Mount Congreve Gardens

Mount Congreve Gardens

Words can only convey a small impression of what Mount Congreve has to offer. To get a full appreciation of what has been achieved here in such a short time by Mr Ambrose Congreve, one has to visit the garden as the seasons unfold. The gardens at Mount Congreve, Waterford, consist of around seventy acres of intensively planted woodland garden and a four acre walled garden. The owner, the late Mr Ambrose Congreve, was inspired by Mr Lionel de Rothschild's exceptional garden at Exbury in Hampshire, England. It was here that his interest in gardening was nurtured and he became infected with a passion and enthusiasm for plants such as Rhododendrons, Magnolias, Camellias and indeed many other floras from every continent in the world.The entire collection consists of over three thousand different trees and shrubs, more than two thousand Rhododendrons, six hundred Camellias, three hundred Acer cultivars, six hundred conifers, two hundred and fifty climbers and fifteen hundred herbaceous plants.

Review

Ireland's garden county is synonymously Co. Wicklow, and although I do agree in part with that statement, I have to go just a bit further and state, that in my opinion, the whole of Ireland truly is a garden! Every single county has a garden for you to visit, and for some counties, they have more than others. Take County Waterford for instance, there is a huge number of gardens in this county. Mount Congreve offers a real gardeners paradise, and around every corner there is something to wet your gardening appetites. Although access to the house is not available currently, the architecture of this house is truly amazing. It's architect John Roberts, a County Waterford man himself, was that sought after, he is the only architect in the world to of built cathedrals of two different faiths. But the men of the day, have to be the first and last Ambrose Congreve, for it is there initiatives that saw this great garden become one of the greatest gardens of the world!