Ireland has around 100 different types of grasses, including native and non-native grasses, a fact of which I was not aware, but recently I bought a guide on grasses from Ireland’s National Biodiversity Data Centre and now I am learning about them. I have always found that many grasses are beautiful and decorative and there are always plenty of them around. Especially this summer the back of our garden is full of them, full of different types and they are growing nice and tall with lots of seeds to show. I don’t know all the different names yet but am looking them up one by one.
Our garden has been left to grow all the wild plants that were willing to come up this year. There were plenty of foxgloves, thistles, sow thistles, dandelions, nettles, buttercups, borage, evening primrose, herb Robert, plantain, and many more wild plants, and of course grasses and I’ve let them all grow. This means that things were a bit overgrown the last few weeks and now I have a helper, Dave, who is moving some plants and shrubs around for me so that I can plant our winter vegetables soon.
So here follow some photos of our grasses, I find them all very beautiful and am eager to learn more about them.
And so the summer is moving along and plenty of plants are already in seed including the grasses. The wind is dispersing the seeds and it follows that next year we will probably have even more grasses, these grow at the very back of the garden on a piece of uncultivated land which I want to keep wild. Leaving the wild plants and flowers to grow has been successful and we are seeing butterflies and bees of all sorts. There is always lots to discover even in a smallish garden and that is great for the nature lover who is house bound for part of the time. It is also great for anyone.
Dear friends I hope that you are enjoying this lovely summer, or your winter and especially that you are enjoying whatever blessings that nature gives you in your own surroundings.
A windless morning in the garden. A lone robin is singing in the birch tree. Some sounds are travelling up from the town in the valley. I’m having my morning coffee outside on the patio and enjoying this beautiful and peaceful scene. Our foxgloves are almost totally in seed now, only the tops of their long stems are still a beautiful pink, they have been very good for the pollinators. This morning only a few bumblebees have visited. Seagulls and crows are flying over our airspace shouting confident cries. Sparrows are chirping in the hawthorn tree, many of them. How I love all those sounds.
Of the usual two dozen that years ago were, there are now only four swifts visiting in our area, I so miss their summery sounds above our houses and gardens.
How I enjoy all this activity in nature, and this morning is a rare break in my own daily activities, a solace to the soul, a much desired rest for the body. And yet it is there for the taking – whenever and free. A true blessing.
Some weeks ago my sister Josephine stayed with us, it had been three years since she travelled to Ireland and we were overjoyed to see her. With her she brought me this beautiful gift. A little special notebook that she bought at an exhibition of works by Gustaf Klimt in Brussels. It is so beautiful that I decided it can only contain words about beauty, and so the thought came into my mind to use it to note down some of the observations of my quieter moments. Observations in nature and in daily life. I like to share them with you.
Our elderberry tree
17 May 2022
Today, in the garden I enjoyed the wild freshness after rain. I saw that our elderberry tree is about to come into flower, and that will be the first time since I planted it. The foxgloves are opening pink and beautiful. There are buttercups among other wild flowers, everywhere the growth is abundant and the trees, we have four, are looking very lush, their leaves still somewhat laden down with drops of rain. The hawthorn also has started to flower and there is a faint, delicate scent in the air. Birds started singing. I felt a breeze and now and then rain fell from fast moving clouds. These were perfect moments, I love the scent that rises from the earth after rain, it is so refreshing.
19 May 2022
The intense colour from the cineraria flowers in the Ilen street in town, the deep sky blue was a sight to behold. The scent was faint, it just caressed my nostrils and soothed my brain. Early morning in Skibbereen, the sun has just started to warm the cement of the colourful town houses. I feel good in expectation of the day ahead.
20 May 2022
It was while on my course on biodiversity with Wild Work. We were having a conversation about native woodlands and native wild plants. What took my special interest was a little wild plant that I had not seen growing here in West Cork before, it is called Sanicle (sanicula marilandica). It’s native and a woodland plant, it belongs to the carrot family, we found it on the grounds of a large woodland area.
