Is Gardening again becoming a necessary life skill?

Is Gardening again becoming a necessary life skill?

Plantarium 2011 and stuff

Things have been hectic over the summer months, difficult to dicipline time aside to write any blog posts. We have just completed another Plantarium show in Netherlands.
Plantarium seemed a quieter show this year yet quality and quantity of serious enquires were up on last year. This years show again attracted a lot of visitors from USA and our business there continues to progress despite the general economic downturn and uncertain year this year. Of course if we were fortunate enough to live in better times I am sure we like everyone would be a lot happier but possibly slow growth will make us stronger.

We have been holding back a little from announcing some of our newest plants for 2012 but I assure you all that will change in the coming months and we will feature some of our new key plants for 2012 as we build towards IPM 2012 which takes place at the end of January and this will be our 6th year exhibiting at this great show. I have loaded some pictures from Plantarium 2011 to my facebook page.

Plantarium 2011 had a stronger focus this year on hardy woody plants and our Nandina got great attention. Our Carex range continues to attract great interest and our newest addition Carex Everillo is off to a fantastic start. Everillo amongst plenty of our other Carex was on two growers stands at Plantarium and they report great interest in this plant. While hardy and woody plants are making a resurgence Cordyline and spot colour is also forging ahead so long as its not too expensive the public hunger for colour is unstoppable. Sometimes we may forget we are not only growing plants but also providing colour in peoples environment and this is one important function of plants. If you look closely at peoples expressions when they look at plants you will son learn plants can be responsible for positive mood swings and this i s due in no small part to the influence of colour, at least I believe so. I did a post a while back on my blog on some plants that bring such colour. I need to update this urgently as so many additional colours are now coming in very hardy easy care plants.

http://fitzgeraldnurseries.blogspot.com/2009/08/plants-for-autumn-balcony-and-patio.html

In the meantime I hope you enjoy the fading light of summer and hopefully we can have one of those beautiful Septembers we sometimes get in this part of the world.

Is Gardening again becoming a necessary life skill?

The co-incidence.

In this blog post I am re-posting a piece I first posted on http://www.myplant.ie/ back in May 2009. A few weeks after I first posted this the article was hacked and my website brought down by a virus planted on the site by hackers. My site hosting and maintenance guys said the attacks were targeted at this article possibly due to the mention of the White House. They fixed my website as luckily we got the attack early. Sometimes its very hard to get away from the feeling some things are predestined. As you will see on my last blog piece this week our primroses landed in the very place I was highlighting in the article below. http://fitzgeraldnurseries.blogspot.com/2011/03/gifting-of-kennedy-irish-primrose.html

Due to this amazing coincidence and the fact that the White House Garden project or the trend towards people growing their own vegetables wasn't just a passing fad I decided to re post this piece. I would also like your opinion on the questions posed at the end.

Is Gardening becoming a necessary life skill?

Original post.

This is probably not so hard to believe from some of us who have been around the block before. One of the silver linings for us as Horticulturists in somewhat depressing times like these is that people have more time to spend reassessing their interests, what is important and un-important. So far it looks like the signs so far are telling us that nature, growing your own and generally appreciating the garden, parks and the free or not so expensive things in life are coming out as important.

In the USA there has been a very encouraging and dedicated lobby since last November to have a vegetable garden planted in the grounds of the White House and from the picture here you can see this has been successful and has begun. Congratulations are due to the idea instigator to the people who worked on and supported this project and for achieving such success. Have a look at the official White House Farmer website WWW.WHITEHOUSEFARMER.COM .

With the eyes of the world on the new American first family this image on the White House farmer website has to be one of the most interesting garden images this month and many of us in the Horticulture world could not have imagined such an image emanating from such a prestigious and austere location until now.

A number of months ago I came across a saying from a contemporary American writer called Orson Scott Card which goes 'Unemployment is capitalism's way of getting you to plant a garden'.

We have to hope that mass unemployment is not what it will take to get many of us to plant a garden. It's an unfortunate and interesting fact that sometimes it takes shocks of great magnitude to make some of us realize what's important and what's not. We can only hope now that when the world economy does eventually recover some lessons will have been learned and children will remember the folly of some of their elders in neglecting a few basic life skills and considerations that are the essence of our existence. Whether it be for food or for pleasure plant life is beneficial to mankind even the humblest apparently undesirable weed gives benefit to the planet and our immediate environment. For those of us who depend on gardening for a living let's hope that the many skills in the industry the great plants, fruit and vegetables that are produced by our sector will be valued and appreciated much more, by a greater amount of people and a new kind of consumer and gardener.

Lets hope our time in the sun has come.

Now almost two years on what do you think? Have we seen a change of mindset towards people in our profession or trade? Will the young people all over the world who have been exposed to the many projects like the White House Garden be better off for this new trend? Is it too early to say it has changed anything in the longer 25 year perspective when these children will be adults with children of their own?

The gifting of a Kennedy Irish Primrose

It isnt often one of our plants gets such a wonderful first outing that they are given as a gift from our country to the first Lady of the United States of America. So I felt I must share this news with everyone.

