Celebrating creation in Lent - Part 4: 3rd Sunday in Lent to Saturday 18th March

 Sunday 12th March

I've been watching the furry buds of this Star Magnolia, Magnolia stellata, for some time. It held its delicate white petals back during the frost and snow, but today I found the first flowers fully open on its bare branches - a lovely sight. This small, slow-growing tree was a house-warming present from a good friend more than 20 years ago. We continue to be blessed by it.

Monday 13th March

This pretty narcissus, which came originally from my parents, is just coming into flower on our roadside verge. It doesn't spread by seed with us, but clumps up very generously, which has allowed the gardener Geraldine to spread it in the shelter of the evergreen oak hedge. I think it's either a subspecies or a cultivar of Narcissus tazetta, but it is a bit smaller than the type at about 12 inches. Do let me know if you can give me its proper name...

Tuesday 14th March

The snake's head fritillaries (Fritillaria meleagris) are just coming out in the wildflower meadow, quite unfazed by the recent hail, despite looking so delicate. Their common name is probably due to the snakelike appearance of the unopened flower buds you can just see in the distance. The flower colour is naturally variable - most are this red and white chequerboard pattern, but some are pure white, and others intermediate. 

They are a doubtful native in Britain, though widely naturalised, quite uncommon in the wild in Ireland, but often seen in gardens. I let the seed heads mature for the wind to scatter the seed, and they have been increasing by about 20% year on year, from the 20 or so bulbs I planted, to well over 60 flowering stems this year. What a wonder and a joy they are to me!

Wednesday 15th March

These pine cones, a gigantic 18in long, belong to a Holford Pine, Pinus x holfordiana. I bought it as a young plant at Westonbirt Arboretum, Gloucestershire, as a memento of our visit there. It is a hybrid between the Mexican White Pine, Pinus ayacahuite, and the Blue Pine, Pinus wallichiana, which was first made around 1904 at Westonbirt, then owned by the Holford family, after whom it is named.

I love it for its long, greyish needles in bunches of 5, as well as for its spectacular mature cones, which are covered with a very sticky, white resin, as you can see in this photo.

Thursday 16th March

Two types of daffodil came as volunteers with topsoil after the extension to the house was built. The 1st is double, flowers earlier, and does not set seed. The 2nd is now in full flower - a cultivar of the wild daffodil Narcissus pseudonarcissus, I think, somewhat taller than the true wild daffodil. It is fertile, and for many years I have collected the ripe seed, and scattered it to fill gaps along the drive. It is said to take 5-7 years from germination for a seedling to flower, which I believe, because only over the last couple of years have the first seedlings started to bloom. They have shorter stalks than the original volunteers, and I suspect they are reverting to the true wild species, which pleases me. On the left of the photo is a clump of the original volunteers, and on the right are one open and one closed flower on seedlings.

Friday 17th March, St Patrick's Day

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!

My Grandmother always used to post some shamrock over to England when I was a child, so that the family could wear it on St Patrick's Day. And I still like to pick shamrock and wear it to church to celebrate my irishness on his feast day.

I looked for some this morning where I usually find it in the drive, but Geraldine the gardener has done such a good job hoeing the weeds that there was none to be found this morning. But when I got to the service in St Flannan's Cathedral, Killaloe a kind lady gave me some of hers, so that I could wear the green and later drown the shamrock!

The top photo is of the shamrock she gave me, and the bottom one is of shamrock growing in our drive last year. They are both Black Medic (Medicago lupulina), as you can tell from the little spike on the end of each of the three leaflets - one of several different trefoil species claimed to be the true shamrock...

Saturday 18th March

I've only just noticed this lovely foliose lichen, growing on the trunk of a birch tree in Marty's labyrinth garden. I'm not good at identifying lichens, but I think this one may be Punctelia subrudecta, which the Irish Lichens website (irishlichens.ie) says is common on trees throughout Ireland. 

Lichens are fascinating composite organisms, in which a fungus and a blue-green alga live together in a mutually beneficial relationship.

Top centre you can also see a 22-spot Ladybird (Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata), yellow with black spots. 

Nature is so wonderfully diverse when you look at it closely, isn't it!