Patthana Garden to open on Easter Sunday with spectacular tulip display
TJ Maher watering some of the pot displays at Patthana Garden.
THE magical Patthana Garden in Kiltegan opens for the season on Easter Sunday with a wonderful display of tulips.
Patthana is considered to be one of the best small secret gardens in the country and was created by artist T.J. Maher.
The garden will remain open every Sunday from Sunday, April 9 from 12 noon to 5 p.m.
TJ said: “There is a lot going on here at Patthana Garden. We are preparing to open the garden for our busiest year ever. We start the season with a tulip extravaganza, which will run until mid-May. Thousands of tulips will be on show in the borders and in our display of pots.”
Renowned English photographer Clive Nichols paid a recent visit to Patthana Garden for a photo shoot and accompanying article, which is due to be published in the April edition of Gardens Illustrated.
TJ added: “Every Sunday we will be serving teas, coffee and cakes all baked here at Patthana and served on vintage china in the dining room and garden. We will also have a selection of plants for sale each Sunday.”
TJ is continuing to develop the site he purchased in 2020. The first stage was the development of the Torc garden which is now in its third year.
“Currently we are building a tea room and vintage gift shop. The soil which was removed for building has all been kept on site. This is an exciting project which has involved earth sculpting the soil and it will be treated very differently to the existing garden. Let’s just say it will be a nod to wild Wicklow and a call to embrace nature.”
“We are looking for anyone who would like to join our volunteer programme here at Patthana to help with this phase of planting and the general upkeep of the garden for the summer.
“We are very fortunate to have a small team of volunteers who come here each week to help in the garden with everything from planting to weeding,” said TJ.
TJ has also spent the past two winters writing a gardening book based on Patthana Garden which has been accepted by a leading UK publisher and is due for publication in the spring of 2024, which will coincide with the opening of the new tea rooms.
