FAIRY TREES

Ben Simon (centre rear) with local councillors, a local environmentalist and George, the town gardener.

Ben Simon from Belfast was at the library in Buncrana last week giving a talk on trees in Ireland. Ben is a Forest Officer in Belfast and is involved in Urban Forestry Projects and also works closely with Belfast Council to maintain woodlands and planted urban areas.

Fairy trees

Ben is very interested in Fairy Trees. In Ireland, fairy trees are usually, oak, hawthorn and ash and they were considered sacred and connected with the little people. Their branches might have been used to make wands but it could also have been considered extremely unlucky to cut down a fairy tree or even remove a branch. It can often be hard to find out information about this special part of our heritage. Ben explains, “Most fairy trees are not talked about. Sometimes the folklore stories connected with the trees are linked to tragedies and families are reluctant to talk about them. Those that we do know about are really interesting. Their stories should be documented and protection needs to be put on the trees so developers can’t just go in and destroy them, which is what can happen.” One apocryphal story that Ben related was of a man driving home in his horse and cart when they passed an ash tree. The horse was reluctant to move on so the driver started to whip him. At this the horse bolted, tipping the cart sideways, trapping and killing the driver against the tree. He died with his whip still in his hand and that tree became known as the whip it tree. Ben was shocked to know that in Inishowen there isn’t one tree that has a protection order on it. One piece of advice that Ben gave was to see if you can gather seeds from fairy trees (ask locals’ permission) and grow them on, replanting them in hedgerows or graveyards. Trees don’t live forever and it is good to keep our heritage.

Tree Ties

Ben is very keen on planting trees for natural woodland and feels it is a vital part of any landscape. Trees improve the environment around towns, houses, and unsightly buildings, as well as giving a shelterbelt. This is particularly true for our windswept peninsula. Ben actively encourages tree planting but feels that unnecessary damage is being done because of tree tie neglect. “If you plant a small bare rooted whip, say three feet tall, it will not need a tie to keep it stable,” he explains. “It is only when you buy larger trees that the problems occur.” He carries on. “Sometimes you need to put in bigger specimens, say for a main street or if you need an instant garden. Here the ties will be necessary to stop the tree being damaged. Once the tree is established, normally within three years, it will not need a tie as the roots will give enough anchorage” he advises. Check the tree by loosening off the tie and bending it gently forwards and backwards at chest height. If the soil doesn’t lift around the tree it no longer needs a support.”

Make this a job to do this week. Take a look at your own tree ties and also any other ones that you see. If the ties are not loosened and eventually removed, they will strangle the tree, disfiguring it and in worst cases even kill it. .

Gardening.ie website is up and running

My Inishindie blogsite is a year old this week. I have enjoyed working on it but it is so full now that it is very hard to navigate through the mountain of pages. For this reason I have been hard at work developing a new gardening website called gardening.ie. I am hoping it will grow (eventually) into a comprehensive information site, not only for Inishowen, but the whole country. It will be an ongoing project and probably never be finished, but it’s the journey that matters…. The site is interactive and you are more than welcome to join in the discussions and add your own words of wisdom.