Wildflowers.ie

DBN and the Irish Hunger Memorial at Battery Park City, New York.  

Gail Wittwer-Laird and Maxwell, Gail designed the landscape element of the Memorial with advice from Sandro Cafolla of DBN.

• 1.  A Genebank of Plants for the Irish Hunger Memorial

DBN request help with a search for gardeners with gardens near Manhattan, who will host in their own garden a genebank of all species found on the Irish Hunger Memorial.  the city authority has simply not got the space for collections of plants to restock the memorial from.  The selected candidate would receive a beautiful plant collection and be part of the living memorial.  We appeal to the Irish-American press to help get this campaign started.

Once established the plants can be grown in safety and used to replant the Memorial's garden when species die or need replacing.  The genebank gardeners can log on to Species Data Pages to see how to grow each plant variety.  Each species grown in the Memorial Garden will have a special section attached to the Species Datapage for the Memorial garden if the advice differs to that offered to our Irish customers.  

Visit link Battery City Irish Hunger Memorial Gene Bank Project. 

I will be contacting the Media/Press in USA and Ireland to get support for the concept of the genebank. 

• 3.  A Genebank of Plants for the Memorial in Ireland

I will continue growing Native Irish Sourced Wildflowers in Ireland according to Gail Wittwer-Laird's species list and collect seed or prepare plants for testing by Department of Agriculture Ireland for Phytosanitary tests. to export to USA.

The plants will be then sent directly to the holders of the genebank in the USA, to be grown on until ready to plant at the memorial. The Gardeners and Horticultural staff can then collect the plants from the genebank and plant them into the garden.

• 4.  Web pages for Planting advice for the Memorial. Click Here.

Following our informal meetings on the 15/16/17 July 2002.  I have hosted the following web pages which are the first of many.  The information will address the questions and answers required by required by the Battery City Parks Horticultural Staff and the Landscape designer Gail Wittwer-Laird, The concept is that I will offer advice on line as per species and that the species data pages can be referred to for individual advice per each species as it requires attention.

• 5.  Liase with landscape designer,  keep up to date of issues.

Gail Wittwer-Laird and I have visited and emailed each other for the past 18 months and both hope to continue, to do so.  I am delighted to work with Gail who has created a half on an acre of Ireland across the Atlantic.

One of the public visitors to the garden, bent down on his knees , kissed the auld' sod and cried, "I never taught I would see home again" then he kissed the rock from Co Mayo.  

Rarely do landscape designs bring people to tears.  It is an honour to work with Gail and Brian and I hope to be able to continue to provide any recommendations, seed or plants required to keep the memorial looking at its best.

• 6.  Help us to find and save a few lost Irish Apples varieties that may be in the USA.

Brian Tolle has stated that he wishes that the Irish hunger memorial continues to grow as a living landscape.  I have suggested that we use the memorial to help find some of the remaining missing apple trees from the first national collection of apple trees in Ireland.  The latest national collection is due to the work of an American lady,  Mrs. Anita Hayes, of the Irish Seed Savers now living in Ireland.  Her work is based on a 1940's Irish apple collection and most of the lost old Irish Apple tree varieties have been found.  But there were many more species never recorded in the original collection and I hope to be able to help Anita Hayes save a few more.  I hope you can help as well. Click here for more

You can purchase native Irish Apple Trees which can be posted to the E.U., USA and other countries as Ireland has a disease free status for Apple Trees, but each tree will have to be tested first, so plan your purchases.  All profits will go to the Irish Seed Savers.

Index - NYIHMG - DBN and the Irish Hunger Memorial at Battery Park City
NYIHMG - A Gene Bank for the Irish Hunger Memorial at Battery Park City
NYIHMG - A Memorial Remembers the Hungry
NYIHMG - Help find rare Irish Apples in USA
NYIHMG - Here are some more photos of the Garden
NYIHMG - Irish Hunger Memorial Garden
NYIHMG - Landscape Horticulture and Gardening advice for the Irish Hunger Memorial at Battery City Park
NYIHMG - Managing Irish Hunger Memorial 1
NYIHMG - Managing Irish Hunger memorial 2
NYIHMG - New York Times
NYIHMG - Photographs
NYIHMG - Photographs 1
NYIHMG - Remarks of Irish President
NYIHMG - The Irish Hunger Memorial
New York; Irish Hunger Memorial Garden - press release
Wildflower Useages

Address : Design By Nature, Crettyard, Co Laois, Via Carlow PO, Ireland. 

Sales: Telephone +353 (0)56 4442526. 
The best time for your personal sales service and orders is 9.30am to 11.30am