2014 Recipient: The Loy McCandless Marks Scholarship

This Loy McCandless Mark Research Scholarship in Tropical Horticulture was awarded by The Garden Club of America to supplement study of tropical plants and their use in horticulture and Landscape Architecture. This study was made possible through the guidance of Professor Mark Hamin, Senior Lecturer at University of Massachusetts Amherst, Christopher O’Neill, Parks Superintendent at National Historic Properties, and Finbarr O’Sullivan, Local Foreman at Garnish Island, Glengarriff, West Cork, Ireland.

Garnish Island, Ireland / Photograph by Aqsa Butt

Quasi-Tropical Plant Ecologies: Southwest Coast of Ireland

While Ireland may not seem a likely place for the study of tropical horticulture, Southwestern Cork and Kerry Counties experience quasi-tropical plant ecologies as a result of thermocline currents from the North Atlantic Drift of the Gulf Stream. Despite Ireland’s overall non-tropical climate, unique sub-regions such as Garinish Island and Bamboo Park, near Glengarriff in Bantry Bay; The Burren bounded by Atlantic and Galway Bay; and the Aran Islands, all consist of rare, introduced plant species. Garinish Island in the nineteenth century was no more than an isolated rock outcrop with peaty soil that escaped invasion and occupation. Since that time, Annan Bryce built an extensive garden on the island. The existing garden was removed to create space for new plants. Today, a shelter belt exists around the island, as most plants cannot tolerate major fluctuations in salinity. The shelter bed rejuvenates soil from salt damage in the spring, and also creates a sun pocket for subtropical species. Some key plants acclimatized on the island include: Rhododendron macabeanum from Eastern Himalaya Mountains, Luma apiculata from Chile, Crinodendron hookerianum from Chile, and a wide range of species from places such as New Zealand and Tasmania. Bamboo Park, in Glengarriff, also consists of wide range of tropical species, including bamboos, tree ferns, and palm trees. Similarly the unusual micro-climates at The Burren and Aran Islands have contributed to the existence of rare arctic, Mediterranean and alpine plants. These distinctive quasi-tropical ecologies of southwestern Ireland have enhanced local horticultural diversity and gardening practices.