Flower power blooms in Ballyvaughan

BALLYVAUGHAN’S Flower Power festival will celebrate the enigmatic and unsung local hero, – Patrick Bernard O’Kelly in a festival from next Monday to July 7.
O’Kelly (1852-1937) played a huge role in collecting and popularising the unique flora of the karst limestone region in the early 1900s.
Glenarra House – the site of O Kelly’s Botanic Gardens and Fern Nurseries – will be open to the public for the week, while an exhibition in Ballyvaughan village hall will display for the first time, samples of plants O’Kelly sent to the National Botanic Gardens, together with memorabilia and photographs of his life.
Dr Matthew Jebb, director of the National Botanic Gardens will open the exhibition on Monday at 6pm and will then lead an “orchid hunt” in search of the famous O’Kelly orchid, named after him. The week will include walks, talks, exhibitions, and a botanical painting workshop with Susan Sex.
Born in the townland of Kilweelran, O’Kelly lived in Glenarra House, a two-storey house on the Lisdoonvarna road south of Ballyvaughan, from the 1890s until his death in 1937. There, he assembled a collection of exotic trees, shrubs and herbs and conducted his nursery business. He was the most prolific collector of Burren ferns, plants and orchids and provided guidance on plants to eminent botanists, Druce, Levigne and Praeger.
He was most probably self-taught, his botanical knowledge accumulated simply by observing plants growing wild. Tourists called him The Doctor and this title was retained as a mark of respect, even though there is no evidence of him ever studying at university.
O’Kelly was wonderful at promoting himself and also made a good living by selling wild plants through his catalogues in Dublin and London. Plants, exotic and native, were offered either singly or by the dozen. Large tufts of Burren gentians could be supplied for 4s.0d per dozen. This custom, while acceptable at the time, would of course be justifiably forbidden nowadays.
Mary Hawkes-Greene, Ballyvaughan Community Development group, who organised this event, commented, “Dr O’Kelly remains a living legend in Ballyvaughan. He was clearly a colourful character and it is really interesting to share his story, while there are still people in the community who remember him.
“As a Gathering project, this will attract botanists and flower lovers from far afield. It will be a wonderful opportunity to see the Burren in glorious bloom, take a tour of the magnificent gardens in the area, explore the magical Glenarra House and Gardens for the first time and learn from a series of talks and field trips.”
The full programme can be viewed on www.burrencollege.ie and www.discoverballyvaughan.com.