Ireland is so well known for the green shamrock and all those many shades of green fields, but to forget the gardens, those lovely gardens, would be a heinous oversight indeed.

From February on, Ireland is blissful with flowering blossoms. The ride from Dublin Airport into the city alone is enough to make you think the whole country is daft for daffodils. I know of nowhere else that you will you see them so thick and lush on the sides of a high-speed highway. I'm happy not to be driving then. To me they would be a very dangerous distraction.

St. Stephen's Green in Dublin is known to everyone in the city and throngs of visitors as well, all met in season by a display of red and yellow tulips that might just make one believe for a moment that they are standing right at the center of the Pale itself.

The National Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin were founded in 1795 under the influence of the Dublin Society "to promote a scientific knowledge in the various branches of agriculture." Diverse species are grown in the wonderful Victorian-style glass houses. The curvilinear range, a magnificent and famous feature of the glasshouse of the day, commissioned by David Moore in the 1840s is in the process of being restored. Glasnevin is full of rare and elegant species courted by an army of attentive gardeners. The giantic water lilies from the Amazon were in their day, c. 1854, sited at the Victoria, or Aquatic, house, and were one of the wonders of a wonderful period of discovery. The lily still blooms at Glasnevin in the summer

In the spring, in the cottage gardens and out in the country, pansies celebrate the weather, and the gorse (found at Mount Stewart in 1804, and the first cultivar to be introduced from Glasnevin) show off their own peculiar shade of yellow along the hedgerows. As for primroses, please! It's very hard to talk about the Irish primula. The computer screen shimmers. Country gardens in Ireland are fairly described as "the family pride and joy." You can see as you pass that the perennial beds and bright annuals are there to tempt the sunshine to compete with the near-daily rainbows.

May is when the public gardens are peaking. This is when the fabulous rhododendrons, azaleas, and camellias open their hearts to us and when the fair winds from the Gulf Stream mix with the perfumes of unexpected tropical species on magical islands. Ireland has its own small, but genuine, tropical “Riviera,” in south Kerry and Cork, a tiny place where balmy breezes and real sunshine accelerate the growth of the tropical species and where it is indeed possible to get a tan.

Visitors always like a castle and the formal gardens in the great houses like Bantry House. Richard White, 2nd Earl of Bantry, created the formal gardens at Bantry House. The gardens are based on sketches made while the Earl toured France and Italy from 1840-1860. The gardens were once rightly described as "the 2nd Earl's first love."

Powerscourt, "the Versailles of Ireland," is in the Wicklow Mountains. It is situated in such a defendable manner that the Normans coveted the property during their invasions starting in the 13th century...the Power family built a castle there at the time, but it was often attacked and often repaired over the centuries. In the early 18th century Wingfield started the real work of turning Powerscourt into the magnificent estate it is today with a 47-acre garden that dates back to the 1740s.

Powerscourt can boast walled gardens, Italian gardens, ornamental lakes, rambling walks, and Ireland's highest waterfall (falling almost 400 feet into the Dargle Valley). This site is just the spot for quiet contemplation and reverent appreciation.

Mount Usher, on the other hand, is a garden in the Robinson style (wild and natural) and dates back to 1860. The garden boasts over 5000 plant species. Laid out along the banks of the Vartry River at Ashford, Wicklow, the garden covers about 20 acres. Among the many species, you will find plants and trees including many rhododendrons, magnolias, camellias, eucryphia and azaleas. Water features are critical to this style of garden and suspension bridges enable one to cross cascades and rippling streams.

I've left Mount Congreve Garden in Waterford for last as it is more than just the sum of its parts. Mr. Congreve has worked on this garden for 82 of his last 93 years! At the age of 11, he started to garden and this is the result. With twenty-five full-time gardeners---more than the Queen of England employs at any of her palaces---Congreve is one of Ireland's truly great national treasures. Plant lovers reading this little piece will dream of petals tonight as they visualize the extensive greenhouses filled with rare fuchsias, orchids, bromeliads, cyclamen, begonias, clivia, datura, streptocarpus, pelargonium, and hibiscus, all exotic and none too much of a challenge to be attempted. It is said that Congreve Garden is the world's largest collection with 3500 species of rhododendron alone. Who’s going to argue?