Ballymaloe Farm Walk & Maze

Ballymaloe Farm Walk & Maze
Address
Ballymaloe
Shanagarry
Cork

About

Walking through the sky blue metal gates, you are met by a breath-taking display of flowers and foliage created by the two sides of the herbaceous border. The eye is led towards the focal point of the intriguing shell house at the far end. This is a massively ambitious piece of planting at 90 metres long and each side 4 metres deep. The quantity and variety of plants here is amazing. June and July have to be the most spectacular time of year, although it has been designed with interest throughout the seasons. Stand here for a moment and you will notice birds, bees, butterflies and numerous insects greatly enjoying the border too. A thick yew hedge creates the backdrop on either side of the border. Taller plants and specimen shrubs and trees are used to good effect at intervals at the back of each border, adding structure and contrasting leaf texture; weeping pear, purple smoke bush, phormiums, bronze berberis, buddleia, acre palmatum ‘bloodgood’ (a dramatic name for a Japanese maple). Tall, spectacular perennials are also amongst these, such as giant scabious, inula magnificent and goldenrod. Grasses and bronze fennel add softer touches here and there. Smaller plants are to the front such as persicaria, geraniums, sedum, ladies mantle, catmint, geraniums, soft clouds of blue cornflowers, love-in-the-mist and the cold silvery blue thistle like flowers of the eryngium.

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