Get closer to the wild side of Ireland
Bladder wrack, also known as Black Tang, Rockweed, Bladder Fucus, Seawrack, Sea Oak, Black Tany, Cut Weed, and Rockwrack, is a common seaweed species found on the middle-shore of rocky coastal areas. It can occur in high densities where conditions are suitable, forming a dense, multi-layered carpet of fronds over the rock surface. Bladder wrack [...]
There’s nothing quite like walking into an Irish woodland in spring and being greeted by a vibrant carpet of flowering bluebells. One of Ireland’s most familiar and striking wild flowers, bluebells are found all over the country. A display of the flowers en-masse is breath-taking: a true wild phenomenon. The Bluebell is a wild member [...]
Most of us are familiar with the long, branching fronds of bracken. This common deciduous fern is found all over Ireland and grows in all sorts of habitats. It is a large fern: fronds often grow to 2 metres (6½ feet) or more and have been known to reach 3 metres (10 feet) in favourable [...]
Dandelions are found all over Ireland and are one of our most widespread and successful wildflowers. They grow almost anywhere; their unmistakable yellow flowers, their downy seed-heads and their familiar toothed leaves greet us from hedgerow and pasture, meadow and parkland, roadside verge and garden. The plants are at their most prolific in early spring [...]
The foxglove, with its elegant tall stems, luxuriant foliage and proliferation of purple-pink flowers is one of our most beautiful indigenous plants. A prominent flower of Irish hedgerows, ditches and woodland, it is found throughout the country, and in the summer, when in full flower, it’s almost impossible to miss. While the plant’s common name [...]
Herb Robert is pretty little pink-flowering herb that frequents ditches, walls, hedgerows and woodland all over Ireland. According to the “doctrine of signatures” widely adopted in the middle ages a plant with curative properties would reveal its divine purpose through its appearance. Because the foliage of Herb Robert turns a fiery red colour in the [...]
The bright red berries and waxy green leaves of the holly tree are a familiar sight in our winter hedgerows. An attractive combination, the contrast between the deep lustrous green of the foliage and the bright scarlet berries has led to holly being used as a Christmas decoration for many generations, and the association between [...]
