Gardener receives Legacy Award for garden that brings colour to the area

A TALLAGHT gardener has received Co-operative Housing Ireland’s first Gardening Legacy Award for a garden that brings colour to the community whilst holding treasured family memories for loved ones.

Dick Brady has tended to the garden for almost three decades and was awarded with the new prize in recognition of the care and dedication he has shown.

The garden of the retired bricklayer includes numerous roses, some estimated to be between 30 and 100 years old, as well as a carefully maintained lawn.

The bright roses provide a centrepiece for the gardener’s work, and he shared that he got into the hobby “just by colour.”

Dick said: “I got into gardening just by colour. I’d bring plants home based on their colour and nothing else. I couldn’t believe the flowers that came out.”

Dick previously won a Co-operative Housing Ireland gardening competition during the organisation’s 40th anniversary year.

The new Legacy Award recognises his long-standing passion for gardening as he steps back from the more physically demanding work this year.

For Annette, Dick’s wife, the roses planted by her husband carry a connection to her grandmother.

The flowers were grown from cuttings taken from her grandmother’s roses, which had flowered beautifully year after year, and have continued to thrive in the couple’s garden.

Seeing the roses bloom still brings her comfort and reminds her of the grandmother who meant so much to her.

Annette said: “Anything Dick planted, it grew for him and for me…every year, while she was alive, those flowers always bloomed out lovely and they still do, and that’s how I know, she’s looking after the two of us.”

Admiring the variety of colour and life other people’s gardens inspired Dick to bring more vibrancy to his own through the garden, and it has grown to become something special over the years.

He brought home a small tub of flowers every evening while working at a hardware store and experimented with different plants to see what would take.

Dick has been a Co-operative Housing Ireland Member Tenant for 27 years in Tallaght, and the organisation paid tribute to him.

Co-operative Housing Ireland Community Engagement Specialist Aoife Kirk stated at the awards: “Our annual Gardening Competition celebrates our Member Tenant’s achievements in gardening and their passion for creating beautiful garden spaces in their homes.

“The Gardening Legacy Award goes further to recognise a life-long commitment to gardening and celebrate the story behind a garden.

“We are delighted to present Dick with this award acknowledging his longstanding care and passion for his garden.”

Dick is no longer able for the physical work involved in maintaining the whole garden at his home, and Annette noted that “it’s getting too hard on him.”

However, he plans to replace the front flower bed with stone and pots to make it easier to manage, while keeping the roses that mean so much to the local couple.

“I’ll keep our roses out the front, they’re the important thing.”