyond special to me and it has probably inspired more posts on this blog than anywhere else. It’s a place that stretches back to my childhood as we used to visit when I was a kid and then in recent years I’ve been going at least once a week during the season which lasts from now until we get to soak in the Autumn tints.
I die a little each year when Mount Congreve closes for the Winter and from late January onward I can feel a growing sense of anticipation as I look forward to making my grand return.
The weather was perfect yesterday ~ blue skies, warm sun and the peace, calm and tranquility that Mount Congreve always rains down on me. I can honestly say that if I was told I had only a day or two to live that Mount Congreve would be the top inland place that would call me.
It was so reassuring to reach the lovely wrought iron gate at the end of the woodland garden that has the heart which always warms mine.
The splendour of Mount Congreve is almost overwhelming, especially with the blaze of colour it always presents.
As yet another season begins, I simply have to say a loving ‘Thank You’ to Mr. Ambrose Congreve (1907-2011) for leaving this wonderful Garden to the people of Ireland. What an inheritance!
And here’s how the Temple looked yesterday as it gazed down on the River Suir making its way towards Waterford City.
Where is YOUR ‘Garden of Eden?’
SOCIAL BRIDGE ~ Jean Tubridy connecting with you from Ireland 
When we stayed in the west of Scotland we visited many gardens especially Benmore as that was close by. As the climate in the west is milder, the gardens were a profusion of colour, shape, scent, peeling barks in cinnamon and ruby reds as well as flowers which seemed to bloom for most of the year. Places of peace and tranquility, often solitude for Benmore is a hillside garden and most people don’t venture up into the higher reaches. A feeling of eternity with trees hundreds of years old, that shrinks problems into perspective. Gardens in the east are slower to waken from winter, and the trees and shrubs tend to be the hardier varieties that withstand colder weather and harsh east winds. Lovely in their own way, but there is something special, a softness that envelopes, in the gardens of the west.
Oh you paint a delightful picture. I love your point about the old trees shrinking problems into perspective.
My garden of eden is in fact a forest, where in autumn I get lost through its colours. Love yours!
Dana, your forest sounds wonderful. It’s hard to beat Autumn colours.
Indeed, I also like your temple…
Yes, it’s very elegant and the view from it is stunning.
Thank you very much, Jean!
You’re more than welcome.
Dana, thank you for taking me to your Garden of Eden. In a country I have not yet visited, it is lovely to be taken there through your beautiful pictures and descriptions. My “garden” at the moment is mere green and brown shoots pushing up through the dirt as the first signs of spring emerge. These simple beginnings are much needed after our gloomy, cold winter!
Thanks for writing, GG
Mount Congreve sounds like a beautiful place to visit. I’ve never been there, so I must put that on my list for the summer. For a nice long hike through the trees, crossing stone and wooden bridges that span a cool clear river, there’s no place like Glenbower Woods in Killeagh. Just ten minutes drive from our house, it’s full of native Irish trees and is an ancient woodland, found on the earliest maps of Ireland. I love it there at any time of year, Jean.
Jean, I hope you get up to Mount Congreve and I’m certainly putting Glenbower Woods on my list.
Beautiful, especially that last shot. I visit botanical gardens wherever I go. It’s my pleasure. Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania are quite beautiful. The Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario, but my regular GO TO is Edwards Gardens in Toronto.
Hi Elen, I love the sound of your choices. The Botanical Gardens in Dublin are extremely popular and very beautiful.
My mum’s garden is magnificent. It has changed so much over the years as she became less able and is gone from a lot of wild flowers and perennials to an easier maintained garden which looks fantastic in every season. It really is gorgeous, and of course it’s home.
Tric, what a lovely choice. I always felt great peace in my parent’s gardens. There were a good few as we moved around but they both adored nature too.
Beautiful and tranquil looking…We went to Boylston as they have a garden there called Tower Hill Garden which is about the same in beauty as your garden is. I may be wrong on the name of our garden as we went their years ago but I have beautiful shots of it to look back at it. Another place on the other side of Boston is Garden in the Woods..this is on my bucket list. Down on the Cape is Heritage Gardens with its’ beautiful Rhododendrom bushes and Azaleas..they have a museum and an old antique automobile museum along with a place to rest and partake of beverages and food. Perhaps we shall visit there this Spring. Thank You for posting your special pictures …
Joni, your gardens sound great. It’s always nice to have a few on one’s list. A bit like looking foward to read a new book!
And so it begins .. An other season of growth, beauty and surprises yet to unfold. Love this piece of Ireland Jean 💛
Hi Val, Spring has such vibrance about it.
I can see why it’s your garden of Eden. How often do you visit?
Hi George, once a week without fail. It changes so much, I wish I could go every day!
The Japanese Gardens at the Albuquerque Botanical Center. Yes, who knew… in the middle of the desert. 🙂
Eric, I love Japanese Gardens. Yours sound very special indeed.
Not sure I have a Garden of Eden today but mine would only exist in the past in South Texas in the spring on the ranch that I grew up on. Yours is beautiful!
CC, even the way you describe yours reveals its significance in your life.
Lovely . . . What a picture-perfect spring day!
Thanks Sheryl. Yes, it was a majestic morning.
Gardens are just starting to become popular here in Canada. I live in a neighborhood that is about 150 years old and the houses are large and brick – many set back from the road. It is becoming increasingly popular to establish gardens in these front yards. There are not a lot of the large wooded gardens in Canada, we just aren’t civilized enough yet. I’m from Halifax and we had a Public Gardens there that was established in 1867 – the year Canada became a country. They have grown since and were designated a National Historic Site in 1984.
I’m stunned, Paul, about your relative lack of gardens. Hopefully all that will change in the coming decades.
That one in Halifax sounds like my kind of place.
Remember, it’s rare to find anything here over 100 years old and a nice garden with mature trees takes at least that long to develop.
P.S. I see that my comment on Live life is still awaiting moderation – no sign of it there yet?
Oh I know but at least if gardens and trees get planted you’ll be up and crawling.