The Palm and Succulent Garden

The Palm and Succulent Garden is positioned to the front of the house, and was only developed in the past 2 years as prior to then there was practically no plant from the Palm and Succulent families. With the extensive rainfall in Kells, the removal of the heavy peaty soil was imperative to give these plants a chance of survival from the extreme wet, especially in winter. To date there has been around 200 tonnes of rock imported from a local quarry to augment the existing rock bed and faces.

In July 2007 a large palm tree was imported from Chile and planted in the new bed. It is a Jubaea chilensis and weighs 11 tonnes (including the rootball). It has a clear trunk of 7.5 metres. It is now showing signs of new growth with green leaves emerging from the centre, having survived the 2 harsh/extreme winters of January and December 2010. It is currently the largest palm tree in Ireland.

The dedicated horticulturalist may recognise Yuccas, Dasylirions, Aeoniums, Xanthorrhoea, Agaves, Aloes, Puya, Aeoniums, Furcraea, Ocahgavea and Fasicularia among the collection number of other mature Palms.

To locate most of these plants please visit the plant database.