Leitrim Flowers

15/09/2024

Sunshine flowers. Bursting with September.

09/09/2024

Floral decoration on the sweeping staircase in Temple House, Sligo. The wedding speeches are made here so imagine how that would look.

07/09/2024

What a day for an outdoor wedding at Temple House. Magic.

It’s a beautiful day for a wedding in the garden - Congratulations Jessie and Archie on your wedding day . Wishing you a lifetime of love and laughter.

02/09/2024

Happy campers at Sunday's training course - Designing a Cottage Garden. More courses taking place in October and November.

30/08/2024

Celebrating National Hedgerow Week. No conifer forestry, no invasive species. Just native trees and shrubs.

25/08/2024

The last local place name I will mention is Lisdromarea - the fort of the smooth ridge. The first recorded reference to this townland was in 1660 when it was called Lissdromrah. Lisdromarea is adjacent to Loughtown Lough and in 1836 John O Donovan says that 'it contains a large village called Loughtown near to which is a small Chapel of Ease belonging to the Parish'. A significant number of Church of Ireland families settled in Loughtown/Lisdromarea and the Sunday School had 56 pupils in 1817. According to records, common names at Loughtown were Stewart, Craig and Sunter. To my knowledge, none of these families lives locally these days.

21/08/2024

Continuing my story about local townlands, I now come to Effrinagh: from the original Aifreannach - a place where mass was celebrated. The first recorded reference to the townland is in 1622 when it was referred to as Yfernagh. John O Donovan says that ‘about half of the townland is bog, the rest is arable containing a great many houses spread over it’. In the 1901 Census, there were 125 people living in Effrinagh - 35 of them were Graltons. One of these citizens was Socialist Jim Gralton, born there in 1886 and the only Irishman ever deported from his own country. He built a dancehall in Effrinagh and his life is celebrated in the film ‘Jimmy’s Hall’.

19/08/2024

Following on from my recent post regarding place names, our own townland is Annaghnamaddoo - pronounced locally as Annamadoo. John O Donovan states that it is 'Eanach na Madadh' - marsh or morass of the dogs. The first recorded reference to the townland is in 1622 in the Calendar of Patent Rolls of James 1. In 1659, Pender's Census states that there are four people living in the townland. In his early nineteenth century narrative, John O Donovan states: 'The northern and southern ends are bog, the rest is arable and pasture containing several farms but nothing else worthy of notice'. We beg to differ.

17/08/2024

2024 is the two hundredth anniversary of the first Ordnance Survey of Ireland. This is when the British surveyed all of Ireland and recorded every feature of the Irish landscape, built and natural, in a series of maps. In 2024, these fabulous maps remain accurate to within an inch. Accompanying the maps was a narrative relating to each of the 60,000 townlands in Ireland - particularly the correct place name (logainm) and its origin. This narrative was provided by a tri-lingual Kilkenny academic - John O Donovan - and the work took almost twelve years in the early nineteenth century. John O Donovan walked through every one of Ireland's townlands and his work has remained invaluable ever since, providing an abiding record of the heritage of Ireland. Over the course of Heritage Week, I will transcribe some of the narratives relating to our own townland and adjacent areas. I hope you will find these excerpts interesting.

12/08/2024

A small number of places remains available on our training course 'Introduction to Designing a Cottage Garden', to be held on Sunday, September 01. Please email me at [email protected] for further details.

09/08/2024

Thank you to all the Irish Olympians who have given us so much entertainment and pride over the last couple of weeks. And the very best of luck to those yet to finish their races. You are all champions in our eyes.

06/08/2024

Lovely teapot table-centre from a recent and very joyous wedding

29/07/2024

Floral pedestals in the Ceremony Room at Temple House

28/07/2024

Dangerous hole in the road at Annaghnamaddoo - near the Drumsna/Kesh road. We've flagged it clearly. Drive very slowly - it's very deep.

26/07/2024

Elegant wedding at The Old Rectory, Fenagh, Co. Leitrim.

23/07/2024

Drumshanbo Church, 2024

17/07/2024

Nellie's laneway

13/07/2024

Bridal flowers for the lovely Cora and her bridesmaids.

08/07/2024

First day at Sligo Farmers' Market, 2010. Very happy memories of that great market.

06/07/2024

Lovely summery bouquet of freesia, ox-eye daisy and anemone.

30/06/2024

Ciaran in the zone at today's training course: Natural Flower Arranging. Only country flowers used in this course.

25/06/2024

Farmers' wedding at Kilronan Castle.

21/06/2024

Sealed with a kiss. Leitrim weddings. Always special.

16/06/2024

Teeny tiny buttonhole for a teeny tiny pageboy. Matching his mother's bridal bouquet.

11/06/2024

Fragrant dining table flowers at Kilronan Castle wedding.

07/06/2024

Twenty years ago this poster was on top of every lamp post in Dun Laoghaire. It was very difficult to go for a quiet walk.

04/06/2024

What a stunning day for an outdoor ceremony at Temple House, Ballymote. Amazing setting.

29/05/2024

Wednesday is always a busy day, cutting and bunching for Carrick Market. But it's so good to be outside listening to the bird chorus. Nothing beats this.

28/05/2024

Chamomile bouquet with baby pink roses, cornflowers, veronica, gypsophila and eucalyptus.

25/05/2024

Moody blues.