when visitors come over, they expect to see the stonewalls shown in pretty much every picture taken of "the west of ireland". and sure enough they are everywhere... well, they still are nearly everywhere. unfortunately more and more of them are taken down, either to make larger fields or because it's easier to erect a fence. which is true, it's hard work to build a stone wall (they are usually built without the use of mortar, concrete etc.!) - but on the other hand they do form a special habitat and look so much nicer. and sometimes you wouldn't believe what some people call a fence over here! crooked and wobbly, wires around trees, which are destroyed by this, barbed wire (coated with green plastic, as if that makes it look nicer!) etc...
after a short while lichens settle on the stones and plants grow in every crevice. I esp. like the little ferns, many different varieties with pretty fronds in different shades of green.
this is a mahonia in our garden, loaded with berries. unfortunately the birds like them a lot - so usually they vanish before they ripen to a very pretty blue shade!
another plant that I hadn't seen in germany before is the "New Zealand Holly" (Olearia macrodonta), probably because it isn't fully hardy. but with the mild winters here they form large shrubs with dark leaves, that really do look a bit like holly. the difference shows up easily though as soon as the plant flowers - they have large umbels of white star-shaped flowers, which are quite luminous in the shade, where our plants grow best.
green isn't really my colour in garments - so no textile pictures of anything green from me. but - I do live in the country with the famous 40 shades of green - no need to wear it myself then?:))
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