A deep rooted passion

Each corner you round at Una Hole’s remarkable Carraig Gardens brings another surprise. Who would have thought there are African or an Asian style gardens on the outskirts of Mountnugent? That’s not to mention a Roman themed garden, or an apothecary and herb garden.

A little less surprising is her reflection garden, but it still possesses that wow factor. Given the Carraig Gardens’ name the sizeable rockery makes sense, as does the area for alpines. But there’s also a children’s garden, which leads down to her ample vegetable patch and polytunnel.

The ideas keep coming - Una’s next focus is to create a relatively formal rose garden and also a woodland area in a Celtic triquetra shape, which she intends to use as an outdoor classroom.

While Una might be working tirelessly on these projects, she wants visitors to relax. Home made benches are placed in each of its themed areas for people to sit and take it all in. All the senses are tantalised here. It’s a very tactile experience too.

“It’s just about to colour up for autumn,” Una says of an amazing stag’s horn shrub with crimson fruit heads, velvety to the touch.

“That’s what you don’t get from Facebook - you don’t get the scent, you don’t get the feel of the plants.”

A step back from the stag’s horn and it’s clear that everything about this incidental corner is meticulously planned - just as every part of the garden is.

“You’ve got the spikiness of the pine,” Una says of a mature tree rising behind it, “the softness and colour of the stag’s horn, and earlier on in the year that whole bed is alliums.”

Her knowledge and planning ensures Carraig Gardens has seasonal interest throughout. At one eye-catching bed she explains: “I plant lupins and dahlias together because your lupins are going out of flower when your Dahlias are coming in, and bulking up. So you always keep colour in the bed. And they both come in after tulips and daffodils so you can extend it for a long part of the year.”

Drama

There’s a playful sense of drama in her gardens with the different themes. As she is only back from a trip to Tanzania, she is eager to discuss the African Garden. In this section frothy looking ageratum (bluemink) are teamed up with soft red sedums, and an array of gazanias.

“As they come out in the sun they almost look painted,” admires Una of the latter. “They are African daisies.”

While you may admire the flowers, it’s impossible not to mention the elephant in the room, or make that the garden. A homemade elephant moulded from chicken wire takes shade under a sweet maple.

“He moves in the wind, so he has a nice presence here,” she says.

The qualified horticulturalist acknowledges there’s a limit in how far planning will get you.

“You can’t get something that’s this moveable right all the time - and you shouldn’t be looking for that level of perfection in it. It’s not a square box - you definitely have to go with it.”

And while Una knows the conventional rules, she doesn’t feel constrained by them.

“I like to see it more natural. I don’t have the rule plant three plant five, it’s more about what goes with each other and get the textures to compliment.”

Roots

Una’s roots in gardening reach deep. Her father Bartle, an electrician by trade and gardener by hobby introduced her at a very young age to the pastime that would dominate her working life. Sadly Bartle passed away when she was only six years old.

“He was mine. I was the only girl so I was with him all the time. I used to sneak off with him a lot,” she fondly recalls.

“He’d often come home with plants from other people’s gardens. The Percy French Hotel had a roof garden at one stage - he did the wiring in that and came home with many, many plants.”

Bartle’s love for gardening was in turn gifted to him by his father, Edward D’arcy, who was the gardener at Mount Palles, a sizeable local estate.

After qualifying Una worked for major garden nurseries in Britain and on her return she followed in Edward’s footsteps even more closely by working in local estates - she was head gardener in Virginia Park and also spent time at Farnham estate, and for 16 years she worked at the estate in Slane.

“It’s amazing how you get these ties, even though I never met my grandfather, and my time with my father was limited he instilled that love of gardening.”

While there’s no declared gardeners among Una’s own four children - Morgan, Elizabeth, Jules and Simon - she assured, “They all come out and help.”

While Una has lived in the D’arcy family home since she returned to Ireland about 26 years ago, even before that she was sending plants home for her mam, now 90 years old, to pot up.

“Every plant almost has a back story because I gathered them, propagated them, took cuttings off them and stole some of them probably,” she says with a laugh that confirms her innocence in the matter. “Anyway they all ended up here and are growing well.”

Encouragement

Three years ago family circumstances saw her step back from working in Slane, which allowed her to focus solely on Carraig Gardens. She lay down paths and more structures. “The planting was there so it was quite easy to do,” she reflects.

The Celt asks if Una’s garden is a fair reflection of her?

“All over the place?” she wisecracks. “I like things to look well and at the same time to have that natural element to it.”

Then in May 2023 she opened her garden for just one day for charity.

“The encouragement from that is what drove me to open it. People were just blown away. That’s what got me to where I am now.”

Where she is now is owner of a burgeoning business that formally opened in June. Carraig Gardens is open to the public free of charge while she has a cafe serving bakes and beverages (I had delicious scones and coffee).

“Baking was the de-stress over the years. I’m doing two things I love now.”

The combination works well for Una and her customers.

“We get a lot of older clients who just sit and admire the gardens and it’s just lovely. It’s peaceful. It’s time out. I don’t charge admission to the gardens so it’s here for everyone to see and you can ask whatever plant question you want.”

The Celt asks one that momentarily leaves Una stumped: her favourite part of the garden.

“Different gardens at different times of the year,” she says. It’s a good answer - one that will have us coming back to enjoy it again next season.