Des is an
award-winning journalist, broadcaster, author and environmental activist. He has been a columnist for the Globe
and Mail and CBC Television. Kennedy is the author of three books of essays and
a novel. Gardening with irreverence is his specialty. Two of his books were
shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. He lives on Denman
Island, B.C.
Des Kennedy’s story of Ireland’s gardens was presented in the context of more than a thousand years of that unique country’s history. We saw the stone circles and high towers of an ancient society; the rounded Celtic crosses marking the burial places of the early Christians. Ireland’s natural beauty was revealed in the precipitous heights of the Cliffs of Mohr, the strange limestone outcroppings of the Burren and the splendour of the Wicklow Mountains.
Ireland’s climate, warmed by the Gulf Stream, is not unlike our own Island’s, but her gardens predate ours by a century or more in many cases. The use of stone, in walls, mosaic paths, statues and pots conveyed a special artistry to many familiar flora, and Des’s camera choices captured these scenes well.
Des Kennedy’s garden tour provided a balance of history, poetry and art, articulated with great skill. The sound of quiet laughter rippling through his audience reflected the pleasure of his listeners.