An exotic collection of flora in Co Limerick may be more Addams Family than Brady Bunch but it's loved all the same,

writes Dermot O'Neill

Rambling around Terra Nova, ! Deborah Begley's weird and wonderful garden at Kilmallock in Co Limerick is like wandering around the set of a sci-fi movie. Begley is a collector of unusual plants and the garden is a mix of strange shapes, peculiar smells and freaky flowers. Some are simply stunning but others are positively frightening.
Begley's family of flora is definitely more Addams than Brady. Her favourite "pets" skulk in the most sinister shapes and emit malodorous pongs.
Begley is one of those gardeners whose taste is so eclectic that much of her collection seems more fauna than flora. Every day at Terra Nova must be a day of the Triffids. I am assured, however, that unlike those plants in the cult B movie, the cast of strange characters lurking in the undergrowth here are not man-eating.
Begley began creating her garden in 1995 and it has become a mecca for plant lovers. In about half an acre she has managed to sow thousands of species. Begley says: "I'm struck by love at first sight a couple of times a year — it usually happens in a nursery where my eyes light upon a plant that I have never seen before and in an instant I know that I won't be heading home without it."
Last year she fell under the spell of a Parrotiopsis jacquemontiana in full flower in a polytunnel. "I was mesmerised by the flowers which consist of fuzzy golden balls sitting on top of conspicuous white bracts."
Before this she had a fling with Azalea Homebush, a breathtaking sight of shocking-pink round clusters that erupts in May.
"My favourites are often the plants that only a mother could love. Bizarre and weird, strange and gruesome, these make my heart sing. The Aroid family slots into most of these categories. "Arum, Dracunculus, Amorphophallus, Sauromatum — they all share the drama of sinister-looking flowers that emit a malodorous smell for a short period of time, usually a day or so. Arisaema belongs to this clan too and is my favourite of all plants. Most of them have striking marbled or mottled stems topped by an arrangement of leaves, usually trifoliate like a giant clover or radiate to resemble an open parasol. One of my favourites is Arisaema kiusianum, a diminutive owl-faced one from Japan."
Begley also has a soft spot for mutants, such as Plantago major Rosularis, whose flower spikes feature unusual green bracts. And then there's Plantago lanceolata 'Burren Rose', a plantain that produces little tufts of green leaves on top of thick stalks. There is room for more conservative blooms — Begley has been trying out many types of primroses this year including hose in hose, jack in the greens and gold laced varieties, all of which she
' had grown from seed last year. "Variegation is another hobby of mine. I have been down the shrub and tree route since I started gardening in earnest 15 years ago, but have been concentrating on herbaceous plants in recent years. Favourites include Borago officinalis 'Bill Archer', Angelica archangelica 'Conine Tremaine', Helleborus argutifolius 'Pacific Frost', which share a similar cream and green splashed effect, variegated tomatoes and sweetcorn. "Other superb plants that need to be vegetatively propagated include Symphytum x uplandicum 'Axminster Gold', which forms huge mounds of bright creamy gold margined leaves, Armoracia rusticana variegata is rarely seen but would be a welcome addition to any border with its crazy combination leaves, some green splashed with white, others completely white. "Kale D'Aubenton variegated came to me via an internet friend in France last year. It is a perennial cabbage that forms a stem clothed in green leaves margined with a creamy white. Then there's 'Tubby Andrews', a bergenia with green and gold splashed leaves.
"The list of wonderful variegates is endless but I can't finish without mentioning Fallopia japonica 'Milk Boy', the variegated version of Japanese knotweed and a plant only for the brave or foolhardy. "It forms a 7ft stand of breathtakingly beautiful pink/green/cream leaves and stems. I keep mine trapped in a very large container sunk into the ground, but I still don't fully trust it so I patrol the area regularly to make sure that it hasn't made a dash for freedom."