The Sally Gardens

A sally garden was a plot of willows, "sally" coming from the Latin salix or the Irish saileach. Families grew them for the shoots used in baskets and wicker furniture, and the gardens were also known as places for courting couples to meet. This reel shares the name with the Yeats song but not the tune.

Paddy O'Brien's 1954 recording, paired with "The Yellow Tinker," made it a session standard. Players in New York and London copied it, and the Tulla Céilí Band recorded it in 1956. It became so common that some session players now avoid it.