VIDEO: No better time to plant France's national flower - the Fleur de Lis

Peter Dowdall says the national flower of France can be planted now as a private act of solidarity at home.

MANY countries have built up special relationships with plants and have national plants, just like Ireland with the shamrock, Wales with the leek and Holland with the tulip, (which not only continues to play an important part in Dutch commerce — it precipitated an economic crash too, in 1637).

Most of us cannot get our heads around recent happenings in France — but if you wish, you could plant some iris in your garden now — as this is the Fleur de Lis, the national flower of France.

The iris flowers in spring and in several colours and each colour has its own specific meaning — hope, wisdom, courage and admiration, not traits found in cowards and terrorists — but certainly words to associate with France and the French.

The flower is named after the Greek goddess Iris who connects the spirit world with the physical world, its yellow centre represents golden, divine light.

And on the subject of plants, I’m often asked if a particular plant is poisonous and it’s very common for people to ask that question in relation to berried plants.

At the moment the skimmia are taking much of the limelight in the garden with several varieties offering great displays of winter berry colour.

Skimmia ‘Obsession’, ‘Temptation’ anreevsiana are three self-fertile varieties — which means they will produce berries all on their own and the gardener doesn’t need to worry about planting male and female varieties near enough to each other for bees to pollinate the flowers.

Yes, skimmia berries are poisonous but the chances are, ingesting them will only result in an upset stomach, unless large quantities are consumed. Parents of young children are normally the ones most concerned and understandably so, but we were all young children once and we managed to survive even with berried plants about.

I know we can’t be too careful when it comes to nurturing and caring for our young but we can’t shield them from every danger that they may encounter.

I never poisoned myself from eating strange berries off trees or shrubs and I imagine most of us can say the same.

I presume that it is some kind of self-preservation instinct that kicks in. That’s not to say we shouldn’t educate the children as to the dangers — of course we should — but we need to let them grow up too, and trust in nature.

So many plants in the garden are toxic to some degree and many of these, when used correctly, can be beneficial from a medical and curative point of view. I’m thinking of taxus, the yew tree as one.

All parts of this plant are poisonous except, curiously enough, the berries. However, the seeds inside the berries are toxic.

The main toxin in yew is taxine and whilst yew poisoning in humans is rare, if leaves or seeds are consumed and left untreated, then the chances are you won’t survive too much longer; most probably you will suffer from cardiac arrest. The upside is that the drug Taxol is extracted from the yew tree and this is used effectively now in the treatment of breast and other cancers.

Like the iris, yew features richly in folklore and represents many meanings.

The answers to most of our questions can be found in the garden and not just medically. Humanity has an intricate and complex relationship with plants and this relationship is completely intertwined, we need them for our survival and they need us for theirs.

The study of this relationship is called ethnobotany — an examination of how plants are used by different cultures across the world and the role they play in food, medicine, commerce and folklore.

Nearly all plants will have some use outside of the garden, be it medicine such as the taxus or digitalis, folklore and history such as the tulip and iris, vegetables, fruit and other edible plants.

One of the most well-known ethnobotanists in this part of the world, James Wong, will be giving a lecture in Dublin this Wednesday, November 25, in the Stillorgan Park Hotel for the Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland.

The popular presenter of the BBC’s Grow Your Own Drugs, Great British Garden Revival and of course Gardeners’ World will lecture on “Grow for flavour”; it is sure to attract a big audience.

Tickets can be obtained by contacting the RHSI: [e-mail].

GARDEN NOTES

• Cork Alpine Hardy Plant Society presents Jimi Blake of Hunting Brook Garden, Wicklow to talk on the subject: “A plantman’s pick — exciting, long blooming perennials for the best nurseries in Europe” at Lavanagh House, Ballintemple, Cork, at 8pm on Thursday, November 26.
• Blarney and District Garden and Flower Club presents “Flowers and fantasy at Christmas” by Eileen O’Brien, AOIFA, at Whitechurch Hall, Thursday, November 26, 8pm. Admission €5, non-members €8. Supporting Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association and Cork ARC House.
• Ardfield Rathbarry Gardening Club will host Pat Duggan for a Christmas gala on the theme “Christmas at home” on Thursday, November 26, in Rathbarry Parish Hall at 8pm.
• The Lough Flower and Garden Club members’ Christmas evening will be held on Tuesday, November 24, at 8pm. Maureen O’Keeffe, AOIFA, will give a Christmas teaching demonstration in the SMA Centre Wilton at 8pm.
• Boherbue ICA will present a Christmas floral demonstration by Sliabh Luachra Garden Centre in Boherbue Parish Hall on Wednesday, December 9, at 8pm. Admission €5.
• Coachford Flower and Garden Club will hold its social evening in Griffin’s Garden Centre, Dripsey, on Wednesday, November 25, at 7pm. Pre-booking is essential.
• Mitchelstown Flower and Garden Club’s annual Christmas gala floral demonstration with Sandra Jackson will be held in the Firgrove Hotel on Thursday, November 26, at 8pm. Supporting Motor Neurone Disease Ireland.
• Glenville Flower and Garden Club will host a Christmas demonstration on Tuesday, November 24, in Kades Kounty at 8.30pm with Carmel Barry. The club is celebrating its 25th anniversary and a cake will be cut. All welcome.
• East Cork Flower Club’s gala Christmas demonstration on “Christmas dreams” with Christine Hughes, AOIFA, will be held at the Midleton Park Hotel on Thursday, November 26, at 8pm.
• The Pavilion Garden Centre will host a Christmas Market over two weekends to raise funds for Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind on November 28/29 and December 5/6. It will include local craft and food producers, Santa Claus; a farmyard crib; school choirs; entertainment and treats. See www.thepavilion.ie, www.facebook.com/thepavilioncork.

BRIDEPARK REVISTED

The home of DJ Murphy of Bridepark Cottage, Killumney, Ovens, Co. Cork will again host its renowned, Christmas Open House again this year. The period property, which is just outside Ballincollig, Co Cork, on the edge of the village of Killumney, will be fully decked out with Christmas decorations and visitors will be served mulled wine, mince pies and tea and coffee at the event.

Admission is €10 for this annual gala of Christmas fun, festivities and decorative flourishes.

Bridepark Cottage will be open today from 12pm to 10pm; tomorrow from 12 to 8pm and the following Thursday and Friday evenings from 6pm to 10pm.

On Saturday, November 28, the house will open from 12pm to 10pm and Sunday 29 from 12pm to 8pm.

Santa can be seen at Killumney too, on Saturday and Sunday afternoons from 3pm to 6 pm. The event this year is in aid of CoAction West Cork, and FARA Ireland.

CoAction West Cork provides quality services to support children and adults with an intellectual disability and /or autism in their own community.

And FARA Ireland, the second charity supported by the open day, is a non-profit, non-governmental, Irish organisation representing people with Friedreich’s Ataxia. Friedreich’s Ataxia is one of the more aggressive forms of hereditary ataxia leaving sufferers wheelchair-bound into their late teens or early twenties.

* A raffle will be held at the end of the Open House and tickets for this will be on sale during the event. Bandon Garden Centre will also offer its Christmas stock for sale with a proportion of the profits going to the nominated charities.