With its 627 varieties of conifer, more than 2,000 types of rhododendron and azalea, 303 varieties of magnolia, 605 cultivars of camellia and 147 types of rose, the garden at Mount Congreve is world famous.
Paradoxically, it is also something of a hidden treasure. It remains the private domain of its owner, Mr Ambrose Congreve, who planted his first camellias on the family estate in the 1920s.
Nobody who wants to view the magnificent collection of rare trees and shrubs is turned away, says the estate manager, Mr Patrick Coveney, but for the time being the garden is essentially a private one.
That will change in the future, when the entire estate is set to become a prized asset of the State. Mr Congreve (93), the last in his line, established a trust which has been endowed with sufficient funds to continue responsibility for the upkeep of the estate - including Mount Congreve House - until 20 years after his death.
After that the entire property passes to the State and will complement the National Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin, where soil conditions make it impossible to grow many of the plants found at Mount Congreve.
The proposed N25 bypass of Waterford would pass through the estate and within 50 yards, at its closest point, of the gardens, according to a spokesman for Mount Congreve. The National Roads Authority, however, says the exact route is being evaluated.
The Congreve family, one of a community of successful merchant dynasties in and around Waterford city in the post-Cromwellian era, first acquired land in Kilmeaden in the early 18th century and built the first house at Mount Congreve in 1735. The present mansion dates from the 1780s and was probably designed by the fashionable Waterford architect of the day, John Roberts.
Mr Ambrose Congreve inherited the property on the death of his mother in 1963. He had achieved considerable business success in England and India, mostly in steel, and with his fortune set about remodelling the house and creating the present garden.