12
The Kilkenny Observer Friday 01 July 2022
kilkennyobserver.ie
Opinion
As I See It Marianne Heron
Just let the grass grow under your feet This is high season for garden lovers. A time to go garden visiting, enjoy garden shows or just sit back and smell the roses. But change is underway for enthusiasts, with the move to rewilding and a more nature-friendly approach to gardening. Converts argue that we should let nature take its course, enhance habitat for birds and bees, encourage native flora instead of buying imported blooms and just let the grass grow under our feet. But just how wild are you prepared to go? Would you hang up your lawnmower, let bindweed choke your blooms and insist that your local park be turned into a football-unfriendly hay meadow? It all takes a bit of getting used to for traditional gardeners. BBC’s Gardeners World presenter Monty Don, viewing an exhibit at last Month’s Chelsea Flower Show featuring a grass knoll, a weathered hut and a
beavers’ dam where no beaver in its right senses would build one, remarked: “I wouldn’t call that a Garden.” The garden in question, sponsored by Rewilding Britain, went on to win Best in show. There’s no doubt that wild or naturalistic effects can be enchanting, what wasn’t to like about the meadow-effect in front of Trinity College, frothing with marguerites and campion? And wonderful things do happen when lawns are left to nature, dormant wild flower seeds germinate and flourish while pollinators increase. This back to the future trend has produced a wonderful wildflower meadow, home to 148 different species at Kilmacurragh Botanic Gardens, Co Wicklow. The display there begins with a magical carpet of crocuses in February/March before the start of the wild flower season. The amazingly even spread of the crocuses
was caused by mice who propagated the bulbs as they feasted on their pollen. There is a bit of management involved in creating a successful meadow though. One of them is to sow meadow hay rattle, a yellow flowered plant which is semi-parasitic on grasses, Kilmacurragh’s Head Gardener Seamus OBrien told me. Reducing grass growth allows wild flower to flourish and the meadow there is mown only twice a year, in September when wildflower seeds have set and in spring to remove winter growth. Wilding is growing in the wider context of public lands and the countryside. The All-Ireland Pollinator plan is responsible for the change in the way that public lands like parks are being managed and includes recommendations for pollinator friendly actions which could be adopted by local authorities, businesses, schools and farms.
These include ideas like leaving verges unmown, cutting down on pesticides and creating wildflower meadows. I saw this in action in a triangle of previously shorn grass in my neighbourhood. Now it’s billowing with flowers, including purple orchids, different grasses and alive with pollinators. In Co Clare there is a delightfully named initiative, the Hare’s Corner, named for the custom of leaving awkward corners of fields to nature. This has resulted in the creation of 38 mini woodlands, 43 mini orchards and 30 ponds for wildlife around the county, thanks to a pilot scheme last year run by the Burrenbeo Trust charity. It’s the kind of project that could be copied by other counties. Rewilding is the kind of thing that anyone with a patch of their own or a neglected corner in their neighbourhood can experiment with, maybe a
small start but collectively it can make big a difference. One green fingered friend expanded her activities with what she called commando gardening, planting banks and verges in her area with seeds and slips. The neighbours loved it. There is nothing new about
‘Meadow mown only twice a year..
wilding. Irishman William Robinson wrote his inspirational book The Wild Garden in 1870. His influential ideas on naturalistic planting were a reaction against regimented Victorian gardens with their frequently changed beds of hot- housed bedding plants, (Robinson is said to have been sacked from his job at Ballykilcavan, Co Laois for leaving the tender contents of the glasshouses to die with the window open and the boiler out.) Inspirational gardens to visit in thes ‘Robinsonian style’ include Mount Usher, Co Wicklow, Anne’s Grove, Co Cork, Mount Congreve, Co Waterford and Dereen. Co Kerry. Robinson made an eloquent plea for wildness which allows plants to naturalise in every kind of garden. Looking at a carpet of Fritillaria, nodding their gingham checked heads under the trees at Mount Usher recently, I found it hard to resist going wild.
Rescue Remedy to the rescue Minister O’Brien has failed to address affordability in Kilkenny as house prices spiral upwards CLAIR WHITTY
I think that most of you will know that I love Bach Rescue Remedy. This is the little Bach Flower remedy in the yellow bottle that I have talked about and used now for over 25 years. It contains five of the Bach Flowers combined to provide comfort and reassurance, and support your emotional balance at busy or worrying times in your life. You could use it if you or worried about traveling, going to the doctor, doing exams, or public speaking, or any other time that you might feel under pressure. For me, it has a calming and relaxing effect that helps me to function and focus more effectively when I need to. I regularly use it before radio interviews and my mother uses it to relax when she is worried about certain things. She finds it especially useful at night time. Because I love Rescue Remedy so much, I was very excited when I saw two new Rescue supplements. They both contain Rescue Remedy plus other nutrients to support you during the day, or during at night. For daytime use there’s Balance & Positivity, I love the
name they chose. It’s formulated to support emotional balance and to help you maintain a positive outlook during busy days. It contains the original Rescue blend with the addition of Crocus sativus extract (Saffron), L-Theanine, and B vitamins in a one- a- day vegan capsule. The blend is formulated to support mood, focus, concentration and well-being, so that you stay balanced through busy days. Bach Rescue Peaceful Night capsules are especially formulated to help you achieve a restful night’s sleep, so that you can wake up feeling refreshed. It contains the Rescue Night flower essences as well as: Ashwagandha and Lemon Balm to help aid relaxation and support healthy sleep, chamomile which contributes to normal healthy sleep by
promoting relaxation. Plus, it contains magnesium which many of you use already to aid relaxation and to promote sleep. All in a one-a -day vegan capsule. There are many times when I would recommend Rescue Remedy alongside other herbal products for optimum benefit, so I am delighted to have these options. It makes economic sense and you need to take less supplements too. They are well worth taking a look at, I think you’ll like them.
Shop online at www.naturalhealthstore.ie where you’ll be able to take a look at these brands. Natural Health Store, Market Cross Shopping Centre Phone: 056 7764538 Email: info@naturalhealthstore.ie
BY: DEPUTY KATHLEEN FUNCHION SINN FEIN TD FOR KILKENNY CARLOW Sinn Féin TD for Carlow Kilkenny Kathleen Funchion has said that the latest Daft. ie house price report shows that despite two years in office, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien has utterly failed to address the affordable housing crisis of people in Kilkenny. The report shows house prices in the county rising by 8.1% in the last 12 months. Teachta Funchion said: ‘The latest Daft.ie house price report shows house prices continue to spiral upwards. “Darragh O’Brien has been Minister for Housing for two full years. Monday June 27 is the second anniversary of his tenure of office. During that time, he and Fianna Fáil in Government have utterly failed to address the affordable housing crisis. “He has delivered a handful
of affordable homes to purchase, despite inheriting a €300 million fund from his predecessor that was meant to deliver 6000 affordable homes by 2021. “During his two years in office, homelessness has returned to pre pandemic levels. In the last 12 months child homelessness is up over 40%. Single person homelessness has reached 5000 or the first time. “Meanwhile the crisis in the private rental sector gets progressively worse. Rents spiral upwards while the sector is shrink-ing as accidental and semiprofes-
sional landlords exit the market. “Report after report on house prices, rents and homelessness demonstrate that this Government is failing an even greater number of people, and that Minister O’Brien is failing as his predecessor Eoghan Murphy did. “Budget 2023 is an opportunity to change direction. To dramatically increase direct capital investment in the delivery of at least 20,000 public homes nationnation ally a year to meet social and afaf fordable housing needs. This is what is required to tackle the ever growing afaf fordability crisis.”
