Limerick green fingers and garden lovers are invited to appear at this years Carlow’s Floral Festival Trail, which promises enthusiasts lots of floral fun and facts from Saturday, August 2nd–Sunday August 10th 2008. The festival features workshops, informative lectures and demonstrations by some of the top names in Irish gardening circles in addition to art and craft demonstrations, musical performances and street entertainment. 

Dermot O’ Neill, Eanna Ní Lamhna and Helen Dillon, well known to viewers and listeners of RTE, are joined by River Specialist and Environmentalist Dick Warner and Historic Gardens Consultant Finola Reid.

In addition to expert advice, the festival also features art and craft demonstrations, musical performances and street entertainment when held in the riverside town of Bagenalstown from Friday August 8th– Sunday August 10th.

Carlow is firmly establishing itself as a new and exciting gardening destination and the festival builds upon the recently launched Carlow Garden Trail, a collection of 16 different gardening attractions including great old gardens that have been lovingly restored and maintained throughout the years, and smaller gardens which are maturing beautifully with time.

Award winning garden centres and forest parks complement the joy of a visit here.

The festival commences on Saturday, August 2nd when Helen Dillon presents a tour of Leighlinbridge–the Garden Village at 12 mid-day.

From 2pm onwards, Helen will conduct three workshops at the Arboretum Lifestyle and Garden Centre including: “Top Ten Plants for August” and “Sow, Grow and Harvest”. With the trend towards growing your own becoming more popular, this workshop introduces visitors to key principles of spoil preparation, planning, sowing and harvesting. The afternoon concludes with a workshop titled “Perfect Planting Partners” which features a tour of the Arboretum Inspirational Gardens.

On Sunday, August 3rd Huntington Castle and Gardens in Clonegal welcome Eanna Ní Lamhna at 2pm for a Nature Walk of the estate allowing visitors to learn about the spectacular ecology and scenery of the surrounding woodlands and the history of one of Ireland’s earliest water turbine houses.

A detailed festival brochure is available from Carlow Tourist Office, College Street, Carlow Tel: 059-9131554 or Carlow Tourism, The Foresters’ Hall, College Street, Carlow Tel: 059-9130411. The Floral Festival website provides details of festival activities on www.carlowfloralfestival.com

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