SUMMER GARDEN IN WEST CORK

June 19, 2016June 19, 2016 | gaiainaction

In the last few weeks we have been visiting some of my sisters and brothers, those that live close enough by, and of course it being summer, we naturally gravitate towards the gardens. This garden that I illustrate in my blog today is well established, it is one of the older ones in the family, my sister Brenda and her husband Shaun have created it over many years, it is a space full of the most beautiful shrubs and trees, flowers and ferns. From an almost forested area, where there used to be an ancient orchard, to a manicured lawn surrounded by interesting shrubs and beautiful mature trees. Her Japanese Dogwoods, Abutilons, and Azaleas’ and some more shrubs of which I do not recall the botanical name, are all fully in flower. The Hydrangeas are almost open, and the Laburnum is almost finished. This all creates a magnificent array of colours and textures, rich and summerly scented. A real summer feeling abounds. There is more, there is a rockery which is also a place for wild flowers to grow to feed the bees, and an area where my sister feeds her many wild birds, attracting a lovely variety including bull finches, jays, siskins, and even a sparrow hawk who sometimes comes to see if he can catch something for his lunch! I loved our garden visit at the height of summer, and I hope that you too will enjoy the photos of so much beauty.
Thanks to Brenda and Shaun for permission to use their garden in my blog.
DSCF6560

Ceanothus (or Californian lilac)

DSCF6584

DSCF6554

DSCF6537 - Copy

THANK YOU FOR THE ROSES

June 9, 2016 | gaiainaction

Yes, thank you for the roses, the beautiful sweet scented wild Irish roses that have been planted along the road, the link road in Skibbereen. What a foresight the town-planners had when they decided on what to plant along this road, the shrubs too are interesting and lovely, but most of all I love this time of the year because of the luxurious roses, what a delight for the eye and much nourishment for the mind and soul. I went for a walk today along this road and back through North street, I found more roses along a stretch there too. Could not resist illustrating this blog entry with full sized photos (phone pics) just to feast our eyes on these roses. Please enjoy this blessing.

“And the shower of roses spun around me, inviting me to take part in their ever-present waltz.”
Gina Marinello-Sweeney

20160609_125205

20160609_125106

20160609_125025

20160609_123946

20160609_125142

20160609_124035

20160609_124052

THE GIFTS OF MOTHER EARTH

May 12, 2016 | gaiainaction

Just when I thought that it could not get any better, and this while I was taking delight in the garden the day after we arrived home again in Ireland, mother nature has given me another two beautiful surprises, first I discovered that there were several patches of forget-me-nots flowering, their blue a delight to the eye, then I discovered that there are several lilies of the valley flowers almost opening, how truly magical! I had not known what to expect of the garden on our return, no sooner were we home than I went to inspect, and that’s when I found lots of surprises, vegetables wild and not so wild, and waiting for me to make soup of them, kale and leeks and other goodies, they were not ready when we left in March, but now they are just waiting to be made into delicious dishes. Herbs too are doing well and looking very lush, the lemon balm has never looked so good, rosemary, lavender, comfrey and others are all ready to be used. Then I saw that the cold frames looked a bit bulky, and checked it out, to my amazement there was one plant of lettuce which had grown to become a monstrosity, the leaves so huge that one leaf would do a whole meal 🙂 Not sure what happened there! Some grass had also grown large inside. Lots of work to be done that is for sure, but I already have helpers lined up, my grandchildren, one of them had a birthday today, she is now four, and she wants a wheelbarrow, she wants to do gardening, and no fear of that, because she is small she can fit into the cold frames easily so she can do the weeding in there if she likes, looking forward to that. Anyway we are back in West Cork, and we are now already fully occupied with our work here in garden and house. Plans have been made for later in the year when we will be returning to the island of Gozo where we spent a wonderful two months, a time that will stay with us for very long.

20160512_150016

20160512_182100

On the last lot of photos, some onions which I had left in the kitchen sprouted, and are now ready to plant out. Also I had some oca tubers in a pot and I found the shoots creeping through a hole in the lid and the whole pot filled with sprouts, how funny!

ST.BRIGID CROSS SYMBOL OF EMERGING LIGHT

January 29, 2016January 31, 2016 | gaiainaction

Making a St.Brigid’s cross, is an ancient tradition in Ireland, people young and old make these crosses from rushes of which there are plenty growing around the country. Tradition has it that the cross will protect the house from fire, hunger and evil if hung above the door. You can often still see them hanging in halls of houses. St.Brigid or as she is known “Mary of the Gael” is the patroness of Ireland, she was born in 450 A.D.

