Ultimate Ulster

[ideasguy]

I caught an episode in this series yesterday evening, featured on UTV (Ulster Television- N. Ireland)
This from their website:

WHAT?S YOUR ULTIMATE ULSTER?

Brand new series Ultimate Ulster begins on UTV at 19.30 on Thursday 19th July.  Presented by Frank Mitchell, Ultimate Ulster is a top ten guide to Northern Ireland as chosen by UTV viewers. 

Frank Mitchell said:  ?Last autumn we conducted our biggest ever survey of UTV viewers, asking them to identify their Ultimate Ulster.  We were inundated with thousands of suggestions, culminating in this original guide to Northern Ireland, which takes me the length and breadth of the country in the series.?

Michael Wilson, Head of Television, UTV said:  ?Whether you have family or friends visiting from abroad or you?re looking for ways to entertain the children during the summer holidays, Ultimate Ulster is bursting with ideas for places to stay, great days out, places to eat, drink and be merry and I guarantee there will be plenty of surprises in store for viewers as the categories are counted down.

?There?s hardly a place in Northern Ireland that wasn?t suggested but viewers will have to tune in for their Ultimate Ulster as I?d hate to spoil the surprise!?

In the ten part series, Frank travels across Northern Ireland to count down the top ten best day out; favourite landmarks; favourite eateries; most desirable places to live; best public park, garden or space; best hotel, guest house or b&b; best place to impress a visitor; best building; best pub and most romantic place.

For further information, please contact UTV Press Office on tel 028 9026 2187

The episode I caught was Best public park, garden or space
Heres the winners, as chosen by viewers.
1st : Belfast Botanical Gardens
2nd: Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park, Belfast
3rd : Mount Stewart
4th: Castlewellan Forest Park (see the topic I published on this forum)
5th Tollymore Forest Park (Newcastle, Co Down - Where the mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea)
6th Cavehill Country Park (Belfast)
7th Carnfunnock Country Park
8th. Crawfordsburn Country Park
9th Oxford Island (Near Craigavon, Co Armagh)
10th Peoples Park

I'll create a WPG website for each of these over the winter months. Ive already been to No 1 to No 5 in the list above, and have a good selection of photos from No 2, No 3, No 4 Castlewellan and No 5 Tollymore.
My son (Simon) lives at the foot of the Cave Hill, so we could plan a family day out to check it out. In the grounds is the famous Belfast Castle.

My own personal favourite is Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon. It has so much interest. International Camellia Society trials (over 150 varieties), magnificent Rhododendrons, a stunning deciduous Azalea (large) border, and of course its main claim to fame, the Rose Gardens, where international Rose Trials are conducted.
Check it out here, on the website created by my good friend Norman Beck - International Rose Judge
http://www.rosemerald.co.uk/
When you're there, chick the Trial Results 2008 link. You might find a nice rose for your garden!winners of this y



 

[ideasguy]

We had a family day out at Belfast Botanic Gardens on Sunday, and Daddio (or Papa, depending on the generation) wandered off on "business". I took approx 400 photos. As you can imagine, there was plenty of "material".

Ive an IG Pro WPG under construction. I'll edit this message when its published.
In the Rose Gardens, all the Roses were labelled. Specimen plants in the gardens were also labelled. However, in the Herbaceous borders (where I took the vast majority of the photos) plants were not labelled.
Theres a few plant ID puzzles for you!

[NightHawk]

On the one hand it can get really frustrating when plants are not labelled - especially when they're in gardens open to the public. 

On the other hand, it can be a personal challenge to play the 'gumshoe' (detective) and try to identify the mystery plants yourself. 

Or, in the case of a great Forum like this one (looking for Brownie points here  ) ask someone else to identify them. 

Having read the other threads you have posted today, you are going to be bogged down for ages at your computer getting all these web sets completed.     Keep you out of mischief anyway.

Laurie.

[ideasguy]

Getting the correct name for a plant can be very difficult.
Its usually easy (well, in most cases) to get the Genus, and perhaps the species, but many cultivars are just too alike for us to identify. Theres 1000's in some of the Genera which are hybridised extensively e.g. Rosa

So, I like to find a plant label. Even then, if I'm not familiar with the plant, I check it out on the web to make sure it matches.

Having the Head Gardener (Nicky) to advise was a luxury I hadn't experienced before. She was as excited about the plants as me. I could see she really loved her job!

[ideasguy]

Ive now published a selection of the photos I took at the Belfast Botanic Gardens
Ive created a new Topic:
http://www.flowergenie.co.uk/ideas/forum/index.php/topic,716.0.html
You'll find the link to the website in that topic