Ash Wednesday, 22nd February
These primroses are giving me pleasure today.
The rich purple one is Sibthorp's primrose (Primula vulgaris ssp. sibthorpii), from the Balkans and Turkey, an earlier flowering cousin of our native yellow primrose (P. vulgaris ssp vulgaris).
They hybridise in the garden I share - the pinky primrose is a hybrid between the two.
Thursday February 23rd
These miniature daffodils, barely 8 inches tall, have charmed me today. I call them my Clonteem daffodils, as the family legend is that they came from my Grandmother's childhood home of that name in Co Roscommon. She passed them on to my mother, who in turn passed them on to me.
I now believe they are actually a true wild species, Narcissus asturiensis, from the mountains of North Portugal and Spain. I would love to know how they ended up here in Ireland.
Friday February 24th
Two more dainty spring flowers spotted in the garden today:
- Blue Siberian Squill (Scilla siberica). It is starting to multiply in the wildflower meadow (now more a woodland glade as the trees in the lime alley form a canopy).
- Spring Snowflake (Leucojum vernum), growing in the wilderness. It was naturalised at my aunt's house, from whence this plant came.
Saturday February 25th
Lynda Christian is a talented artist living in Ballina, the other side of the Shannon from Killaloe. She recently posted a photo of the 'rag tree' she created some years ago for St Flannan's Cathedral, climbing up an inside wall for folk to attach ribbons in memory of loved ones.
The photo is of some of Lynda's work in our garden: roses made from metal clipped from tins, bent into shape and painted, and attached to wire. I gave them as a present to Marty, who complained of the lack of colour in her labyrinth garden during the winter. We also have some holyhocks she made in the same way. Lynda has since moved on to other media, so sadly I cannot acquire any more.
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