The Centre is a fully functioning garden centre with a wide range of plants, shrubs, furniture; it has an exhibition area with 20 gardens laid out in different styles.
The gardens were designed by Gordon Ledbetter, and the idea was to show a variety of different garden designs to suit all budgets. The town garden is the perfect example of what can be achieved in a small space.

You can walk through the various gardens and take notes on all the plants you are interested in, as they are all tagged and named, and you can then get advice from any of the onsite horticulturalists.Water features are a big part of the various gardens and you will see some wonderful examples of these.

The National Garden Centre is located just off the N11, near the village of Kilquade. The journey time from Dublin is about 45 minutes.

For a more leisurely drive, take the coast road south from the city, and go through the seaside towns of Bray and Greystones.

The nearest large town is Bray and it has plenty of shopping, cafes and restaurants and a wonderful seafront promenade.

For garden lovers, there are couple of fabulous gardens nearby , Mount Usher Gardens in Ashford, Powerscourt House in Enniskerry and Kilruddery House in Bray.

Kilquade village is very close to some great walking trails. Bray Head and The Sugarloaf are well worth a visit for some stunning photo opportunities.

If driving back to Dublin on the N11 stop in the village of Kilmacanouge and visit the world famous Avoca Handweavers.

As well as having a variety of water fountains features, from tiny bubbling fountains to magnificent tiered fountain basins, the centre also features a fantastic life size bronze animal and child sculptures.
The newest addition to the gardens is the Gothic garden; it has a dramatic window overlooking the pool. It features astonishing plant combinations, such as the ponytail grass Stipa Tenussima and Phylica arborea and Artimisia ludoviciana.


There is also a cafe on site that serves traditional, homemade fare and is a very popular with tourists and locals.