On the weekend I arrived for the first time to start work in Waterford , which was somewhere around the August Bank Holiday in 1979, there was a sudden flush of Black limos driving northwards across the bridge as I drove into the town.
On enquiry I discovered that this was the various ministers returning back to Dublin having graciously (on behalf of the Plain People of Ireland) accepted the gift of the estate of Mount Congreve from Sir Ambrose of that ilk.
Ambrose Congreve was at this stage 74, without heir, and determined that his life’s work, that of making the 80 acres that comprise Mount Congreve, one of the greatest gardens in the world, was not going to be broken up and sold to the highest bidder after his death.
The fact that at 98 the man is still going strong in 2004, 25 years later, is neither here nor there.
We, the plain people, gained one of the worlds treasure houses of flowering trees and plants on that day, and, the good news is, we will be able to take a peek at it every Thursday from 7th April next.

I cheated I confess and managed a sneak preview yesterday.

I had been put under some pressure by some Camellia loving friends of mine from Maynooth to get them into the garden before the Camellias were “over”, (i.e. finished flowering).
I, being the local man, was the one who had to persuade gardener Michael White that he might permit us a quick look before the gates swung open, officially ,next month. Being a gentleman he allowed me to bring the two Maynooth ladies in before the start date but, what we wern’t expecting, he then gave us a personal guided tour which was to make this my most rewarding garden visit ever.

I’ve been at Mount Congreve before, 3 or 4 times but I have always wandered alone and ignorant, admiring the plants without knowing whether it was Azalea, Rhododendron, or Magnolia.
I have a very clear memory of wandering through the paths a couple of years ago when we were suddenly surrounded by 4 slavering Alsatians. A large elderly gentleman in a golf buggy who was behind the dogs shouted at us
“Don’t move ! They wont touch you if you keep still !”
I promise you that there are statues who would have envied me my stillness for the next few minutes.
Sir Ambrose (for it was he)was kindness itself when he got to us and called off the dogs but some part of me was grateful to discover that he was in the Bahamas today and unlikely to set the hounds on us.

Now Michael knew that the ladies were anxious to see Camellias and no better man than Michael to show them to us.
Did you know that there are over 100,000 species of Camellia in the world , and, that Mount Congreve has over 600 of them?

Boy did we see Camellias, Reds, Pinks,Doubles,plants that produced different colours from the same branch, whites, oh, such beautiful whites, whites just like Marguerite Gautier must have carried in” La Dame aux Camellias”, we saw Camellias which scented the evening air, ones which had delicate pink veins, like blood vessels , running through their pale petals.
But still Michael told us that they were late this year and would be much better in a couple of weeks. Unbelievable.
On previous visits we had wandered through Mount Congreve on our own and, I thought, having a guide would lessen the pleasure.
On the contrary, Michael’s encyclopaedic knowledge of each plant,where it had come from, how it had performed over the years, but most of all his tangible love and infectious enthusiasm for each of his charges just heightened our appreciation of it all. It was a revelation.
(I must confess that it was just a tiny bit gratifying to learn that one of the last people he had given the personal guided tour to were Prince Charles and Camilla)

I wouldn’t like to give you the impression that the garden only contains Camellias, there were countless Rhododendrons in flower, stunning Magnolias, tall as Oak trees and myriads of Azaleas waiting for May to burst forth.
In fact Michael assured us that Sir Ambrose had designed the garden so meticulously that there was something new to see on every month of the year.

As well as the flowers there are some wonderful landscape devices.

There is an avenue of huge pink and white Magnolia trees which frame a marvellous vista of the Suir stretching down to Carrick.(Capability Brown eat your heart out)
An excavated quarry has been turned into an enchanting Japanese garden complete with Pagoda and keyhole wall window.
There is a natural rock garden where water (when it is switched on) cascades down through natural and man made waterfalls and Alpine plantings.

There are two beautiful walled gardens, one with a Victorian glasshouse and the other providing all the vegetables for the big house.
(Mind you in mid March all that was on offer was Leeks and Onions but I did manage to scrounge some of the windfall “quinces” from the espaliered Japonicas, enough for me to make a little jelly.)

Thank you Michael for an inspiring tour. We have already decided to come back in mid May to see the Azaleas and the Rhododendrons in flower.
And a thank you is definitely due to Sir Ambrose as well.
He has after all spent the last 70 odd years creating a masterpiece.