malahide demesne

The first Sunday of March I went to Malahide Castle [also called park or demesne]. I like the park. I’ve been here before. But it’s been a while. As an open space – I love it. But the park holds much more than green fields. I was you might say a little disappointed. On the [...]

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ulster bank… don’t know – do they care?

I heard on the radio the European Central Bank rate was cut. All of the Banks are passing it on except Ulster Bank – that is if you are on a variable mortgage. I double doubted myself. Tracker or variable? I could buy some trees… ‘herself’ could get me to put down some skirting boards [...]

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thursday garden guest – the pr sessions

It was a very unusual email for me to send to a public relations firm…. I had done the garden guest series before. I now needed a new source of guest writers. At the PR v bloggers collison course I met Piaras.  He seemed like a nice chappie. Turns out he is an absolue gentleman. [...]

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technology for a gardener…

I’ve been brewing on this one for a while. I know a lot of ‘techies’. But, like me, when talking in latin ie. plant language [my equivalent] – sometimes one can get lost in the midst of conversations and to the point of no return. My task is to take ten technology related companies and [...]

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all you need is love…

….and I love this day. I am a romantic. A sporadic one some may say or irrational with regard to my showings of affection. But I love this because it makes the silliness of doing things that were accepted when I was 14, because I was a teenager, acceptable again for just one day. Rather [...]

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to bloom or not to…

bloom …that is was the question. The search had been put out for my intended prop for Bloom 2009 but show gardens require a lot more than that. I have learnt that one the hard way. It does require [a lot of] months preparation and hard work. It is not for the faint hearted. It [...]

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dublin bus hate trees…?

I found this on Damien’s site. The picture is courtesy of Joe Drumgoole’s blog. According to Joe: A bus hit a tree this morning just past the Five Lamps. Looks like it clipped a tree (notice the damage on the tree just where the branches start to fan out) and it stripped the roof off. [...]

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newbridge demesne

hmmm there you are Ray… Apart from that, there is absolutely nothing I dislike about the park named Newbridge House nee Newbridge Demense, as it is far more than that. It is a true gem and I love it so very much. It contains the formal and the informal. It contains the grand house and [...]

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thank you so very much…

Recently, very recently, we did a garden for an amazing client. Sincerely – simply a genuine and very appreciative all round lovely lady. I’m not saying all clients aren’t lovely… [you all are!] but as a garden designer, landscape gardener and the man who is entrusted with the creation of something breautiful for you… The [...]

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oh brother, where art thou?

I did write about it. But when I went via Damien’s Blog, the daily fluffy’s showed a constant stream of people around the world wanting our brother back? So why is the news hitting the Donegan Landscaping pages. For a second – my writings here are of those related to landscaping. It maybe slightly removed [...]

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doneraile park

On my winter holidays and travelling from Limerick to Cork I needed a fix. I needed to see a park. I had to. I found one. There was some works going on in the car park. That didn’t matter. It wasn’t Stephens green. It didn’t have to be. It was Doneraile Park. It was January. [...]

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jackie…. thursday garden guest #9

If you’d like to know more about Thursday garden guest time – click here For the moment, garden guest #9 is Jackie Danicki. If you know a little more about computers than I do anything about technology, then you will probably know this lady as part of the QiK.com team. My intro to Jackie came [...]

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khayelitsha, south africa 2008 – part 3/3

part 1 of the khayelitsha story is here part 2 of the khayelitsha story is here the deadline was Friday lunch-time. I believe it was 3 minutes before one when we finished. Some were on the plane within 12 hours, some where stayng on a bit longer. I had an extra day – to sleep [...]

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khayelitsha, south africa 2008 – part 2/3

To read part 1 of khayelitsha, south africa 2008 – click here I was part of the garden team. A community centre was in place when we arrived. Two schools sat nearby. A primary and a secondary. Horticulturally, the land outside that was to be landscaped was pretty much all sand. Some shacks surrounded the [...]

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even more waste at fingal county council

To encourage home composting Fingal County Council sell home compost bins at a reduced rate and deliver them free of charge to residents living in Fingal. So why then two weeks ago did I get a brown bin delivered… One may say that’s good, right? not really. Another boo boo by Fingal County Council then [...]

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