22nd May is International Day of Biodiversity. Here are just a few of the recent highlights from the garden and further afield. There is so much wonderful biodiversity out there. Go and explore.
Ox-eyed daisy magically transformed in November frost
Roscommon County Council Heritage Office are funding us to do two free workshops on pollinators. These workshops are ideal for those involved in Tidy Towns and local community projects, but anyone interested in pollinators are welcome to attend. Please pre-book as detailed below. While October is not a good time to see pollinators we hope to discuss lots of ideas of things you can do to help pollinators in your community.
Today’s daily post got me thinking, or maybe perplexing would be a more accurate a description. Here we on living on a planet, blessed with fresh air, clean water, the most amazing biodiversity you could imagine. And yet we continue to pollute and destroy.
If you could just do one thing for this amazing place we call home, then think about one of these options:
If you are already doing them, then give yourself a clap on the back!
As autumn makes it’s fast progress, it is the final chance for our pollinators to make the best of the last flowers. Some are battered and bruised from their long season; others (like the new queens bees)Â are building up their resources to get them through the winter, hidden away in quiet and neglected corners of your garden.
Peacock on cone flower
This week in Ireland we celebrate Heritage Week. A week of celebration of all our Irish heritage, nature, history, people and more.
A big thank you to all those who attended the wildflowers walks I was involved in over the weekend at the Foxford Riverfest and Glore Mill near KIltimagh. It was wonderful to see so many interested people, both young and old.
A couple of people mention was how lovely it is to learn the names of plants but then how easy it is to forget, days later. So I thought I’d put together a post of some of what we saw to help.
Purple Loosestrife
One of the favourites. A great plant for bees and butterflies. Purple Loosestrife likes damp ground, and can be often seen in large clumps. Meadowsweet (see below), likes similar conditions and they are often found together. Loosestrife has a high tannin content and was used for tanning leather. The flowers were used for making a dye.
Meadow Sweet
It’s well worth stopping to smell this flower, it has a heavy almost intoxicating scent! It gets it name from “mead sweet” – because it was used to flavour and sweeten mead. It was also added to wines and ales. In folk medicine it was used as a painkiller and anti-inflammatory. It contains salicylic acid, which was synthesized into aspirin.
Tufted Vetch
Another great bee plant. We have many different vetches in Ireland and Tufted vetch is one that flowers later in the season. All vetches are legumes and can fix their own nitrogen.
Willowherb
Willowherb
We have a number of willowherb species growing in Ireland. Willowherbs are also visited by bees. The leaves have been used to make tea. It is popular in Russia and know as Kaporie tea. Some species such as rosebay willowherb can be a bit invasive.
Ragworth
Ragworth can be toxic to livestock. They know not to eat it but if cut in hay or silage it can be accidentally eaten. However, quite large quantities need to be eaten for it to have it’s toxic effect. though horses seems particularly sensitive. Cinnabar moth caterpillar use this toxicity to protect themselves from being eaten. These brightly coloured caterpillar that only feed on ragworth. Ragworth has been used in folk medicine too. It’s visited by hoverflies and some some solitary bees.
