GARDENS TO VISIT IN IRELAND

IRISH WILDLIFE

GARDENING & HORTICULTURE LINKS

BOTANY

BOTANIC GARDEN NETWORKS

IRISH PLANT RESOURCES

• Gardenvisit.com
  This site provides maps to Gardens in Ireland and elsewhere, as well as other useful information on how to reach these Gardens and where to stay nearby

• Essential Irish Gardens
  Not as many Gardens as the above site, but much easier to navigate, with up-to-date links to websites.

• Dublin Garden Group
  The Dublin Garden Group (DGG) consists of Ireland's 14 most distinguished private gardens in the greater Dublin area. This website gives full details of locations, opening times and contact details.

• Heritage Ireland
  The Department of Environment and Local Government website provides information on the the many and varied heritage sites Ireland has to offer. Discover Ireland's Parks, Monuments, Gardens, Inland Waterways, and National Cultural Institutions.

• European Botanic Gardens Consortium
  The Consortium acts as the network for National networks in Europe. It provides a valuable conduit for information flow and co-operation between the national associations of botanic gardens as well as between individual institutions. As well as organising regular European Botanic Gardens Congresses (Eurogard), the Consortium has also promoted and helped to lead other significant international initiatives, such as the IPEN - the International Plant Exchange Network.

• Botanic Gardens Conservation International
  BGCI is the foremost source for info on Botanic Gardens around the World, particularly on the Global Strategy for Plant Consertvation. The plant search facility allows plants to be located in botanic gardens throughout the world. Its latest offering is a free email newsletter: 'Cultivate' featuring garden news, topical articles, opinions, garden of the month and your feedback.

• PlantNetwork, the Plant Collections Network of Britain and Ireland, formerly known as PlantNet, is the national network of botanic gardens, arboreta and other documented plant collections.
• promoting botanical collections in Britain and Ireland as a national resource for research, conservation and education.
• facilitating networking and training among holders of plant collections through a programme of conferences and workshops and a regular newsletter.

IRISH WILDLIFE

• The National Parks and Wildlife Service
  website provides information on National Parks, Conservation designation as well as information on wildlife legislation and protection in the state.

• The Irish Birding website provides up to the minute information on birds in Ireland, especially the sighting of rarities.

• Irish National Biodiversity Research Platform provides information on current research activites in Ireland.

• Biology.ie - Nature's Calendar This site collates information on phenology in Ireland. Designed for young users, naturalists can submit their sightings - the first swallow, the first primrose or the first frog-spawn - which are then mapped to show how the wildife of Ireland reacts to the changing seasons.

GARDENING and HORTICULTURE

• In Ireland there are two national Gardening societies, the Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland (RHSI) (Cabinteely House, The Park, Cabinteely, Co.Dublin) and the Irish Garden Plants Society (IGPS).
  There are also a large number of local Gardening Clubs, Flower Clubs and Horticultural Societies (all of which are listed on the excellent RHSI website mentioned above), including
  
  • Alpine Garden Society - Dublin Group
    
  • South Dublin Garden Club
    
  • Howth & Sutton Horticultural Society
    
  • Delgany & District Horticultural Society
    
  • Waterford
    
  • Enniskerry
    
  • Greystones

• The Northern Ireland Heritage Gardens Committee
  Established in 1980, the Committee is made up of a group of voluntary like-minded horticulturists who are committed to preserving, for future generations the Historic Parks, Gardens and Demsenes not only in Northern Ireland but also the Republic of Ireland. Each year an annual conference on a Historic Gardens or Gardening theme is organised, and these usually alternate between a northern and southern venue.

• Royal Horticultural Society online databases
  Details of a range of plants are available from this site. The databases included are RHS Plant Finder Online and The RHS Online Garden Catalogue.

• The Internet Directory for Botany
  This is a great place to start. It provides hundreds of links to relevant web sites.

• Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh online databases
  Several databases provided by RBGE can be accessed from this page. They include the database of Flora Europaea, and the RBGE Catalogue of Living Collections. T

• Royal Botanic Gardens Kew online databases
  This site provides access to several databases at Kew, including Brummitt's Vascular Plant Families and Genera, and Brummitt & Powell's Authors of Plant Names.

• Harvard University Herbaria Databases
  Provides access to databases of plant names (including IPNI), Botanists, Collectors, Authors, Publications and Specimens.

• European PBR listing
  This site provides details of the European Plant Variety Rights scheme, and a list of plants which are covered by European Plant Breeder's Rights.

• Sir Harold Hillier Gardens and Arboretum online database
  Online database of plants at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens and Arboretum. Allows searching with either scientific or common names.

• The International Plant Names Index (IPNI)
  The International Plant Names Index (IPNI) is a database of the names and associated basic bibliographical details of all seed plants. Its goal is to eliminate the need for repeated reference to primary sources for basic bibliographic information about plant names. The data are freely available and are gradually being standardized and checked. IPNI will be a dynamic resource, depending on direct contributions by all members of the botanical community.

• International Organization for Plant Information
  The website for IOPI, with more links to searchable databases. Includes a Database of databases.

IRISH PLANT RESOURCES

• British Bryological Society
  This site provides access to almost everything there is to know about British and Irish bryophytes, as well as downloads on how to grow them

• Botanical Society of the British Isles
  Much useful information on the British and Irish Flora

• ConservationEvidence.com
  The objective of this website is to make conservation more effective by sharing knowledge as to which management interventions work and which do not. A database of practical solutions from the literature and elsewhere.

• Irish Wildflowers
  Jenny Seawright's webpage on Irish Wildflowers is an on-line photographic reference and identification guide to nearly 500 taxa of flowers growing wild in Ireland.

• Irish Naturalists' Journal
  This journal has been the primary source for research on the Irish Flora for 120 years.

• Lichen Ireland
  A four-year study to determine the status and distribution of lichen species throughout the island of Ireland. LichenIreland is supported by National Parks and Wildlife Service; National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin; Environment and Heritage Service and the Ulster Museum.

• Medicinal Herbs
  A listing of many of the most popular medicinal herbs as well as some of the most common conditions they treat. I would like to thank Steven in Delaware for pointing out this one to me.

• National Botanic Gardens Botanical Resources
  Maps, Census lists, Catalogues and sundry literature related to the study of the Irish Flora.

• Northern Ireland's Flora and Fauna
  Habitas online is the Ulster Museum's remarkable website to all aspects of Northern Ireland's biological heritage

• Plant Conservation activities at the National Botanic Gardens
  Current research and other action by the National Botanic Gardens.

• Tree Council of Ireland
  This site also hosts the Tree Register of Ireland, a database of over 5,000 remarkable trees in Ireland.

  

• Wild Flowers of Ireland
  Zoë Devlin's webpage on Irish Wildflowers is a compilation of Irish flowering plants on which you can also look up lists of flowers in their seasons and by their colour.