The mild climate of County Cork can be a paradise for gardeners and plant collectors, but very confusing to new gardeners trying to glean knowledge from books. Most of the books were published in the UK, a place with a very different climate despite its proximity to us. In general we have many gardening problems seldom tackled in popular gardening books. This section is devoted to offering ideas on how to cope with these problems, even use them to our advantage.
The weather of West Cork is windy, wet and almost unpredictable. At times it frustrates, even infuriates. But then it makes amends with days of total heaven. Humans can find it tough, some garden plants can find it fatal. In other words 'it is a maritime climate'.
Many of the plants grown commonly in Europe, including UK, are plants from 'continental climates', predictably progressing gently from Winter cold to Spring awakening to Summer baking and falling peacefully back into dormancy in Autumn. Forget them, they expect predictable seasons which we don't really have. We have a climate which warms gently from February to July then cools. Maybe not a climate, but a 'random selection of weather'. We have few frosts and snow seldom lasts more than a few hours. Many plants from Continental Climates show their displeasure rapidly .............by dying.
So for permanent plants we often need to look to areas with climates similar to ours.... New Zealand, Tasmania, or Tierra del Fuego (origin of the 'West Cork' Fuchsia).   Even unexpected countries like Australia, South Africa and Brazil make important  contributions to our gardens. You will notice that all these places are in the Southern Hemisphere, hence our fascination with flora from these regions.
Of course, the weather isn't the only problem facing the West Cork gardener. For more problems, and more solutions, please check the links on the left.