She didn't sing "come into my garden, come and see the lilac trees," but author Olda FitzGerald could have. She should have. A selection of friends, neighbours and well-wishers turned up for the launch of her book, Irish Gardens, at a reception in her home this week in Dublin.
Marie Heaney was there with daughter Catherine. So was Elizabeth, Countess of Meath, whose garden dates back to the 1680s, and her friend, Ailbhe de Buitlear, administrator of the Kilruddery estate. Yes, she explains, she is a sister of film maker Eamonn de Buitlear. An unlikely gardening enthusiast was Hothouse Flower Fiachna O Braonnain, who was there with his partner, Suki Stuart. Chatting at the foot of the stairway was Italian ambassador Ferdinando Zezza, who comes from Naples. He later joined his San Francisco-born wife, Judy Zezza, who was sitting in a window seat in a reception room talking to the book's illustrator, William Pounds.
Ivana McGilligan, daughter of the late Patrick McGilligan, minister for finance in the first inter-party government, was there chatting to Mafra O'Reilly, who was wearing a beautiful hat. Was it a Philip Treacy? "No, I have a little millner in London who out-treacys Treacy!"
Desmond FitzGerald, the Knight of Glin, sang the book's praises. "It's not prejudiced with attitudes of the old Anglo-Irish ascendancy," he said. "I'm rather an old fogey who deals with the past but this shows the new Ireland."
His neighbours from Co Limerick, sisters Pan Mac Nicholas and Ursula O'Farrell, were there as was sculptress Cliodhna Cussen. All three were being chaperoned by Cliodhna's publisher husband, Padraig O Snodaigh.
Dr Peter Harbison was there with two distinguished-looking companions, his German wife, Edelgard, and his mother Sheelagh Harbison, who is a medieval historian. More glamour was provided by the handsome couple, Anne Madden and Louise le Brocquy, who stood framed in the Georgian doorway looking out at the sky wondering if it was going to rain. Anne was wearing a dark top over a ruched, ballet-length wine-coloured skirt chocolate brown stockings and beige, stilletto-heeled sandals. The total look was great.