The Rare and Special Plant Fair 2025

Date: Sunday 11th May 2025 Time: 10am-4pm Location: Mount Congreve Gardens Price: Admission to the plant fair is FREE. If you wish to visit the gardens be sure to book online for the best value at www.mountcongreve.com. Kids under 16 enter the gardens for free!

The Rare and Special Plant Fair, sponsored by Bord Bia, will be held on Sunday, 11th May 2025, at Mount Congreve Gardens. This year marks the 25th anniversary of this prestigious event, and we are thrilled that Mount Congreve has been chosen as the host. This will also be the final year of Bord Bia’s sponsorship of the event. Up to 40 Specialist Nurseries from all over Ireland will be on site to offer and showcase beautiful, unusual and hard to find varieties of plants for sale, as well as giving expert advice on care and growing. The full list of exhibitors will be confirmed soon. As part of the event, Elmer Dool will be hosting a special talk titled “In My Father’s Footsteps” at 11:00 AM in the Ambrose Room. Ticket prices €5.00 for members and €6.50 for non-members. Proof of membership will be required. Tickets can be booked HERE.

The Rare & Special Plant Fair was established in 2001 to ensure that the gardening public has an opportunity to purchase rare, unusual and special plants at reasonable prices, and to ensure that nurseries and breeders of these plants in Ireland have an opportunity to present them for sale.

At the same time, the Fair aims to provide an opportunity for visitors to visit a private garden that they might not otherwise visit. The fair is an annual event, always held on the second Sunday in May. Over the years the event has grown in stature and reputation with the fair being hosted in some of Ireland’s most notable and beautiful private gardens, and more recently in public and state gardens of note, including Fancroft Millhouse Gardens, Roscrea, Lakeview Gardens, Co Cavan, Kilfane Glen, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, Anne’s Grove Gardens, Co Cork, Castleforbes, Co Longford, Farmleigh, Phoenix Park, Dublin, St. Anne’s Park, Raheny, Russborough House, Co. Wicklow, Killruddery House, Co. Wicklow Airfield Gardens and Farm, Dublin, Burtown House, Athy, Co. Kildare, Glin Castle, Glin, Co. Limerick, Airfield, Dundrum, Dublin, Fota House and Arboretum, Borris House, Carlow and Huntington Castle Carlow in 2024.

For further information please visit www.rareandspecialplantfair.ie

Price: Admission to the The Rare and Special Plant Fair is FREE | Talk: In My Father’s Footsteps' by Elmer Dool €6 for Non-Members €5 for Members

Book tickets

May 11 2025 to May 11 2025