Grove Orchard: My Half-Acre

I did a series of posts, Rewilding my One Acre about my last house, Nead an Iolair, in which I charted over several years all the wild flowers that grew on our property. That included my wildflower meadow (more of a patch in reality) as well as all the little plants that just showed up in the grass and the gravel. 

I want to do the same at Grove Orchard – that’s the name of my new house and it’s a name with some pedigree, deserving perhaps of a future post. So I have been out with my camera, lying in the grass, which is not the greatest choice for someone prone to hay fever, but I grudge my readers no sacrifice. Here is the result and I hope you enjoy it. You can click on Watch on YouTube for full screen.

The music is An Droichead /The Bridge by Liam O’Flynn, used with permission.
It was originally commissioned to reflect the theme of President Mary McAleese’s presidency, ‘Building Bridges’ and performed for her inauguration as President of Ireland. This version features Mark Knopfler on guitar.

Because this is an established garden/orchard, I have included what flowers are blooming now, be they wild or cultivated. And sometimes just leaves, because they are so eye-catching (that Japanese Maple! Those apple blossoms!) and also any critters that hove into view. I don’t know who owns the cat, but he (she?) owns my garden. There’s a twice-daily patrol to make sure all is in order.

By no means is every plant native. Or benign. I have discovered some aliens – Chilean Iris and Three Cornered Leek for example are both non-native but at the moment they are alive with bees so I am reconciling to their presence in my garden. And alas, my Bluebells are not native, but the Spanish imports. Darn.

I have a wilderness area (ok, an unkempt part of the garden) and in it I have discovered Mock Strawberry (Potentilla indica) aka Yellow-flowered Strawberry. It’s rare and invasive and I have submitted a report to the Biodiversity Data Centre.

And I seem to have LOTS of Lords-and-Ladies, aka Cuckoo Pint, or Arum maculatum. It’s native but very poisonous to humans and pets. BUT – birds love it, apparently, so I’ll keep it but keep an eye on it. The Irish name for it is Cluas Chaoin (Kloo-us keen) – it means smooth-surfaced ear and isn’t that just the perfect descriptor? The image above shows both Lords-and Ladies and a Mock Strawberry.

On the whole, the garden is alive with native wild plants – it’s most of what you will see in the slideshow. It’s also alive with birds – I have just downloaded the Merlin App so I know I have far more birds than the ones I can actually see. And I need advice, Dear Readers! A swallow pair is busy building a nest in my garden room – right over the table. I hate to knock it down, but I am not fond of bird poop in my tea. What to do?

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25 thoughts

  1. Pingback: Birds and Beasts | Roaringwater Journal

  3. Thanks Finola for the visual,audible and nature honouring treat. To be there and at “The Bridge “ with Liam O’Flynn is life enhancing and opens my mind to my own garden.

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  6. You’ve chosen a lovely paradise to live in and nurture. I know you’ll come up with a wise compromise for your swallows. I am presently living with mason bees who have moved into my She Shed and are happily filling every screw hole they find with their progeny. Sweet little bees! Enjoy your spring!

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  7. Your grove is going to be lovely! I have a question having run across many Gurranes aka “groves”. They seem to have been luxury parcels for the wealthy getting together in the same area to live and I have come to think of them as Ireland’s “Beverly Hills” of California fame. Is that somewhat close to what they were?

    Cherish your swallows. They recognize their landlords and mine chirp like mad when they first see me after their annual journey home here. It’s a “Hi Nana” for me!

    Janet

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    • I am doing my best to cherish them and I hope they too will chirp in time.
      Grove is not a common word for parcels of land in Ireland and I dob’t know if I could characterise all groves in any way. To me, they suggest small groups of trees but not much more.

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  8. Thanks for this wonderful video of your new garden Finola. In 2007, I lived in the glen of Glengarriff, and that spring a pair of swallows affixed their nest between wall and ceiling just a few feet above my bed, having flown in through the always open upstairs window. I told my dog to be on her best- no barking- behaviour to accomodate our guests as we slept there each night. (How they managed due to my snoring I don’t know)! After the chicks were hatched I needed to move the bed from beneath the nest a foot or so to avoid the droppings falling on my head. When four baby swallows fledged the nest some weeks later I felt so privileged that the parents had chosen my abode for their brood.

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  9. Amazing variety of plants tobe discovered when you get down close and personal ! Brilliant camera work again.

    Suggest you move your table away from the swallows and put a mat of some sort down on the floor below the nest – I agree definitely don’t move the nest.Of course the swallows will probably return to it for several years to come with any luck so this will be an annual event ! Keep that cat away from them too !

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  10. So pleased to see you settling in and continuing your love of the natural world. Getting down in the grass and really seeing what is there, up close. Inspiring!

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