21 May 2022
Today we cooked with aromatic spices and lentils, an Indian recipe. Alice and I enjoyed seeing all the spices come together and release their aroma, the dish we cooked was dahl. So delicious and an good dish for vegetarian Alice to learn to cook, she loved it. Earlier I was very pleased to see how well our oak-leaved lettuce were doing in the garden, the brightness of their various shades of red was invigorating.
22 May 2022
From my kitchen window I noticed the unripe fruits of the krentenboom (Amelanchier lamarckii), and it reminded me of the cycle of life; Just recently the flowers appeared, then the leaves turned the tree quite green, and now the fruits are already ripening, slowly they will become red later on in the year. I could see the parallel with our own lives and the thought that our times are fleeting moments in the greater cycle of things, of times. It is a very natural happening.
23 May 2022
While opening our front door, I looked down to the yearly new growth of the lady’s mantle and it inspired me, very beautiful and delicate, its veins like capillaries in our own bodies, green instead of red, dark green actually on the light green leaf… spreading out from its twig. Perfection!
I hope you enjoyed a glimpse in my little book of observations, it has been a pleasure to share them with you.
Yes a little detour in this remote part of Ireland is always exciting to say the least, I knew that I was going to do it, I knew that I was going to take photos and I also knew that it was going to be a lovely break. So after my appointment in Bantry I drove into a little side lane off the N71 and followed it down to the rocky seashore. Magnificent views of Bantry bay with the Caha mountains in the distance greeted me. I strolled along the path leading beside the air-strip, quite a few people and dogs were walking there and one man had his fishing rod out into the sea. The rocks were colourful. The air smelled of seaweed and was very fresh. Somewhere far away I could hear a blackbird singing, one of my favourite birdsongs. When I walked back to my car this last view surprised me, I thought that I could easily have been in Canada probably because of the lovely pine trees. Peaceful and at the same time invigorating, this little diversion to my day gave me plenty, I realised all of a sudden that I had been doing an exercise that my recently bought book on photography in nature advised me. That is, spending 10 minutes in nature, breathing deeply, really observing nature, taking note of what you see, hear, smell and how that makes you feel, how that affects the photos, and all that even while I often spend much longer in nature, but then I probably don’t always take it in so intensely.
View towards Shrone Hill Sugarloaf mountain to the leftFerry to Widdy islandI’m actually totally in love with these mountains and hillsBantry airstripSugarloaf mountainBeautiful Bantry BayIn the distance I could see part of the beautiful little town of BantryThis view gave me much pleasureThis book I am currently using to inspire my nature photography, only just started it and finding it helpful and enjoyable. (translation title… Grip on creativity, developing your own style in nature photography). It gives me a new perspective on the endless photos that I take. It is mainly about creativity. I will talk more about this book when I have read and practised a bit more of what it teaches. Here’s one of my try-outs. Seagulls and shadows over the river Lee
It’s that time of year when work starts seriously in our gardens. But the first outdoor job for me is to walk among my plants, see what is growing, analyse and decide what to leave and what to move or remove. And that’s what I have been doing during the week. Lots of delightful discoveries came my way. Many self-seeding plants had already come up during last autumn and survived our mild winter, others are still only appearing, delicately but vigorously. Foxgloves for example have self-seeded last autumn and have shown strong leaves even after the frosty nights. The garden is full of them, I’ve moved some of the young plants to other areas as they packed out the vegetable beds, but many I left where they came growing because of the beautiful natural arrangement they made. The base leaves of the foxgloves are very nice, very symmetrical, so satisfying for the eye. At this time of the year the leaves look fresh and vibrant.
