A merry go round of perennial colour

IT'S a close summer afternoon on Grafton Street. People are hurrying bustling in every direction. But one man has found a quiet spot. Leaning up against one of the street's museum piece lamp posts, he seems to be waiting for something to happen.

Little does he know that it's going on right above his head. A bee has also discovered a private oasis: the floral platform nestling around the lamp above. Swinging about from yellow pansy to pink geranium, from nasturtiums to petunias and trailing lobelias, she blithely ignores the swirling masses down below while sucking up the summer juices.

On O'Connell Street, from the smaller tubs on the northernmost tip to the large baths of plants on the bridge, flower fountains of red and pink geraniums, marigolds in yellow, and plenty of other varieties present a blend of colours which works perfectly against the black and grey expanses which surround them.

All these flowers have been blooming for just a few months. When they wilt and die away in October, they'll be replaced - in inconspicuous, fly by night Dublin Corporation style - with spring flowering varieties, to lie ready and waiting for action right though the winter.

Jimmy Doherty is the corporation's man responsible for all this floral planning. Though his official title is inspector of inner city parks, when he is speaking on the subject of flowers and his own speciality, landscaping, he prefers to be known as head gardener. Jimmy's work includes the Peace Garden at Dublin Castle and the magnificent renovation of the Blessington Street Basin - one of Dublin's best loved parks. He began his career as the corporation's first horticultural apprentice, went on to qualify as a landscape gardener and has worked at Merrion Square Park since 1975.

Anybody can walk through this particular park unconscious of the wild roars of the city's mechanical beasts, kept at bay behind the perimeter of dense shrubbery, trees and railings. This cosy insulation is anything but an accident. And if any plans are in place to change the scheme of perimeter plants, this sense of peacefulness will be foremost in Jimmy's mind.

However, the flowerbeds he plans for parks and all the other little green areas right across the inner city are a far more visible aspect of his work. A typical year for one of these beds can involve all of this: in October the fading summer flowers are dug out, compost is rotovated in, and a fertiliser is added before raking.

Next year's spring flowering plants are then planted, and are planned a whole season in advance so that full consideration can be taken of the varieties used in the previous year. It's an ongoing process, with constant evaluation of how successfully a plant has been performing.

Weather is of course a prime consideration, with spring mildness - which would result in early flowering in some varieties - having to be catered for. This is countered by using "bankers", or old reliables. One of Jimmy's favourites is the "Her Grace" tulip, which flowers in two tone pink, and which the corporation has used for 35 years.

Wallflowers - which are ready sprouted plants - may be planted around the edge of a bed. These plants are members of the cabbage family, and are good for breaking down the soil, helping the air to seep through.

Lots of varieties of bulbs will be dotted right around the bed or placed in swathes of one particular colour. Up to 3,000 of them can be placed in some of the larger beds. They might typically include narcissi and tulips, and there will be an emphasis on having bulbs which flower successively so that there is colour from spring right through to early summer. From May onwards, summer flowers are gradually phased in. Minimising and spreading out the amount of work that has to be done in an already over hectic schedule is very much a part of the equation.

The corporation tenders for its supply of bulbs, many of which originate - unsurprisingly - in the Netherlands but Irish bulbs are also used. Plants which need to be nursed before planting, such as the wallflowers, come from the nursery at St Anne's Park in Raheny.

Jimmy says he has no problems with rotation - having to use different plants on the soil so it doesn't get exhausted - as he can use different varieties of the same flowers, such as geraniums, year after year. Such variation is therefore mainly for the aesthetic, change loving eye of the public.

The corporation is at pains to make clear that it uses only canal water for watering plants. "As the local authority with responsibility for the water supply we are very straight up about that," says Jimmy.

There is a high level of interest from the public in the flowers, with "loads of requests" on which variety of plant is suitable for a given situation. And Jimmy likes to take care of such public queries himself.

"You have to be an eternal optimist in your planning for the future," he concludes, in taking stock of the colossal workload he oversees every year. "If you're not an optimist, you've no business working in this business. But from a professional gardener's point of view, I've no difficulty with the varying weather in this country - it's brilliant."