Blue Spring Path

Over the past three years volunteers have been adding to the spring beauty of the woodland area beside the drive (between the two entrances).

In addition to the pre-existing daffodils and snowdrops, a total of 4600 new woodland bulbs have been planted since 2018.  2400 of these form a meandering river of blue Muscari.  The remainder of the bulbs were made up of Tulips, Allium, Daffodils, Narcissus, Leucojum (snowflake), Crocus, Snowdrop, Erythronium (dogs tooth violet), Fritillaria (snakes head), Winter Aconite, Bluebell, Scilla, Iris and Anemone.  This selection brightens up the area from the first snowdrops in January until the Bluebells in June.

Woodland bulbs grow under deciduous trees as they get enough light over the winter when the trees are bare to enable them to bloom in the Spring.  When the trees are in full leaf during the Summer, these bulbs are working on building up their resources underneath the ground where access to light doesn’t matter.  The bulbs were chosen for their ability to naturalise in this woodland setting.

A new mown grass path was created to snake its way through the flowers replicating the meandering nature of the Muscari.  This enables visitors to see the beautiful flower forms up close without having to walk on and damage the plants.

Our local Foróige Youth Group provided hand painted, personalised slabs which were added to the grass path at intervals, giving definition to the path.  They also donated some hanging decorations which they had made, and these where hung from the trees overhanging the path.

Monageer Parish Grotto Group will continue to add to this area over the coming years.

You can check out more images in our Gallery Section.