THE response to last week’s column was very encouraging. Everything is, of course, relative, so it’s important to point out that most weeks I get no feedback whatsoever – not even from my parents. But last Saturday’s piece was - by these usual standards - exceptional.
To recap, the article discussed the historical and sociological reasons for Ireland’s national antipathy towards trees.
The piece recounted how around a century ago a group of people sought to redress this situation through an ‘afforest movement’, which coincided and to some extent dovetailed with Gaelic revivalism and efforts to secure Irish freedom.
As their anthem, these patriotic proto-treehuggers borrowed the tune of the A Nation Once Again, replacing its refrain with the words Plantation Once Again – a rallying cry to arborists across the land to rise up and plant trees.
My 82-year-old father, a man who was prone to a bit of tree planting in his day, told me he liked the article. These days he’s prone to singing, so after Sunday dinner he ‘treated’ us to his rendition of A Nation Once Again, adding the revised lyrics. My mother was typically unimpressed.
Opening my inbox on Monday morning revealed yet more praise. This time the appreciation came much further from home – Capitol Hill, Washington DC to be precise - and signed by Fr Sean McManus, president of the Irish National Caucus.
Styling himself a "fellow treehugger" who has long lamented "treeless Ireland", the 72-year-old campaigning cleric has lived in the US for more than four decades.
"The first thing I noticed when I arrived in America were the trees — big, beautiful creatures, everywhere, even just outside of New York City,” he wrote.
"Then when I came to Capitol Hill I was astonished that on the regular sidewalk there are more trees, far bigger and far more beautiful, than in the whole of the parish of Kinawley, south Fermanagh by the Cavan border."
Fr McManus then relays a conversation he had with his late friend and former Irish government minister Sean MacBride.
"When I pointed out the trees to him on Capitol Hill, he told me he was most proud of his efforts in government to reforest the land – I didn’t want to tell him he didn’t do a very good job," he recalled.
"Every morning I go for an hour’s walk on the National Mall (not a shopping mall) and on my way there and back I can’t stop thinking: 'Why didn’t we have trees like this when I was a kid growing up in the farming parish of Kinawley?'"
He concluded by urging me to "write more articles on treeless Ireland".
"I suspect most people back there have no idea about the issue – trees are nature’s and God’s miracle."
The third and final response to last week's article came via a phone call to the office on Tuesday. The caller – John from north Belfast – was again full of praise but pointed out that I hadn't provided any instructions on where to get trees and when to plant them.
I advised him to check out Conservation Volunteers' tree nursery at the Clandeboye estate near Bangor in Co Down.
However, when I phoned the next day to check if they were still selling young bare root native trees to the public, I was told they were not, as all this year's stock had already been sold in bulk. Oh dear.
Bare root trees and shrubs are cheaper and tend to take much quicker than their potted counterparts, but they need to be planted during dormancy – which is roughly up to mid-March.
In the absence of Conservation Volunteers, the only thing I can recommend at present is phoning your nearest nursery and asking if they stock native, bare root trees.
