Thanks to our blogger Aisling Lyons for this fantastic review of our recent Hanging Basket workshop at Powerscourt Garden Pavilion!
"Having experienced a few events at Powerscourt Estate last year, I jumped at the opportunity to attend and review the ‘Children’s Hanging Basket Workshop’ at the Powerscourt Pavillion last Sunday.
We set off for Powerscourt on the gloriously sunny day that Sunday was, ready to get our hands dirty. Well, ready to allow the three children to anyway. These family-friendly events at Powerscourt are so child-centered that we parents usually get to sit back and enjoy watching the action.
We arrived a little late, as the whole of Ireland seemed to have descended on Enniskerry village on the day. The lovely staff in the Pavillion had seats set out for the grown-ups, plenty of workstations ready for the children, and made us feel instantly welcome.
Our youngest, who has just turned four, quickly forgot her coyness when she was given a bright pink trowel and told to fill a pot to the brim with soil. All three children gleefully got stuck in, as did Paul and myself, although there was no need for us to help in the end.
It turns out that even though we had been invited to learn about planting hanging baskets, we actually got to plant sunflowers and radishes too! I really can’t say enough about how helpful and accommodating the three staff were who praised all our efforts, and explained every step to us along the way. I now know why you keep the soil loose when planting seedlings and how to make my sunflowers grow; however, time will tell, as I have failed to grow sunflowers thus far. We also learned why we needed to plant the radishes a little deeper, so as to encourage the water to go downwards.
The children delighted in picking their own mini gnomes to put in their radish pots, and choosing whichever colour begonia they wanted to plant in in their hanging baskets. Even though our instructors were very busy jumping between the different workstations, we didn’t feel under any pressure at all to finish up or move on.
The children’s questions and requests were listened to and acted on and, believe me, there were a lot of questions! When we were finished we were presented with a trolley to bring our freshly potted swag to the car.
Our day didn’t end there. Armed with sunscreen and ice creams, we continued on in to the gardens. We happily whiled away a few idyllic hours, playing hide-and-seek in the Japanese gardens, climbing the Pepper Pot Tower and possibly rolling down the hills, although I can neither confirm or deny the latter as, visitors are encouraged to keep to the paths when visiting the gardens. Ahem.
We return home, sun-kissed and exhilarated, and promptly watered all our plants and found sunny places in our own garden to hang our baskets. Hopefully this summer, by following the gardening tips we received at the Pavilion, we will have a little of the splendour of Powerscourt in our own back garden!"
Bio: My name is Aisling Lyons, stay at home mother of three, and sometime radio pundit ;).I have over 20 years experience in the childcare sector, starting out as nursery nurse before moving into nannying, and then returning to work in creches for over 14 years, twelve of which were in creche management. I managed a private creche “Johnstown Kiddiecare” in Kilpeddar, Co. Wicklow, and then moved into Dublin to manage the nursery on-site in Trinity College Dublin. I finally left that position to open my own creche “Aisling Childcare”, which I ran for seven years. I closed the creche when baby number three was imminent as I really wanted to focus on motherhood. I am passionate about children being given the very best opportunities to allow them to grow up to be happy and confident.
We set off for Powerscourt on the gloriously sunny day that Sunday was, ready to get our hands dirty. Well, ready to allow the three children to anyway. These family-friendly events at Powerscourt are so child-centered that we parents usually get to sit back and enjoy watching the action.
We arrived a little late, as the whole of Ireland seemed to have descended on Enniskerry village on the day. The lovely staff in the Pavillion had seats set out for the grown-ups, plenty of workstations ready for the children, and made us feel instantly welcome.
Our youngest, who has just turned four, quickly forgot her coyness when she was given a bright pink trowel and told to fill a pot to the brim with soil. All three children gleefully got stuck in, as did Paul and myself, although there was no need for us to help in the end.
It turns out that even though we had been invited to learn about planting hanging baskets, we actually got to plant sunflowers and radishes too! I really can’t say enough about how helpful and accommodating the three staff were who praised all our efforts, and explained every step to us along the way. I now know why you keep the soil loose when planting seedlings and how to make my sunflowers grow; however, time will tell, as I have failed to grow sunflowers thus far. We also learned why we needed to plant the radishes a little deeper, so as to encourage the water to go downwards.
The children delighted in picking their own mini gnomes to put in their radish pots, and choosing whichever colour begonia they wanted to plant in in their hanging baskets. Even though our instructors were very busy jumping between the different workstations, we didn’t feel under any pressure at all to finish up or move on.
The children’s questions and requests were listened to and acted on and, believe me, there were a lot of questions! When we were finished we were presented with a trolley to bring our freshly potted swag to the car.
Our day didn’t end there. Armed with sunscreen and ice creams, we continued on in to the gardens. We happily whiled away a few idyllic hours, playing hide-and-seek in the Japanese gardens, climbing the Pepper Pot Tower and possibly rolling down the hills, although I can neither confirm or deny the latter as, visitors are encouraged to keep to the paths when visiting the gardens. Ahem.
We return home, sun-kissed and exhilarated, and promptly watered all our plants and found sunny places in our own garden to hang our baskets. Hopefully this summer, by following the gardening tips we received at the Pavilion, we will have a little of the splendour of Powerscourt in our own back garden!"
Bio: My name is Aisling Lyons, stay at home mother of three, and sometime radio pundit ;).I have over 20 years experience in the childcare sector, starting out as nursery nurse before moving into nannying, and then returning to work in creches for over 14 years, twelve of which were in creche management. I managed a private creche “Johnstown Kiddiecare” in Kilpeddar, Co. Wicklow, and then moved into Dublin to manage the nursery on-site in Trinity College Dublin. I finally left that position to open my own creche “Aisling Childcare”, which I ran for seven years. I closed the creche when baby number three was imminent as I really wanted to focus on motherhood. I am passionate about children being given the very best opportunities to allow them to grow up to be happy and confident. 
