Each year in Ireland Heritage Week is a national week of celebration for all things heritage. This year the event is being held from the 15th to the 23rd August. Usually there are lots of events, talks, walks and all sorts of activities organised. And I often try and host a wildflower walk each year. This year however, due to covid, things have had to go virtual and digital.
So together with my son and daughter, Leave No Trace Ireland and a friend we have created a “Leave what you find – gather only seed” video.
My son and daughter have to take full credit here. They did the recording and my son has done all the video editing.
The video is about our native Irish flora, and how we can collect wildflower seeds in our local areas and grow them so we can increase the number of wildflowers in our gardens and community spaces. The video looks at various wildflowers that would have grown in traditional hay meadows; species such as yellow rattle (also known as hay rattle), ox-eye daisy and red clover. Following the Leave No Trace principle “Leave What You Find”, we cannot go and dig up wildflowers, nor should we pick them, however, we can gather seed.
We demonstrate how to collect your own wildflower seeds; the best places to find wildflower seed to collect; and how to grow these seeds to produce plants that can be planted in your own garden or your community spaces to recreate wildflower areas.
It has been a great learning experience for us all and we hope others will be able to learn from the video.
Murtagh's Meadow 