The Hawthorn - An Sceach Geal; An Irish Native Tree

Hawthorn
An Sceach Geal
"The leaf looks like a mad baby infant was slicing at it with a scissors; its leaves have a cut edge. Its berries are called Haws. They can be eaten but they don't taste very nice. "When all fruit fails, welcome Haw". It is called the Rag Tree. It is a special tree for fairies. They are often found near holy wells, people leave an offering at the tree seeking a favour. They can grant wishes. Cast no clout until May is out means that when the flowers are on the May tree you can don your summer clothes."
In this short film, Dr. Éanna Ní Lamhna, Ireland's renowned environmental broadcaster and member the Tree Council of Ireland describes features of Ireland's native trees to local school children in Dublin's Botanic Gardens. This film was made as part of a series about Ireland's 28 native trees so that the Plant-for-the-Planet million tree challenge teams could be well informed as to what were our native varieties when planting; the Easy Treesie - Crann, Trees for Ireland Project is planting 1M trees with Ireland's 1M schoolchildren. Under the supervision of foresters, arborists, horticulturalists and other tree professionals and in consultation with local authorities and other public landowners, we plant "The right trees in the right place" with children and their communities. While mostly native varieties are planted on this project, to allow for woodland resilience with our changing climate and to cater for biodiversity certain non-invasive species such as fruit and nut trees, lime, sycamore, beech, horse chestnut and maple trees are planted where appropriate. The narrow genetic base of our native varieties which mostly migrated to Ireland across a narrow land bridge leaves them vulnerable to disease. Catering for diversity in our planting mix makes provision for variety in habitats to assist where changing rainfall and temperature patterns have proved a challenge to wildlife. This film series was created by Orla Farrell, Project Leader and Director with charity Crann, Trees for Ireland, with the sponsorship of the Electricity Association of Ireland and filmed by Aileen O Meara media. Learn more on www.crann.ie, www.easytreesie.com and www.trilliontreecampaign.org.

[@orlafarrell395]

Éanna this is such a handy film...since we made it we have planted thousands of Hawthorns all over the country. We can use the magic in our initiative at Easy Treesie to plant a million trees by 2023! #stoptalking #startplanting