Pigheaded, Wildflowers,Wet and Happy!

It rained almost all day yesterday, not heavy rain but enough to keep us indoors where we sat and read and watched television and surfed the internet and ended the day fed up with life and with sore bums from sitting all the time. Perhaps, it is churlish of me to complain about the rain …

A Safe Refuge.

In a way it might seem incongruous that a graveyard would be a place of wonderful life but it is often the case. An eagle-eyed friend in our little orchid circle spotted some orchids growing in a churchyard close to where she lives and investigated further. As it turned out she had spotted a small …

Suddenly, Out of the…Green!

Today gave me one of those beautiful surprises which comes to a gardener every now and then. You will know the experience: a plant, thought lost, appears again, fit and healthy; a first flowering of a treasured gift, the germination of a rare seed etc etc. Gardeners will understand what I mean. Such moments are …

Charles Darwin, the Pencil and the Orchid.

Early Purple Orchids, a native plant, are in flower at the moment. Unfortunately, there will be no days out to see them for me this year but I do have a single plant growing here in the garden. How it came to be there is a mystery of nature. It is in a garden border …

That’s How Vulnerable They Are!

Green-winged orchids are very scarce in Ireland and when a friend told me he had found a site where they were in flower there was an immediate dash to see them. Three of us had a wonderful evening viewing these beautiful plants – along with the Early Purple Orchids and Cowslips which grew in their …

A Welcome Wasp!

Native orchids have captured  my heart – and addled  my brain – and days out have been full of fabulous finds, good company, beautiful plants and one outstanding highlight. Co. Tipperary has featured very strongly in this year’s itineraries as a friend with local knowledge has brought us to some very special sites and plants. …

Forest Bathing

A “friend” on Facebook recently put up a photograph of woodland and added the caption, “Forest Bathing”. A quick “Google” lead to an article in The Irish Examiner where I read: The Japanese have a word for it: "shinrin-yoku" or forest bathing. It's the sensory experience of being among trees. It's a rich form of …