A Quick Good-News Story

It has not been a pleasant time with this pandemic but there have been some good moments and it is important to make the most of them - small happinesses are to be celebrated! The restrictions brought on us by Covid 19 has meant that I have been unable to join friends in outings to …

The Pyramid on the Roundabout.

It has been a summer of wildflower good news stories, particularly so regarding orchids. There were reports of Green-winged orchids appearing on the grass verges of a housing estate in the midlands when the local authority stopped mowing. Bee orchids appeared in large numbers on roadside verges in Co. Cork, again when the grass was …

She is an Academic Bee.

She came late to education but has certainly made an impact now that she is here. Already, she has been feted in local press and on the national airwaves with a special appearance on the main evening news. We cannot begrudge her these moments in the limelight for, truth be told, she is at present …

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 …

How to Grow Native Orchids

How to Grow Native Orchids in Gardens Large and Small   Enthusiasts of our native orchids might well fear that a book on growing these precious and nowadays scarce plants in the garden is simply another threat to numbers in the wild but the very first few pages of this book will reassure them that …

Orchid Summer by Jon Dunn

Orchid Summer – In Search of the Wildest Flowers of the British Isles by Jon Dunn This book was fabulously and fantastically far, far more than its title blurb lead one to expect. It splendidly recalls the author’s grand summer adventure to see all the orchids of Great Britain and Ireland within a single season, …

Orchids – A New Enthusiasm!

Although widespread, orchids are not commonplace and to look at them growing in the wild is one of the great pleasures of the plant world. The Burren in Co. Clare, Bull Island in Dublin and The Raven in Wexford are three easily accessible locations where one may find orchids with ease and there are many …