I've saved the best for last.  I am hoping that you will share my enthusiasm for what pictures can only begin to describe as the most amazing garden in Ireland.  I speak - with hand ceremoniously held over heart - of Kylemore Abbey. Kylemore is a castle tucked into a wooded hillside on the edge of a lake.  That alone has a pretty high drool factor.  What you can't see from the entrance of the estate, however, are the sweeping gardens that are a shuttle drive away down a windy road nestled in the forest. 

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It's hard to think that anything bad can come from having too many tomatoes around.  They sit so beautifully on my kitchen counter in an Italian ceramic bowl, their colors ranging from bright striped green to bright yellow to golden orange to brilliant red.  Yet one thing tarnishes their image.  Fruit flies.  They seem to come from nowhere, and appear to have nowhere else to go and no other target than my tomatoes.  Naturally, I'd much rather be out in the garden than standing around in my kitchen with a fly swatter, so with a little research and ...

Near the end of our tour of Ireland, we made a stop at Strokestown House and Gardens.  This was quite possibly the most influential part of the tour, historically speaking.  Strokestown House is where you will find the Famine Museum.  Now, most everyone knows that there was a potato famine that swept Ireland in the 1840's, but what I didn't know was the horrific treatment of farmers that came with it.  Here's a short summary:

Irish farmers had their land taken away from them by British rulers. British landlords who were put in place would then rent the...

There is much to be said for opulence.  Whether you admire wealth or despise it, you've got to hand it to the creators of the Powerscourt Estate for a job well done.  I won't go into a history lesson, but I will tell you that this site is one of Ireland's most important and most famous pieces of property.  You might recognize it from the film of recent years, The Count of Monte Cristo, in which the big-bash, "I'm richer than all of you" party scene was filmed.  My jaw dropped open upon walking through the double doors overlooking ...

Our trip to Ireland during its "dry" season promised to be one filled with green, green, green. I photographed many gardens, but I'll start with something cute, since this is most likely the kind of garden I would have expected to see in Ireland.

The small town of Adair provided the perfect backdrop for thatched-roof houses with cozy cottage gardens all in a row. It seems that the people of this little town made the best of the short summer by going gang-busters on flowers and vegetables, with copious amounts of hanging plants (usually impatiens) to liven ...

I recently sprained my ankle while dancing.  I'm swollen, black and blue, the whole nine yards.  I've been told I'm out of commission for at least twelve weeks.  While hobbling around the garden, trying not to get dirt under my toes in flip flops (the only shoes I can wear right now), I realize how fortunate I am to ordinarily have the use of all my fingers and toes, arms, legs and other body parts.  Everything takes so much longer to…

I recently published an article out there in cyberspace.  It's part one of a series on heirloom vegetables.  Here's a little excerpt for you: When I think of heirloom vegetables, romantic notions of windswept hillsides and fields of sunflowers come to mind. I picture a sturdy wooden table arranged with rustic linens and slender glasses of wine, each one catching a ray of sunlight and reflecting onto the summer palate of oranges, reds and yellows that make up a bowl of…

Happy first day of summer, everyone!  Today is the longest day of the year.  Glorious sunlight will stream in on us, plants will be happy, shorts and flip-flops will be dusted off, glaringly pale legs will see the light of day for quite possibly the first time all year.  Break open the watermelon, catch some fire files, run through the sprinklers and mix up some lemonade - summer is her to stay (at least for the next 3 months). As…