I am honoured to announce that on 17th of March, St Patricks Day, a special basket of our new Kennedy Irish Primrose variety Drumcliff was chosen as a gift to Mrs Obama. The Primrose basket was given to Mrs Obama during the recent visit of An Taoiseach Mr Enda Kenny T.D and his wife Mrs Fionnuala Kenny to the White House, Washington D.C. This is the first time these Primroses have been seen in full flower in the USA and we at FitzGerald Nurseries are delighted that they were chosen for such an auspicious occasion. The Primroses were propagated in County Wexford, Ireland and grown to flowering size in County Kilkenny, Ireland. Plants were inspected and certified in accordance with United States Department of Agriculture import regulations and shipped to special facilities of Herronswood Nurseries in Pennsylvania USA where plants were acclimatized and prepared for the final presentation.

The Kennedy Irish Primroses were launched this January coinciding with the 50th Anniversary of the inauguration of John F Kennedy as President of United States of America. Primula Drumcliffe is named after the final resting place of the famous Irish poet W.B Yeats. The second variety released in 2011 is named Innisfree after the poem Lake Isle of Innisfree. Further varieties will be released over the coming years.

Pat FitzGerald.

Plants are now currently available to the public in Ireland from most good Garden Centres and in USA by mail orderhttp://www.heronswood.com/perennials_perennials-p-to-r_primula/ .

You can find more information on the Kennedy Irish Primroses by clicking here.

- FitzGerald Nurseries was founded in 1990. Ever since a child Pat has been involved in the growing of vegetable and garden plants. From the age of 17 Pat started studying Horticulture then proceeded after leaving college to work in the gardening industry. - Pat FitzGerald selects, breeds and cultivates new plant varieties and in his own right is responsible for many new garden plant varieties now available to gardeners worldwide. - Joseph Kennedy breeder of the Kennedy Irish Primroses has been breeding old Irish Primroses from old Irish cultivars dating back to the 1800’s. After retiring early from dentistry almost 30 years ago Joe took up his breeding passion full time but never released any of his work to the public until now. - About the same time as Pat was leaving his formal Horticulture studies Joe began his serious collecting of the old Irish Primrose varieties. Twenty five years later their paths crossed, they combined their mutual talents and the Kennedy Irish Primrose range was born. After five more years of selecting and propagation in Ireland the first two varieties of these plants are now available to the public. Much more to come so watch this space.

FitzGerald Nurseries wins Innovation Award

Irish Times InterTradeIreland All-island Innovation Awards.

Leaders in their field, FitzGerald Nurseries Ltd have been nominated for their system, which have been designed to develop plants, marketing, micro-propagation production systems and routes to international markets for their plant ranges developed.

Mr Pat FitzGerald from FitzGerald Nurseries Ltd said: We were delighted to be even shortlisted originally but to win this award in the prescence of such fantastic high tech companies is indeed an honour. It is especially wonderful to be recognized and awarded for innovation. We work hard to be the best at what we do and to come up with new products for the our customers and the international marketplace.” In the field of Horticulture this is not an easy task where mainstream industrial support and thinking is not always supported in the same manner as in other industries. FitzGerald Nurseries Ltd can be proud of this achievement and look forward to developing increased exports and business development over the coming years.
“Our products have proven to be of world class standards and we have proven this through market entry success in 18 countries worldwide. You can see these products in more detail on http://www.fitzgerald-nurseries.com/ and http://www.myplant.ie/ and judge for yourself.”
Now in its second year, the Irish Times InterTradeIreland All-island Innovation Awards aim to recognise and promote the best service, product or operational innovations throughout the island. Over 120 companies entered the seven categories of the competition. Twenty one of these were then shortlisted for the awards by a judging panel, before the final winners were selected.

Commenting on the awards, Liam Nellis, Chief Executive of InterTradeIreland and Chair of the Innovation awards final judging panel said “Despite the economic situation, we have been extremely encouraged by the level and diversity of innovations represented by our finalists and winners. Not only do they have strong ideas and innovative processes, crucially, they are market-led and market-focused. I’m delighted that these awards have managed to achieve exactly what they set out to do, which is to showcase the best examples of innovation on the island.”

The final judging panel for the event included Colm Long, Facebook, Liam Nellis InterTradeIreland, Peter Callan, The Irish Times Group, Michael Carey, Jacob Fruitfield Food Group, Tim Cody, Accenture, Ivan Coulter, Sigmoid Pharma and Deirde Terrins, Crescent Capital.
Liam Kavanagh, Managing Director of the Irish Times added, “We sometimes get caught up in the finer points of policies and strategies at a national level without appreciating the people who are putting all the fine words into practice. That’s what this event tonight – and indeed our monthly Innovation magazine – is all about.
-ends-


- FitzGerald Nurseries was founded in 1990. The company set up Gadera Ltd its micro-propagation production facility in Enniscorthy Co Wexford in 2005. FitzGerald Nurseries employs 20 people and its sister company Gadera Ltd 15 people.
- Pat FitzGerald selects and breeds new plant varieties and is responsible for many new patent and breeders rights protected varieties worldwide. The company also offeres separate services to breeders around the world.
- For further information about the awards please visit www.irishtimes.com/innovationawards

National Innovation Award shortlisting

FitzGerald Nurseries Ltd has been shortlisted for a National Innovation Award from a nationwide and Island wide group of small, medium and large multi-national companies.

