Athenry News & Views Winter 2025

Winter 2025

Minimalist Gardening

By Philip Magnier

For those with a vague interest in having your land look nice Topic: Plants and Flowers for Winter After Autumn leaves get blown away or tidied up, gardens and land can look bleak in the west of Ireland. The two flowers mentioned are quite small but in clusters they can look great. These plants can make your garden or land look better when winter sets in. Try a couple one year and add more when you get an idea of how many would work best and where they are best positioned. All the photographs were taken locally, in Athenry and Colemanstown, with Marie Hanna Curran supplying the Viburnum photo. Please send any suggestions to AthenryExperience@gmail.com.

Dwarf Pampas Grass

Helleborus ‘Double Winter Magic’

Not as big as the usual pampas grass you see in posh houses in Dublin or London. The plumes remain in winter and can grow to 5’ or 1.5m. Considered hardy.

Can flower on and off all through winter. And even through to other seasons. Does well in Galway. There are pink versions also.

Snowdrop (Galanthus)

Viburnum davidii

Flowers early in the new year: in Galway that can be mid to late January. Over time – that is, years – they spread slowly to give a brilliant group display. This is a woodland plant in the wild so they are best placed underneath deciduous trees.

This dark green plant can give colour in winter and set off other flowering plants in remaining seasons. Grows slowly to about 3’ or .9m.It does have flowers buy they are are very small in the west of ireland.