Zoe, the grand dame of the ditch

YOU wouldn’t really want to be a passenger in the car when Zoe Devlin’s doing the driving — she’d have you in the ditch, within minutes, one way or the other.

But, if you were to end up in the ditch, you’d not have better company, or more fragrant finds: the Dublin woman’s a mine of information on Ireland’s wildflowers. And, now, after thousands of ditch-crawling miles around Ireland, being driven by ‘roadie’ husband Pete, she’s written the book on it too: ‘Wildflowers of Ireland, a Personal Record’ (Collins Press).

It’s the culmination of a life spent with eyes wide open. “You should give children a magnifying glass, they’ll use it for everything, flowers, bugs, moths and more,” she urges, thinking of the bigger picture.