Garden Secrets: Rowallane

Averil Milligan, Head Gardener at Rowallane Garden reveals how she maintains this beautiful National Trust garden in Saintfield, County Down.

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GARDENER PROFILE:

I’ve been head gardener at Rowallane Garden for 14 years, previous to that I spent 10 years as assistant head gardener at Mount Stewart and before that again I spent 6 years at Hillsborough Castle when I first qualified from Green mount College. So you could say I’m firmly rooted in County Down!

GARDENING BRIEF:

The delightful maturity of this natural garden was planned by Hugh from 1903 where he had a special eye for placing plants. It has been a long exciting journey for me to research through Hugh books, nursery records and diaries. We know he researched plants extensively and that is why we have such lovely specimens of rare shrubs and trees throughout the garden, such as the lovely Stewartia sinensis standing in a carpet of bluebells surrounded by moss covered natural whinstone rock which abounds throughout the 52 acre garden.