ROSEMARY BROWN:ROSEMARY BROWN, who has died aged 92, was a notable gardener and flower arranger, and creator of one of Ireland's best-known gardens at Graigueconna, near Bray, Co Wicklow. An entertaining and enthusiastic speaker, writer and guide to her garden, she was for some years one of The Irish Timesgardening correspondents.
She was born in Eastbourne, Sussex, in 1918, to Claude and Margaret Riall of Enniskerry, Co Wicklow. The family moved back to Ballyorney House, Enniskerry, in 1922, and there she and her brother Patrick had a happy childhood. Her mother was a passionate gardener with famous friends in the gardening world including the plant collector Frank Kingdon Ward, the indomitable Lady Moore, wife of the Keeper of Glasnevin Botanic Gardens, and the rose expert Graham Stuart Thomas who became Rosemary’s friend for life.
In this atmosphere, Rosemary not surprisingly began gardening at the age of five; she recalled that her first garden was a small square full of candytufts and marigolds under an old damson tree draped with the pink climbing rose, Madame Caroline Testout. The presence of the rose was prescient, as old-fashioned climbing and shrub roses became a speciality and she grew over 80 kinds at Graigueconna.
After education at home, in England and on the continent, where she attended art school in Munich, a stay in India was cut short by the approach of war, and back in England she joined the FANY (Female Auxiliary Nursing Yeomanry), wartime service. She married John Brown in 1943, but he was posted abroad almost immediately and it was 1947 before they were reunited; the marriage was to last for 66 years.
They moved to Ireland in 1970, settling at Graigueconna, a house with strong family connections and already with the remains of a famous garden.
Started by Rosemary Brown’s great-grandfather, Phineas Riall, in the 1830s, the garden had been laid out in the early 20th century by his grandson, the notable alpine gardener Lewis Meredith. Neglected, it needed major restoration, and, as she recounted it, John Brown attacked the wilderness with mattock and saw while she followed with fork and spade.
The return to Ireland and the resurrection of the Graigueconna garden was timely: there was an explosion of interest in gardening in the 1980s, and Brown played a full part in satisfying this interest.
In spring 1980 she was recruited to write for a new gardening page in The Irish Times, initially called Go Gardening (it later became Around the Garden, Gardening or Field and Garden). She was in company with, among others, Dick Ahlstrom, Ethna Viney and Ruth Isabel Ross.
Her brief was to suggest simple flower arrangements using commonly grown flowers, and her first piece on March 15th, 1980, began: “Yesterday I dug up an old fashioned brown Bovril jar which had been buried in the garden!” – which, she wrote, she had filled with primroses.
Her column appeared about once a month until in the mid-1980s the policy of having a number of contributors in rotation in each issue was discontinued. Subsequently she contributed articles to The Irish Gardenmagazine and other publications.
She joined the Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland soon after returning to Ireland, and served on its council in the 1980s. In the same decade she helped to establish two new Irish gardening societies, both with international links, the Irish Garden Plant Society and the Alpine Garden Society (Southern Group).
Meanwhile, Graigueconna gained renown as a major Irish garden, particularly for its display of scented June roses, and received international acclaim, being featured, for instance, in Country Lifemagazine. It was filmed for the RTÉ series A Growing Obsessionin 1987. It became one of the attractions of the Wicklow Gardens Festival and was particularly appreciated by overseas visitors.
Rosemary Brown never lost her appetite for life, despite serious illness in 2006 and failing sight. She was still showing visitors around Graigueconna in 2010, and until Christmas insisted on helping as usual with flower arrangements at Rathmichael Church. Shortly before she died, discussing her funeral service, she said, pragmatically: “There is to be no grief for me. I have had a long and interesting life.”
She is survived by her sons, Michael and Mark, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Rosemary Brown: born May 12th, 1918; died January 18th, 2011