Lady Mayo's Garden: The Diary of a Lost 19th Century Irish Garden

2014 | Home & Garden

Geraldine, Countess of Mayo, made an exquisite and extremely important garden in Ireland between the years 1890 and 1925 when she had to leave the family estate. The garden was subsequently completely destroyed. Her gardening diaries, spanning over thirty years together with watercolours of the gardens and the plants she brought to enrich it from all over the world evoke a paradise now gone forever. Lady Mayos diaries are a lively insight into the world of gardening at the turn of the 20th Century the problems she faced, the triumphs and the disasters. The watercolours, done at the time by her father, are immensely accomplished and because they have never been kept in the light are as fresh and bright as the day they were executed. This book throws rare light on a hitherto unpublished garden in the great tradition of British gardening at an important time in its history. Lady Mayo is an engaging reporter who was genuinely passionate about her creation and this comes through in everything she writes. Her diary entries take you there and the watercolours many painted on the pages of her diary are truly exceptional.

Kildare Bourke-Borrowes (Author)