Episode
Kilmacurragh and the Plant Hunters
- Podcast
- Gardeners' Corner
- Published
- Dec 23, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 2473
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002919
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/gardeners-corner-523981/episodes/kilmacurragh-and-the-plant-hunters/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/gardeners-corner-523981/kilmacurragh-and-the-plant-hunters.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
In this episode of Gardeners' Corner, David Maxwell visits what some call 'Ireland's secret garden' - Kilmacurragh in County Wicklow. The site became part of the National Botanic Gardens in 1996 and since then a restoration programme has been underway. Leading the tour of the gardens, which boast a vast plant collection, is head gardener Seamus O'Brien. From a 'Peter Pan' tree which thinks it's a child but is over 100 years old to a plant which traps animals so their decaying bodies give it food. Seamus is also continuing the work of the Victorian plant hunters. He has gathered plants from Chile, China and Tasmania on his own plant hunting expeditions. Also joining the tour of the gardens is Neil Porteous from Mount Stewart. The two gardens cooperate in the work of creating a 'Noah's Ark' of endangered southern hemisphere plants in the temperate Irish climate.