I have been very blessed to visit Mrs Jessie Mahaffy’s Garden on a number of occasions. The garden is one of twenty one gardens featured in The Donegal Garden Trail. http://www.donegalgardentrail.com
It is now lovingly tended by Belinda Mahaffy – Jessie’s daughter.
The garden is described in this year’s brochure as:
“First established in 1972 by Mrs Jessie Mahaffy, a relative of William Robinson and granddaughter of the forester at Lissadell, Co. Sligo, Blackrock is a garden constructed upon rock.
A charming rockery sits above the farmhouse.
A grassy corridor winds between a shrubbery and one of the garden’s shady borders to a small cottage garden planted with perennials. All of the planting is interspersed with free-seeding aquilegias, foxgloves and yellow Welsh poppies.
Various lilies are also a feature and ferns abound in the wetter shady areas.
This delightful cottage garden has a timeless quality about it, slowly evolving over the years and carefully tended and planted with flowers from gardener friends near and far.”
The garden has a wonderful collection of roses including New Dawn, Good Luck, Albertine, Louise Odier, Shot Silk and Rambling Rector (yet to flower), featured below with Japanese anemone:
I assisted Belinda with weeding a shady border, while a young crow serenaded us and the sweet perfume of honeysuckle wafted through the air. Bliss!
The front garden is bathed in the shade of this beautiful Portugese laurel:
It provides perfect conditions for astilbe, foxgloves, ferns, honeysuckle and saponaria to thrive:
The garden is open for visitors on Saturday 30th June and Sunday 1st July, and by appointment in summer (2-5.30).
All donations go to Lifford Community Hospital and Medicin Sans Frontiere.
Brigid P. Gallagher is a retired natural medicines therapist, passionate organic gardener and author of “Watching the Daisies- Life lessons on the Importance of Slow,” a holistic memoir dedicated to the art of mindfulness and healing from debilitating illness.
Splendid garden and what an awesome way you have presented, Brigid. I so loved the garden and all its surroundings. Thanks for the wonderful share.
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Thank you Kamal. I love visiting this garden. It is full of wonderful plants.
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Welcome Brigid and I totally understand the beauty of nature and how it wants us to just be there.
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Such a beautiful and inspirational place! The pictures are gorgeous 💗😊
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Thank you Lisa. It is a lovely garden. I love visiting. 🌼
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That looks like a fun and relaxing (at the semester time!) garden. I especially like the photo looking upward at the old house.
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At the same time. I love auto correct. Not.
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😊
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Thank you George. It was built on the site of an old quarry and shows how well you can grow plants in difficult spots. 🌼
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i have not been to such a garden, it looks so well planned and the walk must have been so lovely, the sun seems to be very bright. your pictures and narrative are just perfect! i learned the names of a few new plants from this.
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Thank you Gina. It was so nice to work in a new garden and the little crow was a charmer. 🌼
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beautiful-Miss Jessie left a parting gift.
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She sure did Michelle. Belinda was never allowed to work in it while she was alive 😉
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Its so beautiful..
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Thank you Mich. How are you? 🌼
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Hi …been really busy with a lot.of things Brigid..
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😊
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What an absolutely glorious garden! Thank you so much for taking such beautiful pictures so that we could share it too!
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My pleasure. Belinda is a good friend and I wanted to share it with everyone. She has raised a lot for charity every summer. 🌼
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I love a good ramble through a garden, as always Brigid your garden photos are wonderful to view.
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Thank you Suzanne. I have another to share soon. I would love to visit more but time seems to run away…🌼
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Tell me about!! Time running away that is 😊🌻
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What a lovely walk through a lavish garden, Brigid. My pulse slowed and my soul said ‘thank you’ as I viewed your photos. ❤️
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Wow, what gorgeous pictures, Brigid! The garden is beautiful and it looks like a wonderful place for a relaxing stroll.
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Thank you Terri. It is a lovely garden. Belinda is a terrific gardener. 🌼
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Wow, love all those greens.
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Thank you Arlene. It was during the long drought too. 🌼
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This looks like a wonderful place.
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Beautiful, so lush and green. Great photos! Also love that donations go to good causes 🙂
xx
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Thank you. Belinda has raised a lot for charity over the years. I was glad to give her a hand with the weeding.😉 xx
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What an incredibly charming and beautiful place…I can almost smell the honeysuckle and I love that the donations are given to hospitals. 🙂
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Thank you Jen. Belinda will be thrilled with your lovely comments. 🌼
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Now that I moved from Florida to North Carolina seems like every plant I even go near cause severe poison ivy-like symptoms esp swelling around eyes.
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Oh dear that sounds awful. I would be lost if I could not garden. I hope you can resolve this. 🌼
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This garden is quite lovely, Brigid. I do enjoy visiting garden’s in the UK during the summer.
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It sure is Robbie. I would love to visit more but there are a lot of good things on here in summer and I cannot do everything. 🌼
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wow this one very nice garden… love it… beautful pics
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Thank you. I am so glad you like it. 🌼
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Gardening is so therapeutic in so many ways. Good for the heart and soul. This garden is so beautiful and so idyllic!
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I agree Julie. Gardening has seen me through so much. I always feel better after a bit of weeding. 😊 Belinda will be so pleased with your comments. 🌼
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Beautiful! Thanks for sharing Brigid ❤️
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My pleasure Lynn. It is a lovely garden.
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It all looks so bright and healthy and green!! What a lovely way to spend a morning wandering through such a lovely place. Brigid. So glad you shared it with us. I know how much you enjoy a beautiful garden! hugs from here!
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Thank you Rhonda. I enjoyed helping Belinda prepare for the visitors. It was a lovely sunny day too. xx
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Beautiful garden! The photos were wonderful
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Thank you. It is a special garden.
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Love your pictures! What a great place!
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Thank you Jessica. It is a lovely garden and it is all built on rock. 🌼
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These pictures are all stunning! I would love to see this in person. How magical about the rock.
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Yes. It is a lovely garden. I so enjoyed helping Belinda get it ready for all her visitors. 🌼
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I would like very much to connect with Belinda as I am descended from Mahaffys. My grandfather was Frank Alvin Mahaffy and was living in South Porcupine, Ontario, Canada at the time of his passing. I believe Belinda and I are some form of cousins.
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You should find contact details on The Donegal Garden Trail website. Best of luck.
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