by Ray Ryan
TWO of Ireland’s ancient clans — the FitzGeralds and the Kennedys — gave to the world the 35th president of the US, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Now, another FitzGerald and Kennedy have come together to produce a range of Irish primroses bringing colour to gardens and other locations across the globe.
Behind the initiative is Pat FitzGerald, founder of FitzGerald Nurseries in Co Kilkenny, and plant breeder Joe Kennedy, a native of Tullow, Co Carlow. The first plant in the series of Kennedy Irish Primroses was launched in 2011 on the 50th anniversary of JFK’s inauguration as president. Additional varieties have since been released to complete the range in 2013 — the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s visit to Ireland and his assassination five months later in Dallas.
But the latest collaboration between a FitzGerald and a Kennedy to create a unique collection of Irish primroses is purely coincidental – they are not related to one another or to the president.
FitzGerald Nurseries is based in Stonyford and Jenkinstown, both in Kilkenny, with a micro-propagation laboratory at Enniscorthy, in JFK’s ancestral Wexford.
Owned by Pat and Noirin FitzGerald, the company is unique in the Irish ornamental horticulture industry as it exports 95% of its production to 23 countries, including the US, Japan, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and across Europe.
The primroses have dark purple foliage unique to Ireland, with flowers in a variety of bright colours.
FitzGerald said Bord Bia were very supportive of his concept to deliver this piece of garden heritage to the world. “Without their support the task it would have been much more difficult,” he said.
Kennedy’s Irish Primroses, which are the result of 38 years of conservation and careful selection by Joe Kennedy, are only part of the output by FitzGerald Nurseries.
It produces up to 5m plants in 160 different varieties each year, with up to 30 others in development at any given time. It also carries out contract production. FitzGerald established the business in 1990 on the farm his ancestors worked for nearly 300 years. He diversified from traditional beef, dairy, and vegetable enterprises to focus mainly on the production of young plants for sale to growers in Ireland at first and then worldwide
“In addition to production facilities, we have our own private trials grounds and carry out both production and garden trials on-site,” he said.
A former chairman of Ireland Nursery Association and a member of the European Nursery Association committee, he travels the world visiting breeders and other nurseries. His wide knowledge of the business is reflected in his company winning many European awards, not just for its plants but also for innovation. This year it won the Best Garden Perennial Award at the world’s largest horticulture trade event, IPM Essen Germany, with Claddagh, one of the Kennedy Irish Primrose range.
Primroses have been close to FitzGerald’s heart since his childhood, when he saw them growing in a ring fort on his family’s 100-acre farm in Stonyford. The protected ring fort is now in the centre of the nursery activity and remains a landmark indication of the intensive agricultural activity that took place there over 1,500 years ago.
There is another reason why FitzGerald developed his interest in primroses — Joe Kennedy, one of Ireland’s leading amateur breeders, who now lives in Ballycastle, Co Antrim.
FitzGerald describes Kennedy, the original breeder of Kennedy Irish Primroses, as a modest man whose professional training as a dentist gave him a precision and attention to detail perfectly suited to the finer points of plant breeding. “I first met Joe in 2006 having contacted him after reading an article he wrote in an Irish Garden Plant Society newsletter.
“We got in touch over the phone and he was soon educating me on the history and breeding of this beautiful plant in Ireland going back to the late 1800s.
“From that moment on I was hooked on bringing these wonderful plants to the world,” he said.
Their collaboration resulted in the launch in 2011 of the first of the new Irish primrose collection. Other lines have since been added. All were bred by Kennedy from old Irish varieties.
FitzGerald said Kennedy is one of the greatest remaining links between our Irish primrose heritage and today’s modern garden. The first of the Kennedy Irish Primrose collection, Drumcliff, was named after the Sligo burial place of WB Yates. It was presented to the US First Lady Michelle Obama for her White House garden by Taoiseach Enda Kenny and his wife Fionnuala on St Patrick’s Day 2011. Last year’s gift was from the Innisfree selection and this year there was a surprise — the Kennedy Irish Primrose presented to the First Lady was named Moneygall.
That was in honour of Obama’s ancestral place in Offaly, where a similar primrose was also presented to his cousin Henry Healy to be planted locally. Ireland’s own First Lady Sabina Higgins was presented with another primrose from the selection when she recently visited Thomastown, Co Kilkenny. FitzGerald said he is delighted old-style Kennedy Irish Primroses have been conserved and developed, and are now being grown for countries all over the world.
Source: Irish Examiner – Historical Pairing is Still Flowering
