Each FCJ community received a package of wild flower seeds at the end of our Area Assembly last autumn. Sr Susan is looking forward to seeing them bloom in Dublin. She writes:
Those gardeners or ‘would be gardeners’ among us might like to encourage some more pollinators to your window boxes, tubs or gardens by growing plants that entice them along. One third of our pollinators or bee species are threatened with extinction. This is because we have drastically reduced the amount of food (flowers) and safe nesting sites in our landscapes. A pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma of a flower. Common pollinators are insects such as: bees, wasps, moths, butterflies, and beetles. These are a few plants to encourage bees; Verbena, Cat Mint, Ground Cover Geraniums, Cowslips, Hellebores and there are many more bushes, plants and trees that bees and insects use for gathering pollen or nectar. Being aware of the wonderful work that pollinators do in encouraging our crops to grow around the world we can all support these little creatures to survive. I am looking forward to seeing my display of Wild Flowers bloom this summer which Pope John House supplied at the FCJ Assembly in the autumn of 2018.
Green, blue, yellow and red-
God is down in the swamps and marshes
Sensational as April and almost incred-
ible the flowering of our catharsis.
A humble scene in a backward place
Where no one important ever looked
The raving flowers looked up in the face
Of the One and the Endless…
Patrick Kavanagh – The One
