The Wilds of Cork

Hey its been awhile!

Been off on staycation for two weeks, doing a bit of travelling around the Isles. We spent some lovely days in Cork last week - weather as expected was rubbish but the view from the passenger seat was amazing.

Driving around country lanes and the botharíns of Cork, I noticed so many different plants along the hedgerows. I am, admittedly, a 'city chick' and my little urban garden is my own patch of green amidst the concrete sprawl. Along the hedgerows of Ireland there is such diversity, it was a real eye opener.

From the tall spikes of fuchsia pink Digitalis waving in the wind along the road as we passed, to the masses & masses of Lonicera periclymenum (Féithleann in Irish) spider-like flowers jutting out from their otherwise hidden entwining branches. Maybe the climate in Cork is a little warmer as the amount of flowers and plants in full summer glory was so different to the midlands and the city. Within Fota Park alone, I was in hay fever hell with the elderflower pollen and in between sneezing fits I was overwhelmed with honeysuckle perfume. There on an offending elder tree, was the biggest honeysuckle creeper I have ever seen, growing uninhibited through the branches with 100s & 100s of flowers flaming throughout, at least 10 foot high. The perfume, for those of you who like it, was fantastic, never smelt anything like it before, although He was not impressed and compared it to a stench not unlike the one you get when you walk past LUSH!

You may wonder at my interest in the above plants - well I have hybrid forms of them in my garden - a Honeysuckle that we planted in the end of garden against a trellis and a white foxglove - Digitalis alba I think, nearby. The honeysuckle has yet to prove its worth as not one single flower as appeared since it was planted last year. However the foxglove is in full flower now since we got back, lovely white bells with purple spots on the inside. It is a perennial as is our lazy honeysuckle so I am hoping to see them evolve into something a bit more impressive....having seen what the hedgerows of Cork can produce !

Happy Gardening.