This is great honour for us. Especially as small family farm based rural business to be included with mainstream high tech multi-national companies with specific dedicated R&D companies. I believe this shows that Ireland is now more serious about building its economy to include a second tier of indigenous and niche developed small export focused businesses. As a small enterprise owners operating in an international marketplace dependent on 90% of our sales from exports it is essential that we develop products specific to our company but profitable and fit for our customers purposes. Therefore we must have systems and strategies to ensure this happens at all levels of our economy not just for the large corporate. This is just as essential for a small rural business as it is for multi-national.

FitzGerald Nurseries are proud to be the recipient of this recognition if only to establish a basic principal that Ireland must develop enterprise brick by brick and not in large loose insecure towers of Babel. This innovation must come from the companies on the ground and cannot come from state services but can be supported by them through policy and reform of business categorization.. I would like to thank the Irish Times and Inter Trade Ireland Innovation Awards judging panel for looking deeper into what we do by way of product development.

I would like to thank all who have believed in and supported our efforts over the last few years to develop such a business model and hope this shortlisting gives some recognition to this trust in us.

End.

Kennedy Irish Primrose Collection

Announcing the Kennedy Irish Primrose collection.

A unique collection of Primroses bred over 35 years from old Irish varieties.

I am pleased to reveal the hard work and dedication one of Ireland’s leading amateur primrose breeders, Joe Kennedy, has been acknowledged with the help of FitzGerald Nurseries. We will release several new varieties of “Kennedy Irish Primroses” over the coming three years starting in Spring 2011. In the meantime Joe continues to work on future exciting lines to add to this uniquely Irish range of varieties.

Our ancestors believed that the primrose deterred evil fairies and a scatter of primroses outside the door would keep witches away. My own first contact with primroses came as a child seeing drifts of them growing in the 2000 year old Rath (Celtic Ringfort) on our farm here in County Kilkenny.

Portrait painting of Primrose breeder Joseph Kennedy.

Since then I have had a soft spot for Primroses and now another reason for this is the wonderful work of Joe Kennedy, who hails from Carlow but now lives near Ballycastle, County Antrim. A modest man with exceptional ability as an amateur breeder, his professional training as a dentist has given him a precision and attention-to-detail perfectly suited to the finer points of breeding.

I first met Joe in 2006 having contacted him after reading an article he wrote in an Irish Garden Plant Society (IGPS) Newsletter. We got in touch over the phone and he was soon educating me on the history and breeding of this beautiful plant in Ireland going back to the late 1800's. From that moment on I was hooked on bringing these wonderful plants to the world. Since then I have selected some of Joes best work and we have developed micropropagation protocols so that we can produce sufficient numbers to launch to gardeners in USA and Euope.

A new creation from good stock

With this launch, I hope we can do Joes work some justice by bringing to a much wider audience these wonderful old-style “Kennedy Irish Primroses”. After 35 dedicated years of breeding, we hope it’s a proud moment for Joe also as it certainly is for us.

The first plant launch to start the program coincides with the 50th Anniversary of the inauguration of John F Kennedy as President of USA in January 1961. New additional varieties in this first series will be released through to the 50th Anniversary of his visit to Ireland and death in 1963. This collaboration between a Fitzgerald and a Kennedy to bring old Irish Primroses, all the way from County Wexford, near the old Kennedy homestead, is a typically Irish coincidence. All of the plants are being produced in Co Wexford. We are currently working on 36 more selections. Plants of the first two selections will be available this Spring. Innisfree is a vivid red with yellow eye on dark foliage and Drumcliff another dark foliage variety but this time with larger white flowers tinted with lilac hue when opening. More varieties will follow with yellow, white, peach and pink flowers all on the most intensely dark purple foliage ever seen on Primroses.

All this development will secure local employment in Co Wexford and Co Kilkenny only a stonesthrow from another Irish Kennedy story.

In addition to unique foliage characteristics we are working on other exciting traits all bred by Joe from the old Irish varieties dating back to the late 19th century. I hope gardeners will agree a new direction in the beauty of the Primrose has been born out of these old robust perrenial Irish selections. Many of the later varieties will introduce some of the old “Hose-in-Hose”, “Jack-in-the-Greens” and various matt-forming stoloniferous types. Unique characteristics , just like Joe himself.

Primula Innisfree release in March 2011, must be the darkest foliage Primrose ever!

Seedling selections of future lines

For release in 2012

For release in 2012

The Lake Isle of Innisfree. By William Butler Yeats.

I WILL arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:

Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,

Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;

There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,

And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;

While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,

I hear it in the deep heart's core.