Its beauty when still a barren rock captured the attention of a wealthy northerner, John Bryce. He and his wife, Violet, began to dream of creating a garden in this warm, moist location and, in 1910, he set about the Herculean task. Hundreds of tonnes of topsoil were shipped to the island and a shelter belt of pine trees and griselinia was established.
The couple had met the distinguished British garden designer Harold Peto while on a cruise ship and commissioned him to plan the plot. Work soon commenced on laying out Peto’s Italianate design and thousands of plants were shipped to the island. The couple embraced the idea of their new garden being a space to experiment with gardening possibilities, planting species which would be challenged elsewhere on these islands.
The collection consisted primarily of Southern Hemisphere species, including champion leptospermums, kauri pines, myrtle, dacrydium, drimys and callistemons. Alongside these were summer-flowering magnolias and rhododendrons as well as tree ferns and cyatheas, all which flourished in the sub-tropical island micro-climate. But the financial fortunes of the Bryce family weren’t flourishing, and while the gardens were beautifully developed, plans for a grand house were shelved.
Generations of garden lovers have subsequently made the short but magical boat journey from Glengarriff through shimmering waters past basking seals to the island’s small jetty. And it became one of our most-loved gardens to visit. Howe.