The joys of noticing a wallflower

The Untamed Gardener

Aisling Blackburn

‘War, huh, yeah, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!’

Earlier on today or was it yesterday, I knew what I would write about. I was going to talk about vertical gardens but then, instead, I began to muse about war and plants and how they differ. An unusual pairing but then again, what about the even more surreal ‘cake or death’ sketch from the comedic genius that is Eddie Izzard(circa 2015, YouTube )

In war everything good is ruined. Lives, homes, schools, hospitals, objects of beauty and historical value are destroyed, CO2 levels escalate, and the air and earth are scorched. The fallout and trauma from war reverberate for generations, and reflecting on this fact I feel grateful to live peacefully in Cavan at this time.

Plants on the other hand who form the basis of our lives, give us the clean air we breathe as they heal and nourish all living beings and bring us great beauty, enhancing our everyday experience of daily life. Plant life began well before the arrival of humans, and I imagine, they will be here long after our efforts, ( conscious or unconscious) to extinguish them have passed.

Speaking of which, the dahlias have finally succumbed to the frost. I had been enjoying their courageous efforts to fully bloom lately, wondering if I would get a chance to paint them in advance of the big freeze. On this day, the landscape has the look of a faded watercolour painting, and quite still, save for two whooper swans overhead piercing the sky with their lonesome cry.

It seemed that in no time at all , winter had arrived, mysteriously draped in white, revealing here and there, buildings and structures exposed from behind transparent trees.

I was passing through Manorhamilton recently and had a good look around the walls surrounding the castle ruins there. Old stone parapets, and battlements are great for plants, and it was great to see the walls have been left alone. The rarely seen Navelwort, Umbilicus rupestris, was in abundance there, and with rather large leaves too. A well-meaning spray or clean-up is blind to the delicate refinement of this implausible habitat when perfectly good ferns are yanked out as though they were “noxious weeds”. There is no need to fear ferns that grow out of walls, they will not take over, they are not the enemy! Not like ivy, yes, she can get a foothold and take down a wall over time, beware of ivy on your house wall!

I love wall rue, it is completely different to any other fern, evergreen, tiny, and exquisite so it is. It’s known as “luibh na seacht gábh”, or herb of the seven gifts and was used from Culpepper’s time (14 century) to cure many ailments; but has also been in use in Ireland as protection from the ‘good people’ (Dochas 263). Another fern to look out for is the maidenhair spleenwort, Asplenium trichomanes, that is sold today and used medicinally as well as for its mystical protective qualities. By the way, these plants are tiny, growing no more than six inches high and smaller. On the bridge in Bawnboy village there are a few plants of the rusty back fern, that have escaped any cleaning and repointing up to now, it has a notable brown scale on its underside, where it gets its name, that are silver when new.

Buddleia can be seen in many towns and cities happily growing out of buildings, as is red valerian. Aubretia and campanula will also capitalise on suitable vertical real estate mimicking the alpine conditions of their homeland. The fairy foxglove or Erinus alpinus, is a delight to behold if you are very tall, as it often grows out of reach but will gladly drape a wall in pink. Finally, I will mention ivy leaved toadflax, Cymbalaria muralis, very common in these parts indeed, you see this introduced Mediterranean plant dangling from a wall crevice any chance it can get. Lots of this plant to be found colonising the newly built walls in front of the playground in Ballyconnell. A sunny wall doubles up as a storage heater, which these plants obviously enjoy, holding heat well into the night while most ferns prefer the shady side of the wall.

But isn’t amazing, these stoic plants just grow wherever they like! Undemanding, they find their niche among the rubble.