Another name for the month of May is Mean Arree, this translates as the middle month of Spring. The Daffodil – Lus ny n’guiy should be in full glory this month,  there are so many different and wonderful sizes, shapes and colours.  They vary on a theme from pure white through yellows to orange, but that said, my favourite is still the ‘Manks wild’ double Daffodil, this is (according to D E Allen in his book “Flora of the Isle of Man”), an old variety called ‘Van Sion’, in times gone by a yellow dye was extracted from it. The Daffodil can be found growing in many of the Islands glens. I would like it, if when groups or individuals are planting Daffodils in ‘wild’ settings like hedgerows and glens, they would choose this variety as it fits in with the Manks scene so much better than a lot of these grand ‘trumpets’ which I believe look out of character.  

Yellow flowers have a lot of folklore and superstition attached to them not least the fact that Daffodils would not be brought into the house for fear that the goose would abandon the eggs she was sitting on in the kitchen, by assuming the Daffodils were her newly hatched goslings. Other yellow flowers will feature in later months!

The passing of each month will herald an ever increasing number of plants coming into bloom as the year progresses towards the summer. Flowers to look out for in March are Coltsfoot –Cabbag ny hawin, Coltsfoot is unusual in that, the dandelion like flowers appear and are followed later by the leaves.  The leaves resemble a horses’ foot from whence it gets its name, incidentally the leaves can be smoked alone or as part of other tobacco. Groundsel – Grunlus, Dandelion – Lus y minnag, Daisy – Neaynin and Shepherd’s purse – Lus y sporran should also be making appearances.  Roasted root of Dandelion is supposed to be a pleasant substitute for coffee, I have tried it and unless I didn’t do it properly, it wasn’t too pleasant! The lawn owners will not be too happy as Dandelion and Daisy are two of the more persistent flowers that will appear in all but the best kept lawns.

Common scurvy grass – Guilley bing should be out by the end of the month, it is not a grass but a plant with shiny heart shaped leaves, it grows in profusion on the hedges between Kirk Michael and Peel and is very common around Peel Castle.  Mistletoe – Geul will also be in flower, this is another plant that has much folklore associated with it in particular with the Druids.  The green leaves on a bare winter tree, with no apparent source of succour is one reason for its reverence.  I know of two plants in the Ballaugh area within a half-mile of each other, one has berries, the other hasn’t, this peculiarity happens in a number of plants!

Trees will be coming into flower now, although many people won’t associate blossom with trees. A number of the trees have inconspicuous flowers, but there are also some trees with a spectacular flower show, Horse chestnut – Castan is one but it doesn’t flower until later on in the year. 

Alder –Farney, Wych elm –Lhiouan sliea and Aspen – Chengey ny mraane (women’s tongue – always on the move!!) are some trees that will be in flower.  The Alder has long yellow male catkins and rounded egg shaped, female flowers. The European larch – Larsh is one of the early pine trees to flower and has interesting male and female flowers. 

John ‘Dog’