It is also suggested that this cross has pre-Christian origins and is related to the sun cross. The first of February is when St.Brigid’s day is celebrated, this is also the ancient Irish celebration of ‘Imbolc’ which marks the beginning of spring, and indeed spring starts on the first of February in Ireland! (According to the behaviour of the birds this morning in our garden, this must be about right).
Actually Wikipedia gives a real good write up about St.Brigid cross and that is why I am adding a link to it, far more information than I could know or share here, so enjoy if you are interested.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigid%27s_cross

I have added some photos to show how the cross is made on request of some of my nice friends that follow my blog. I made some of these crosses tonight. Went to pick the rushes earlier and kept them from drying out, this is important to work with them easily if not using straight away.

So here goes, I will do my best to describe:
First you hold one rush vertical in your hand, and you add another rush with your other hand bending it in the middle and sliding it across the vertical rush as seen in pic 2. you then turn the vertical rush either clock-wise or anti clock-wise depending on whether you are right or left handed. You keep adding one rush at the time constantly turning the original rush, you keep a tight hold of them. When you have added enough and it becomes like pic 6 then you have to cut the ends but be careful as the whole thing might jump loose, so hold tight, fix an elastic band around the end and repeat this with all four sides. Your cross is now ready to hang up.

I hope the explanation will do, and if you try I hope you have much fun.

The rushes or reeds used to make these crosses are called;

Soft Rush or Juncus effuses. http://www.irishwildflowers.ie/pages-rushes/r-07.html

DSCF2223

THE SUN CAME OUT TODAY

January 27, 2016 | gaiainaction

Yes the sun came out today, and it shone over the valley here in Skibbereen, it was glorious and so welcome after all the days of mist, rain, and stormy weather. So I took a walk along the boreen* and found a few wild flowers making colour, their therapeutic effects did not stay behind, I felt so energized after that walk.

To find the red clover in flower was probably early in the year, but then the temperature is warmer than normal, it has been a steady 10C for a while now and today in the sun the temperature went up to 15C even despite a cold northern wind.
20160127_130051

This beautiful little fern grows along rocks even in urban settings all over Ireland. It’s most delicate and very hardy.

20160127_125537

The gorse usually flowers twice a year, once in February, and once in the summer. It’s probably early this year, but I did not get any of its scent, we need stronger sunlight for that.

20160127_130143

I took this photo behind our houses, it is waste land, the sedges are lovely, I like this sort of landscape too. Soon St.Brigid will be celebrated in Ireland and people will use the sedges to make St.Brigid crosses, I used to teach people in the library to make those, it’s fun to work with the sedges.

20160127_130245

It is getting time that I start planning my garden, I have not done anything about it really because the weather has been so wet. Today I started to take stock, and some of the raised beds wood surroundings have rotted! The soil is still very wet.

Roll on warm and dry weather!

* Boreen is an Irish word for a path in nature, (Irish: bóithrín, pronounced [bɔːˈriːn]) it is a rural walking path.

FANLIGHTS IN CORK CITY

January 23, 2016 | gaiainaction

20160121_152001

A fanlight is a feature of Georgian architecture, it is found of course in England, but it is also found in Ireland, and I think it is a beautiful feature. It is a semicircle window above a main door, it is called a fanlight because several panes radiate like a fan outwards. While it is a useful addition to any hall, it is also very decorative and in Ireland efforts are made to preserve these features in the many Georgian style houses.

While I was in Cork city the other day, I took some photos with my mobile phone. I think these features are so nice and interesting. I had to go and look up information on them and did not even know that they were called fanlights, I only knew that you see these features a lot in Irish cities. Fanlights originated in England during George I (1714), and fettered by the year 1901. But in Ireland, the use of these fanlights lasted longer. Especially in the eighteen hundreds though they were a frequent architectural feature to be seen in Dublin, also in Cork and other cities.

During the nineteen seventies a poster was produced featuring some of the beautiful fanlights in Dublin, it is very popular to this day. There are still many Georgian houses found in Dublin, also quite a few in Cork, fanlights only being one of it’s Georgian features of course. Many of these houses are now neglected and some are almost derelict, efforts are being made to restore them, many, however have been demolished in the past. But equally many have been restored and there still remain quite a variety of fanlights and they are very appealing to the eye. It is also good to know some of the history behind it. The fact that they started out as a useful feature, then became a decorative feature and remain like that today. What I see today in modern doors is that the idea of a fanlight is actually build into the door and in this way throws light into the hall, that is, of course, not half as beautiful (just my thought).

