And, of course, it was a roaring success . . . just as I knew it would be when I first suggested the idea that stateowned Farmleigh was an ideal venue for this moveable feast of garden plants.

Brilliantly organised on the ground by the staff at Farmleigh, who divided and roped off the generous stall spaces, provided proper parking for the dealers, and barrows and a proper plant creche for the public, the fair attracted more than 30,000 people.

With free entry to the fair, the entry queues were down to Parkgate Street at one side and the Castleknock Gate at a certain stage.

For the plant sellers and nursery people, who each paid a very reasonable 40 for the day, it was a complete bonanza. Most of them had sold all their stock by early afternoon and some satisfied dealers later proclaimed (multi-pockets and pouches bulging to the brim) that they could have sold out three times over.

With all this success, the temptation would be to hold the fair at Farmleigh forever, but that might not happen since it was originally established, with much support from the horticultural branch of Bord Bia, to tour the country, landing at a different venue every year to give each county a bite of what has proved a juicy cherry, indeed.

Diana Scarth's Annual Plant Sale If you are still hungry for good, generous sized and well-grown plants at very fair prices, then you should know about garden designer Diana Scarth's fifth (maybe sixth) annual plant sale, which is taking place from 11am next Friday, Saturday and Sunday (26-28 May) at Trudder Grange outside Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow.

Diana will have well over 200 different kinds of ornamental garden plants for sale, including some very large specimen perennial . . . and some annual . . . plants ready for plunging straight into a border to make an instant impact.

The event is expected to attract an eclectic crowd of keen gardeners, drawn from the four provinces of Ireland, for what has come to rival the best of plant sales held anywhere.

Many of her plants, grown from seed and by division of treasured old stock, are very rare, old-fashioned and hard-to-find varieties and cultivars.

Included is a good selection of hardy fuchsia, salvias, alliums, campanula, penstemons, cardoons, tempting Californian, English and Siberian irises, perennial lobelia, echium and lots of tall, vigorous, back of border perennials . . . many of them quite late and very useful, such as an array of good asters and fabulous-sounding chrysanthemums.

She also has at least 15 different kinds of choice hardy geraniums (Cranesbills), which have yet to open and could be put straight into the ground to flower until mid-summer and, depending on the variety, for a long time afterwards.

Hardy geraniums are an invaluable, easy-going and subtle family of plants, used for ground cover, for forming soft mounds to cover dying spring foliage and for their beautiful, understated flowers in a wide spectrum of colours.

For a free list of all the plants in the sale, phone 01281 9866 after 6pm.

Gift trees for father's day

FATHER'S Day on 18 June might seem a long way off, but not if you want a special tree delivered to him in time for the occasion from a new range being offered by the two-yearold Newbridge-based Gift Tree Company. They come in gratifyingly enormous cardboard tubes and are a great treat to receive.

I got a Snowy Mespilus ('Ballerina') once from them, which arrived intact and in very good condition, and is now growing away happily.

Company directors Sharon Butler and Emer Gallahar Hall have chosen three good and fairly uncommon trees for sending to deserving fathers this year: a Jonathan red apple tree (Malus domestica 'Jonathan', 80 including delivery), a Redbud or Judas tree (Cercis siliquastrum, 60), and . . . a personal favourite . . . a Quince tree (Cydonia oblonga, 80), which is very pretty in "ower and soft and silvery in bud.

In these parts, Quince fruits are used mainly for making or adding to marmalade, and free recipes for quince chutney and slow-baked quince will be included with every tree ordered for Father's Day.

Quince is plentiful in modern Greece and used to make a beautiful ruby coloured jelly, which some people like to eat with cheese.

The Greeks also use it to delicious effect in casseroles of pork, lamb, veal and duck, where its sour rind goes really well with meats.

What is not commonly known but perhaps should be in these times of rampant eating disorders is that the juice of the quince, mixed with honey, vinegar and spices, has been used for millennia by the Greeks as a cure for mild anorexia!

This was mentioned in writing as early as the 4th century BC, so we can't blame the modern media and Western decadence this time.

For information or to order a tree, contact The Gift Tree Company, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare.

Email: info@trees. ie or www. trees. ie