Nursery Focus: Boyne Garden Centre & Nursery

Kerrie Gardiner, Bord Bia Bloom’s Show Gardens and Horticulture Content Manager, presents the Gold Medal and ‘Best in Show’ Awards to Aileen Muldoon-Byrne at Bloom 2024

Boyne Garden Centre & Nursery won the prestigious ‘Best in Show’ Award for its stunning Nursery Village display at this year’s Bord Bia Bloom. We caught up with owner Aileen Muldoon-Byrne to ask about life at the award-winning nursery and picked up some tips for gardening in August.

Tell us about your nursery.

Boyne Garden Centre & Nursery is an award-winning, independent, family-run nursery. We are renowned for our unique selection of top-quality plants and place an emphasis on growing hardy plants for pollinators. We are situated in a tranquil setting outside the beautiful village of Slane, County Meath, where our borders are planted to encourage pollinators, birds, and wildlife.

What work is involved in running a nursery?

The job is very labour-intensive, taking cuttings, growing seedlings, and potting on all our plants individually by hand… not to mention slug hunting! We don’t use harmful chemicals or pesticides and we believe the extra work is worth it. While our primary job is growing plants, we also sell plants. We feel it’s important to listen to our customers and give them the best possible advice based on our own knowledge and experiences. When it comes to gardening, it’s still about putting the ‘right plant in the right place’!

What does it mean for your nursery to attend Bord Bia Bloom?

Bloom is the biggest window for horticulture in Ireland. It is a great opportunity for the public to buy home grown, Irish plants. We exhibit our plants in our display and showcase the many choices we have available. We also get to meet many interesting and inspiring, like-minded people and put a face to those who buy from us online. It gives us a chance to thank them personally for their support.

What is your favourite plant and why?

Gosh, that’s like asking me to pick my favourite child… impossible! I love any plant that encourages pollinating insects as that’s when the garden comes alive. If pushed, I’d pick Salvia, Nepeta and Verbena for sun; Astrantia, Thalictrum and Alstroemeria for part-shade; Helleborus, Alchemilla mollis, and any variety of fern for shade. And how could I forget any and all of the umbellifer flowering plants?

What should our readers do in their gardens or outdoor spaces this month?

We all look forward to the summer months and often fill our borders with plants flowering in May and June, then lose interest if the weather is poor. The garden can still look great for the next few months but the key is to tidy plants that have finished flowering and buy plants flowering now, or yet to flower, in the months ahead. There are plenty of lovely perennials and grasses that will provide interest well into autumn.

What advice can you offer novice gardeners?

Decide what your priorities are. Is it a seating area, an entrance, the view from your kitchen window? What time you have available to garden? Get advice on the plants most suitable to your location, if it’s sun, shade, dry, or wet soil. Know your budget, start with a small area, and complete it. Buy Irish-grown plants that have been outside and not forced undercover.

For more news and advice from Aileen and the team follow them on social media @boynegardencentre