A cool start, a foggy dawn. The mellow light tinted the milky haze of fog rising from the earth, too beautiful for even the wind to disturb. The usual west of Ireland wind stayed respectfully still and silent. As the sun sleepily woke and rose over the horizon the fog dispersed to the air, leavingContinue reading “Autumn Fire – early autumnal morning in our garden”
Category Archives: PLANTS
Picking Blackberries and Blackberry Jam Recipe
Shining and black, tightly packed and full of flavour. Each segment a tiny drupe, like a miniature stone fruit, they line the lanes and roadsides of the Irish countryside. Blackberries are abundant, their prickled stems arch over the hedgerows and back to the soil where each stem can take root at its tip and continueContinue reading “Picking Blackberries and Blackberry Jam Recipe”
I fought the root and the root won…. cooking burdock roots
The story goes, George de Mestral took his dog for a walk and then invented Velcro. The Swiss inventor took his canine for a stroll one day sometime in the 1940s and upon arriving home he noticed that his dog has in this fur the spiky seed heads of Actium minus otherwise known as Burdock.Continue reading “I fought the root and the root won…. cooking burdock roots”
Berberis darwinii – Barberry Jelly Recipe
A Chilean native, discovered by the god father of evolution, Charles Darwin in 1835 and introduced by the great plant hunter William Lobb for the legendary Veitch plant nursery Berberis darwinii was brought to Europe in 1849 by legends of the horticultural and scientific worlds. Since then this evergreen barberry has deservedly been a popularContinue reading “Berberis darwinii – Barberry Jelly Recipe”
Finding our bog
“Samhradh, samradh, bainne na ngamhna, thugamar féin an samhradh linn…” Hanna was singing while walking down the road, she wore her heavy winter coat. It certainly was not the weather that inspired her performance, but more a plea to the gods to bring the summer weather, “summer, summer, the honeysuckle, we brought the summer withContinue reading “Finding our bog”
Early morning in our garden in Co. Mayo – July 2012
Summer, oh where is the summer? This morning was a rare sunny start and I was up early to see the fog lifting its damp veil from around our plants. There is a saying in Ireland, “sun before seven is gone by eleven”. You really do have to get up early to get the bestContinue reading “Early morning in our garden in Co. Mayo – July 2012”
Honey Berry, Siberian Blue Berry – Lonicera caerulea var. kamstchatica
This morning before I left to supervise the Royal Horticultural Society examinations taking place in our Galway centre today, I enjoyed a bowl of muesli topped with berries of Lonicera caerulea var. kamtschatica- it is so uncommon in gardens that there has yet to be a common name adopted for it; honey berry, blue honeysuckle and siberian blueberry. WhateverContinue reading “Honey Berry, Siberian Blue Berry – Lonicera caerulea var. kamstchatica”
Ciaran The Gardener 