Chapter 1: What is the significance of Whitethorn in Irish hedgerows?
It could be peak hawthorn or white thorn this week. Field boundaries are just dazzling white right now. There is enough hedgerow in Ireland to go around the equator 17 times and there's a white thorn at the heart of every one of those hedges. It should, by rights, be our national tree, but Charlie Haughey decided that that was an honour that was going to go to the Cecil Oak.
So let us pause now before we go this morning for a moment in awe of the White Thorn. Janet Heeran lives on a dairy farm on the side of Mount Hillary in North Cork. Her husband is a dairy farmer. Janet writes, and when called upon, will stand in a gap not filled by White Thorn.
Bealtaine, May Day, is behind us and has gifted us summer. Maith Éireann promises us 20 degrees in the next few days.
Chapter 2: How does the environment influence the growth of Whitethorn?
Some neighbours have cut and baled silage, but we're holding out for the 20 degrees. Hedges of white blossom circle like belts the bright green bellies of the fields. Ditches along the road to Buing and Dunamore are festooned white with cow parsley, ash tree blooms and especially white thorn flowers.
Our house is surrounded by these native trees and from the kitchen window I see and hear blackbirds, finches and thrushes as they dart in and out of the protective thorny habitat. Shrews and mice sometimes break cover from under the white thorn, much to the cat's amusement. Sgeach gial or bright thorn bush in Irish. The tree is native to Ireland.
Place names such as Lansky in Dublin or the Skehard Road in Cork. Family names like Sgeachan and Thornhill are from the same origin. Furthermore in Irish it's not a frog you have in your throat but a thorn bush.
Chapter 3: What role does Whitethorn play in local wildlife habitats?
Also called hawthorn the species makes up about three quarters of Irish hedgerows. Some of the trees grow tall and some are laid as hedges. Long before electric fences and pigtail posts, our ancestors created stock-proof field boundaries from white thorn.
You should cut the stem most of the way through and lay it at 45 degrees, taking care to allow for light to penetrate and making sure to knit the stem into the overall hedge, which is an excellent fence, a wildlife corridor and a secure nesting place for birds. However, the late white thorn hedge does not produce a crop of flowers. It's the tree that gives us the huge diva blossom performance.
Bees are delighted to see the white thorn, which they depend on as an early food source. A wet spring, such as the one we've just experienced, causes the trees to produce lots of nectar to encourage the bees to pollinate the trees. Drier springs cause the trees to focus on pollen production, since the air is not heavy with moisture and the wind can do the work of the bees.
You might notice some white flowers turn pink, a sign that pollination has occurred.
Chapter 4: What superstitions are associated with the Whitethorn tree?
And there's the added bonus of tasting the start of summer if you can lay your hands on white thorn honey. A lone white thorn tree has great power. As a child, I knew never to bring a branch of it into the house, no matter how pretty the blossom might look in a vase. It would bring bad luck, even death. Also, the fairies use lone white thorn trees or fairy trees as a gateway to their world.
Chapter 5: How does the seasonal change affect the Whitethorn blossoms?
So you may be cursed if you cut one down. The new market on Fergus to Ennis Bypass was rerouted to avoid knocking a fairy tree. And soon the petals will fall like snow, covering the roads and the fields and turning another page in the book of the year.
Jana's hearing in her garden in Cork.