Most of us consider plants to be docile living creatures capable of no harm, but they must also protect themselves from threats while rooted in one place. This list of the most painful plants to touch will reveal their secret weapons of defense.
29.06.2024 - 04:29 / irishtimes.com / Fionnuala Fallon
For the first time in decades I heard a cuckoo just the other day, its pealing “Wuck-Koo” ringing out so loudly nearby that I felt a quick, sharp jolt of joy at being so closely in its presence. Once a common sound, the distinctive call of this fleeting seasonal migrant from tropical Africa is traditionally believed to signal the arrival of spring. But as is true of so many other once-common species of birds, its numbers, which are down by an estimated 27 per cent since the early 1970s, have been in slow but steady decline for decades.
Someone familiar with the cuckoo’s seasonal call was the Wexford-born writer Larry de Lacy, aka “Fieldman”. His weekly nature column for the Irish Independent over a 45-year period until shortly before his death in 1973 is the subject of a beautiful and engrossing new book, printed in Ireland and published this month by VS Publishing.
Arranged in the form of a nature diary spanning a calendar year, each entry features a seasonal extract taken from de Lacy’s long-running column (the chosen extracts span the period from 1937-1948) and is accompanied by exquisite illustrations of the flora and fauna of which he writes so evocatively. Produced by a coterie of 18 noted Irish artists including Susan Sex and de Lacy’s own granddaughter Marie de Lacy, they were commissioned especially for the book.
It’s Susan Sex’s charming illustration of the curiously magical cuckoo that accompanies the entry for May 1st, 1940, where Fieldman writes of how “from some sequestered place the flute voice of the Cuckoo, rich with old memories, is repeated in a faint echo that is laden with the languors of midsummer…”.
Fieldman Revisited charts the unfolding of the Irish natural year, each month’s wildflowers and
Most of us consider plants to be docile living creatures capable of no harm, but they must also protect themselves from threats while rooted in one place. This list of the most painful plants to touch will reveal their secret weapons of defense.
If you have the good fortune to travel to other countries and see how other parts of the world garden, you know that it can be inspiring. I usually return from travel wanting to incorporate what I have seen into my own garden. Often, foreign travel takes us to climates vastly different than what we experience in the Southeastern United States. Our unique combination of hot humid summers and wet winters makes this a singular place to garden. One of the best parts of gardening is experimentation. I have both succeeded and failed in many garden endeavors. This often happens when I try and replicate something I have seen during foreign travel that cannot be done in my climate successfully. Here I’ve compiled a few memorable lessons and ideas I’ve gained after visiting more than 20 countries on a quest to see the best gardens on the globe.
Mention bougainvillea to almost anyone, and their first images may be of sun-drenched stucco walls festooned in the neon colors of the tropics. From beachside to desert to lush tropics, their exotic vibe proclaims, “I love warm weather!” In the relatively small Nyctaginaceae family, Bougainvillea is likely the best-known member, with Mirabilis (four-o’clock) and Abronia (sand verbena) being runners up. With bougainvilleas, the color is provided by papery bracts that enclose a small white bloom that is the true flower. Flowering occurs in cycles: as a burst of new growth matures, a bloom cycle begins, repeating many times over the course of a long, hot season. Learn the basics of growing bougainvillea here.
Today’s boozy vase shares some elements with last week’s although lacks its fullness, containing less than an armful but more than a small posy, although with more time at my disposal it could have become more fulsome than it is. Having achieved my personal challenge of creating a vase with such a large number of blooms, I feel more confident of repeating the exercise and the garden is certainly proving the material to do so.
As of last summer, the island nation of New Zealand was home to 6.3 million head of dairy cattle, up 82 percent over the last two decades. The country also holds 3.8 million beef cattle, 800,000 deer and a whopping 26.8 million head of sheep. That’s a lot of livestock for a country of about five million people.
The gardening world has taken on sustainability with gusto. From no-mow May’s to pollinator-friendly displays, there are plenty of ways to create a haven for local wildlife in your garden.
Q: We were planning on using a native hawthorn as a boundary hedge around our country garden. But a friend has warned us off it, saying that there’s a disease spreading throughout Europe that’s killing hawthorn trees and hedges. Should we use something else instead? Kate H, Co Wicklow
When the rewilded garden by Urquhart & Hunt won ‘Best in Show’ at RHS Chelsea in 2002, it triggered a debate about whether rewilding could be called gardening at all.
We hope everyone has a safe and happy Independence Day later this week!
Hi GPODers! Today we’ve got an incredible garden story from a frequent GPOD contributor that is a demonstration of how magically small our big world can be. Bas Suharto has previously shown off gardens he has designed and built (check out some of those submissions: Building a Garden With Bas and Building a Japanese-Inspired Garden) as well as his own incredible home gardens (Parterre Garden in Ottawa and A Japanese-Style Garden in Ottawa). But the garden in this most recent submission caught Bas’ eye long before he was asked to lend a helping hand the space.
World Kabob Day is a culinary celebration that unites food enthusiasts around the globe. It’s a day dedicated to the rich, diverse flavors of kabobs, a dish that transcends cultures and brings a piece of culinary art to our plates. Kabobs, with their origins tracing back to various parts of the world, including the Middle East and South Asia, are more than just skewered meats and vegetables; they are a testament to culinary creativity and cultural fusion.
With high-tech farming machinery that relies on wireless connections, alongside the ever-growing online opportunities for farmers—such as interacting with potential partners and buyers and the ability to sell products to a wider array of consumers—connectivity is becoming more and more important for modern-day farming.