Botanic Gardens

CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHAT THIS PLANT IS

June 23, 2023 by infomatique

PHOTOGRAPHED AT THE BOTANIC GARDENS IN DUBLIN

Within the living collections at the National Botanic Gardens they have over 300 endangered species from around the world, and six species already extinct in the wild. These are a vital resource, like a Noah’s Ark for the future. Cultivating a wide range of plants from the diverse climatic regions of the world, and displaying these under good horticultural practice allows visitors to see what they too can achieve in their own gardens. They run training courses in gardening and hold practical workshops throughout the year.

The Gardens are open every day throughout the year except for Christmas Day, and are completely free to enter and explore. Interpretative guided tours are available Monday to Saturday for a small fee, and are free on Sundays.

[UPDATE] Thanks to everyone who contacted me I know know what this is []

Gunnera manicata, known as Brazilian giant-rhubarb or giant rhubarb, is a species of flowering plant in the family Gunneraceae from the coastal Serra do Mar Mountains of Santa Catarina, Parana and Rio Grande do Sul States, Brazil. In cultivation, the name G. manicata has regularly been wrongly applied to the hybrid with G. tinctoria, G. × cryptica.

Gunnera manicata is a large, clump-forming herbaceous perennial growing to 2.5 m (8 ft) tall by 4 m (13 ft) or more. The leaves of G. manicata grow to an impressive size. Leaves with diameters well in excess of 120 cm (4 ft) are commonplace, with a spread of 3 m × 3 m (10 ft × 10 ft) on a mature plant.The largest on record had leaves up to eleven feet (3.3 meters) in width. The underside of the leaf and the whole stalk have spikes on them. In early summer it bears tiny red-green, dimerous flowers in conical branched panicles, followed by small, spherical fruit. Like most gunneras, it has a symbiotic relationship with certain blue-green algae which provide nitrogen by fixation.

Despite the common name “giant rhubarb”, this plant is not closely related to true rhubarb. It was named after a Norwegian bishop and naturalist Johan Ernst Gunnerus, who also named and published a description about the basking shark.

In 2022, it was shown that plants in cultivation under the name Gunnera manicata in Britain and Ireland, and likely elsewhere, were actually a hybrid, Gunnera × cryptica. It is primarily cultivated for its massive leaves. It grows best in damp conditions such as near garden ponds, but dislikes winter cold and wet.

WHY IS THE EMERALD ISLE CALLED THE EMERALD ISLE

June 23, 2023 by infomatique

DO YOU KNOW WHY

Back in the late 1970s I lived in Santa Clara in California and it was on my return home that I immediately understood why Ireland is referred to as the Emerald Isle. My memory of that return home was reinforced when I visited the lily pond area in the Botanic Gardens.

In school I was taught that the first reference to the Emerald Isle, in print, was ‘When Erin First Rose’ by Irish poet William Drennan (1754-1820)

When Erin first rose
From the dark-swelling flood,
God blessed the green island
And saw it was good;
The emerald of Europe,
It sparkled and shone,
In the ring of the world,
The most precious stone.
In her sun, in her soil,
In her station thrice blest,
With her back towards Britain,
Her face to the West,
Erin stands proudly insular
On her steep shore,
And strikes her high harp
Mid the ocean’s deep roar.

RED AND FUZZY ROYAL PURPLE SMOKEBUSH

June 23, 2023 by infomatique

AN ATTRACTIVE PLANT – BOTANIC GARDENS

Is this Royal Purple Smokebush? a large, upright shrub becoming spreading with age. In spring, the foliage emerges a rich maroon-red, darkening to a velvety purple as the summer progresses. Insignificant flowers mature into dusty wine-red feathery plumes, earning it the name Smokebush.

THE SMALL FOOTBRIDGE ACROSS THE LILY POND

June 21, 2023 by infomatique

AT THE BOTANIC GARDENS

Poet Thomas Tickell owned a house and small estate in Glasnevin and, in 1795, they were sold to the Irish Parliament and given to the Royal Dublin Society for them to establish Ireland’s first botanic gardens. A double line of yew trees, known as “Addison’s Walk” survives from this period. The original function of the gardens was to advance knowledge of plants for agricultural, medicinal and dyeing purposes. The gardens were the first location in Ireland where the infection responsible for the 1845–1847 Great Famine was identified. Throughout the famine, research to stop the infection was undertaken at the gardens.

Walter Wade and John Underwood, the first Director and Superintendent respectively, executed the layout of the gardens, but, when Wade died in 1825, they declined for some years. From 1834, Director Ninian Nivan brought new life into the gardens, performing some redesign. This programme of change and development continued with the following Directors into the late 1960s.

The gardens were placed into government care in 1877.

In the winter of 1948/9 Ludwig Wittgenstein lived and worked in Ireland. He frequently came to the Palm House to sit and write. There is a plaque commemorating him on the steps he sat on.

FUCHSIAS ARE MY FAVOURITE

June 21, 2023 by infomatique

BOTANIC GARDENS ON THE LONGEST DAY OF THE YEAR

Fuchsias are much-loved for their hanging, bell-shaped, bi-coloured flowers that look like colourful, dancing skirts. The flowers last all summer long and there are thousands of varieties available, in shades of white, candy pink, magenta, purple and red. Some varieties have golden or variegated foliage, or purple or red-tinged leaves, too.