Rhamnus
Anne Kilmer
viceroy at GATE.NET
Sun May 5 11:03:27 EDT 2002
Nigel Venters wrote:
> Mike,
>
> Nevertheless....I'm afraid that in the British Isles Rhamnus catharticus is
> only found on Alkaline soils. Much of Ireland has acid soils...there are
> some exceptions including the beautiful "Burren" an area with limestone
> pavement on the West Coast at sea level that has an amazing spring display
> of alpine plants normally found on the mountains of Central Europe.
Trevor
> was right the plant I recommended to Anne was indeed Red Valerian
> (Centranthus ruber)...I should have looked it up instead of relying on a
> poor memory! Sorry Anne...but we both now know which plant it is!
>
> Nigel
That's all very well, but the Valerian that the Green-winged White and I
planted was V. officinalis. ;-) I don't have C. rubris, though I have
admired it in stone walls and poking out of cracks in houses.
I wondered about your recommendation, since I have seen more bees than
butterflies in my Valerian. (Yes, P. napi likes it.) But gosh, Nigel, I
trusted you. ;-)
Well, I imagine it will either be happy or be compost, and my investment
is slight.
On the west side of Lough Mask, the lake I look out upon, south of
Ballinrobe, is a Burren-like area of limestone pavement with grikes
(cracks in the pavement that act as little hothouses full of improbable
flowers and ferns) and alpines and all that stuff. I imagine that you,
Trevor, have investigated it thoroughly. I would expect to find there
many of the butterflies special to the Burren.
Anne Kilmer
Viceroy
Butterfly Coalition
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