I took my photos along the Dyke Parade in Cork city. At some future date I would love to explore the city much more and make many more photos.

20160121_152029

20160121_152116

20160121_152242

20160121_152331

EMERALD GREEN FOLIAGE

January 19, 2016 | gaiainaction

Sometimes Ireland is called ‘the emerald country’, and it is no wonder, it is called this way because of the regular rain, this green is always a most beautiful, fresh and profuse colour. Seen from the sky the landscape does look like an emerald jewel.

So it was no surprise that I found young green foliage today along the side of a country road. Though early in the year, there are signs of a rebirth, and of green in the hedgerows. The Fuchsia hedges have brown branches with here and there young leaves opening up. The ferns are enjoying this particularly wet winter, a delight for the eye, their lacy leaves unfurling with a vigour that would surprise you, though having said that, some of the leaves had fringes of brown.

Nature is waking up slowly, spring can start very early in South West of Ireland. Even the birds songs are changing just lately.

DSCF2151

DSCF2164

DSCF2154

DSCF2155

DSCF2157

DSCF2159

The lesser celandine plants are almost ready to flower.

MEMORIES OF FLOWERS

January 7, 2016 | gaiainaction

What better to think about and plan while the weather remains wet and stormy, and yet we feel that the new gardening year will soon enough be upon us. Flowers, wild and cultivated, beautiful and colourful, reminding us of summer, of sunshine and warmth.

Looking back at many of the flowers we had in the garden last year, I know that some of them I will certainly repeat this time around. The sweetpeas gave us such pleasure, we picked bunch after bunch, the scent was heavenly and made for a very cheerful breakfast table, so that is a definite Yes. The coriander and oregano are also a definite Yes! These are herbs my kitchen simply cannot do without, and the flowers, though small are pretty, when plentiful they can be used as part of a herbal flower decoration. The nasturtiums are always there also, I sow them yearly, they are pretty for their flowers but I also use both leaf and flower in salads, or I might eat some of the leaves while walking in the garden. As for the hydrangea, I have four different bushes growing, a deep lapis lazuli blue one, a pretty pink one, and two pure white ones. Some years ago I tried to change the colour of one of my white hydrangeas with a product I bought in the garden centre, but I did not succeed, and it did not matter, I will try again some time. The Ph of the soil here in my raised beds is 7, so total balance between alkaline and acid, and the colour depends on the Ph of the soil.
Marigolds grew profusely in the garden last summer, they just kept on flowering, I like the orange types, they are definitely on the list for this season also. The poppies are self seeding, they are beautiful and great for the bees and other flying creatures, but they do have a habit of coming up among the vegetables and become too large sometimes. The fuchsia flowers are seen all over West Cork, in a good year some of the hedgerows are coloured red with them, lovely. They flower from May onwards, and might still be in flower in November. I have them only at the back of the garden, in the hedge.

The big bright yellow flower was going to be a lovely round pumpkin, only last summer all my pumpkins rotted, so while the promise was there in the flower, it did not come to fruition. The blackberry flowers are frilly and white, they also just form part of the hedge and I let them grow mainly for the bees and butterflies. It is great to see all the insects and butterflies come and feed in the garden.

Finally after about three years my wall flowers have started to produce lots of dark rose velvety flowers, nice, and they give off a faint scent, it brings me memories of gardens and flowers in another period of my life, precious memories of flowers.

PUMPKIN

BLACKBERRY

FUCHSIA

HYDRANGIA

WALLFLOWER

NASTIRTIUM

SWEETPEA

CORIANDER

DOUBLE POPPI

OREGANO

BITTER GOURD

PETUNIA

BEARA A RUGGED BEAUTY

September 19, 2015 | gaiainaction

A few days ago saw us driving over the Healy Pass towards Lauragh in the Beara Peninsula, a most beautiful journey. Leon Urus’ term, “a terrible beauty” certainly applies to this region. More and more rugged the higher you go, interesting rock formations, some quartz and crystals shining bright among the otherwise grey rocks. Insect eating plants, mosses, ferns, and very much lovely scented camomile flowers. Amazing views of bare rocky heights and lush green valleys. Right at the highest point Glanmore lake can be seen and further down along the road plenty of Fuchsia, heathers, golden rod, and other wild flowers are still in bloom, and make for a lush tapestry of colour.