in Alice's garden

I met Alice through the Skibbereen photography group. She invited us to visit her garden at Lough Ine today. I have been walking past her garden and admiring it from afar for many years. It is all mature species rhododendrons, huge camellias, stands of myrtle. Embothrium! Colourful azaleas, graceful acers, rarely seen forms of magnolia, the list goes on. I was in plant heaven !

The garden was started by her mother when she was 62years of age. She was recently widowed and she made the entire garden by herself, transforming 30 acres of pasture into a paradise single-handedly. She's now 102 and still walks round it regularly and offers her opinion, though the care of it has now fallen to Alice.
I felt very privileged to be shown it and to spend a couple of hours there, and honoured to come away with some seedling tree ferns, progeny of this 30year old specimen. I also came away feeling inspired to make much more of my own few acres.

The dentist wasn't available today and I got through the morning on paracetamol. I have an appointment for first thing tomorrow morning. I think the tooth and I will part company. (nervous tremble...).