Honeysuckle /woodbine (Lonicera periclymenum) is spreading its glorious perfume among the hedgerows at present, and it is a really beautiful scent on a summer evening. Even though its early growth is soft and supple, it becomes hard with age and is very strong. In the ‘Táin Bó Cúailnge’, Cúchulainn tells […]

As the amazing spectacle of the blackthorn covered in white blossom fades, we are honoured with the pink and white blossom of hawthorn adorning the hedgerows during May. This bush is rich in folklore and a lone hawthorn tree is associated with the ‘sí’. These bushes are also to be […]

This morning I noticed the above plant growing on the wall of an old stone building. It is a familiar plant and its botanical name is ‘Umbilicus ruperstris’. It is more commonly known as wall pennywort or ‘Cornán chaisil’, ‘Cornán Leacáin’, and ‘Lus na Pingne’ in Irish. This is a […]

In the final article in her series on fertility Dr Rosari Kingston talks about implantation and how issues relating to this may be resolved. The final stage of the journey for the fertilised egg is to implant itself in the lining of the womb, the endometrium. This is the layer […]