BorageFeverfewFoxgloves
Three-cornered Leek is another wild plant that is flourishing right now, loads of it, and even while I use it in cooking, it has overgrown some of the vegetable beds so a decision has been made to eradicate a lot of it by pulling the little bulbs from the soil. Many Dandelions are now in flower and feeding the pollinators. Most of these bright yellow flowers will stay, some to be used in salads later. Young nettles are starting to make an appearance too, I picked some for tea, some I removed but others I will let grow as they are an amazing food filled with minerals both for humans and plants. Borage and Feverfew are growing nicely, and the comfrey (for compost) are all appearing healthy and robust, in fact the Borage is coming into flower already.
Early dandelionsThree-cornered-leeksKale and spinach
Most of my herbs are starting to look healthy but apart from Sage, Rosemary, Bay leaf and Mallow they are still to tender and young to use in the kitchen. My Lemon Verbena died during the winter, I should have grown this plant in a pot and taken it inside as it is not frost-proof, I now realise. It makes a wonderful tea so I will buy a new plant and pot it up.
CalendulaSage
All the flowering shrubs are starting to look more vibrant now, some, like the white Azalea, the Daphne, and the Californian Lilac are already in bud and the Viburnum is fully in flower and spreading its scent over the patio, wonderful! I was looking for signs of the Houttuynia but could not see any yet. The Hypericum on the other hand is showing strong signs of life and even the Spiraea is carefully starting to show some leaves. Our Forsythia is finally giving us some lovely flowers but our Camellia has not flowered for several years, it needs attention. Then there are the perennials some of which I bought, some I sowed last year. Here Erysimum is a wonderful plant, it has been flowering from early spring last year until well in the winter and already it has started to flower again. I think we used to call this plant a wallflower. The small blue flowers of the Lithodora have flowered most of the winter, this is a wonderful border perennial. Marigolds are self-seeded in our garden and are always around, I use the petals and I love their bright and cheerful colours. I also found quite a few young Herb Robin and Willow herb plants, some of those I leave as they are rather nice and very good for the pollinators. One of the plants in our garden that attracts most pollinators, bees, bumblebees, hoverflies and others is the white little flower of the oregano plant. Different spring bulbs are flowering too giving plenty of cheer in the awakening garden.
LithordoraErysimumViburnumOur white flowering AzaleaSome rotting wood for the insects
And among all these there are still last autumn’s Leeks, Kale, Broccoli and Spinach to be found, we are eating from those.
She-shedSpinachLeeksBroccoli
Now it is a case of finding space for our potatoes which are presently chitting inside. Other vegetables have been sown and are sprouting well. The abundance of plants, wild and cultured is welcome and amazing, and lording it over it all our Hawthorn, Birch, Chestnut and Oak trees are filled with the sound of finches, sparrows, black birds, a wren, a robin and a dunnock singing, chattering and mate calling… our wild garden… it is a wonderful place to work in or sit with a cup of tea taking a rest, admiring all this growth.
Our potatoes chittingCaterpillar of cabbage white butterflyNice finds in the undergrowth
No matter how small, our gardens can be an oasis of rest and replenishment of our energy, and giving us solace for our souls.
The colours of the pre-dawn are magnificent, it is also the expectation of what is to come, the light! The light that will colour the world once again for another day.
Pre-dawn light
Last week saw me travel up to the city several times for appointments and one of those was early in the morning, so it was that I was able to enjoy the dawn albeit from a bus window. To see the first light appearing and the mist rising has always had me spellbound and needless to say I enjoyed it very much.
I had nothing else to do but sit and observe how the light scattered the darkness.Being driven through the rural Irish landscape at this time of day is magical, the land still covered here and there with garlands of mist.Flashes of colour reached my eyes distorted by the speed the bus was travelling, I loved it.If I wanted to paint I could not do any better than what the eye of my mobile phone offered me in colour and form.
