National Botanic Gardens

On the banks of the Tolka River near the Glasnevin cemetery, you can find the National Botanic Gardens, established in 1795 by the Royal Dublin Society. Restoration work over the past few decades has enhanced the natural beauty of the gardens and made them a premier national attraction.

The gardens display a total of over 20,000 varieties of plants, and include a vegetable garden and a rose garden.

Particularly striking are the 400 ft long greenhouses, known as the Curvilinear Range and created by Dublin ironmaster Richard Turner between 1840 and 1869.

The Great Palm House features a huge dome and contains orchids, tropical water plants, palm trees and succulents. Victoria House was built in 1854 specifically for the giant Amazon Water Lily, wondrous new specie at that time.

The original gardens were planned by Dr. Walter Wade, the first director, and modified over the years by his many successors. The gardens became a centre for Irish horticulture, developing new varieties of plants and distributing them to gardeners. Other achievements include cultivating orchids from seed to flower for the first time.

Some of the most popular exhibits include:

•The Australian Tree Fern brought here from Trinity College in 1969 that is rumored to be 400 years old.

•The ‘Last Rose of Summer’, grown from a cutting taken from Jenkinstown House, Co. Kilkenny. The traditional tale says that it is the rose that inspired the famous ballad written by Thomas Moore.

•The double line of yew trees known as Addison’s Walk, surviving from the early days of the gardens and planted in memory of the statesman and writer Joseph Addison.

Aside from the greenhouses, the grounds include an arboretum of various specimen trees, annual displays and herbaceous borders, a pond and a burren area that recreates the beauty of the plants in northwestern County Clare. Visitor conveniences are available in the form of a restaurant and audiovisual theatre.