This website is dedicated to the memory of David Robinson (1928-2004).
The
Robinson Garden at Earlscliffe is on the Howth peninsula just north of Dublin
city at a latitude of 53.3º N. This means that it is further north than
Newfoundland and on the same latitude as Manchester England, Hamburg Germany ,
the southern part of the Hudson Bay and Edmonton Canada and Minsk in Russia. Yet
despite being much nearer to the north pole than to the equator, bananas, tree
ferns, South African Erica and a range of palms flourish outside without any
winter protection.
This is not simply the result of skilled plantsmanship but owes a lot to the unusually favourable microclimate. The garden slopes to the south and benefits by being close to the sea and also from the 180 metre high Hill of Howth on its northern side. With the advantage of the warm current from the Gulf of Mexico almost encircling Howth, it seems that the peninsula can grow a wider range of plants than any other place of similar latitude. Advantage is taken of the auspicious situation to test the climatic hardiness of plants from all five continents. No plants are protected artificially even in the coldest weather so that realistic information on hardiness can be obtained.
This site is continuously being updated to include both scientific data and information for the general enthusiast. If there is anything in particular that you would like to see in greater detail, please contact us.
Please note. The garden is not currently open to the public and there will be no formal garden tours around Earlscliffe in 2008. For further details, contact
This is a non-commercial site and its contents (including images) are copyright of the site owners (unless otherwise stated) and cannot be reused (in any form) without permission. If you wish to reuse any of the content, please contact who will be happy to discuss this with you. Any reuse, though, must be for non-commercial purposes.
If you are the owner of any copyright material that has inadvertently been included on this site, please contact who will be happy to remove or amend as necessary.
Where we think it will be relevant to visitors to this site we may refer to publications that we consider of value. This will not be a recommendation of that publication or publisher. All links are for information only.
Any horticultural or scientific advice is included on this site for information and educational use only and the site owners will not be liable for any damage caused by following any advice given in these pages. However, we would gladly appreciate your feedback!
We welcome your feedback on either the Robinson Garden at Earlscliffe or on this web site. Please contact or use the contact page.
Web page design © 2008
This page was last updated on 12-Apr-2008.
You are visitor since November 2006!
For more information on some of the plants grown at Earlscliffe, go to Garden.ie
For more information on exotic plants growing under temperate conditions please visit other sites on the web ring below