I was in a reality all my own
It was as beautiful as any of my other realities
Another day started and I was thankful to make it a good one
On my walk today I noticed an old rusty barn in the middle of a large field. It looked interesting and colourful in the landscape. The long valley in which Skibbereen town lies and where the river Ilen flows through on its way to the sea at Baltimore was this morning filled with sunshine, a beautiful early spring day. I was thinking that this barn would have had great use in the olden days, or maybe it is used still. It has its own beauty. I wonder at its story.
Signs of spring are also upon us, the buds of trees are to be seen all around. I think that it is a little early in the year to talk about real spring as it can still get very cold in February and March, but this winter has been mild and we have not seen the usual stormy and very wet weather. That the daffodils are open is normal for this time of year though.
The lichens and the moss have totally overtaken this tree trunk and they are so beautiful in themselvesHere you can see how a piece of the old railway connecting Skibbereen to Cork is being reused as a gate pole, you see that more often around here. The barn looks a little uneasy here, and seems to be surrounded by rushes which we know grow in wet groundI love the colours of ivy and there is so much of it around here, the bronze and a variety of green on the leaves, and the bright berries some of which have become red. I actually never noticed this before, only ever saw their colour purple or green.And also along this roadside are the winter heliotrope plants, but not flowering yet, these plants are invasive and non-native to Ireland but a welcome addition to winter’s growth on the land.
A nice short walk and yet so much to be seen even at this time of year, a real pleasure showing that things do not have to be perfect for us to enjoy them and that older building can have a beauty all of their own.
I feel that the old barn does make this landscape beautiful even in all its imperfection. Its colours blend perfectly into its surroundings. Along a modern highway it connects us with the past and with the people that were working the land, and maybe still are. I am particularly interested in the older buildings around town and around the area, always wondering about their story and the story of the people that lived and worked and built those buildings.
While preparing this post I came across a quote by Diana Athill which spoke to me so strongly, I know that what she is saying has been true for me and so I never take anything special that I see for granted. I have a large collection of these hidden gems in my mind that I can access anytime I want and I do and I find it very beneficial.
Here the quote: “Looking at things is never time wasted. If your children want to stand and stare, let them. When I was marvelling at the beauty of a painting or enjoying a great view it did not occur to me that the experience, however intense, would be of value many years later. But there it has remained, tucked away in hidden bits of my mind and now it comes, shouldering aside even the most passionate love affairs”. Diana Athill
Even as a young girl I have always loved keeping houseplants and our mother allowed me to take care of those we had at home. Our collection consisted mainly of clivia’s and sansevierias, also busy lizzies and geraniums. Later after my husband and I moved to Ireland and lived in a lodge house, there I started a new collection. Houseplants were not so much on the agenda here and so in the beginning I grew mostly geraniums and primulas which I grew of my own seeds or cuttings. I always had houseplants except during the years when I was travelling a lot, then it was not practical. At some period I had a whole collection of cacti and they flowered beautifully. Now I like to vary my collection, my most recent addition are some bromeliads, small ones which I bought in Lidl. Some of the plants were gifted to me, or came as cuttings from friends and one of them even came from a long way away. Having them around me in my kitchen never ceases to give me good feelings, every time I pass they fill me with joy because of their beauty. They grow by artificial light because our house is fairly dark and this light needs to be on anyway all day. I need plenty of light myself to function! I also cultivate some orchids, peace lilies, a money plant and an Easter cactus. So here I am sharing some of my plants with you all and hope that you enjoy.
The new bromeliad plants, they are very small yetKalanchoe second floweringKalanchoeChamaedorea elegansHypoestes phyllostachya ( Polka dot plant)Pilea peperomioidSanpauli several years oldBillbergia nutansOrchidBromeliad These small bromeliad are so beautifulPelleae. rotundifoliaHypoestes phyllostachyaDieffenbachiaKalanchoeFicus treeChlorophytum
My dear readers, friends and family do you have plant collections too? I would love to hear what collections you have. I’ve enjoyed sharing mine with you.
agoyvaerts 