Surprising Finds in Ireland

After visiting Ireland for the first time, I was surprised by a few things.

1. Palm Trees

Palm trees??? Few if any of the photographs of Ireland’s landscape you see online show palm trees, and yet they are there.

Actually, I did know about this, but I didn’t expect there to be so many of them. The weather is moderate enough to allow them to grow (they are not native, by the way) but they don’t

necessarily thrive there. My question is why??? Why plant one? I don’t think they are particularly attractive. And c’mon, let’s not pretend we’re in Florida.

2. Fuchsia

The other surprising thing (and I did not know about this before I went) is that fuchsia grows wild in Ireland in big huge bushes. They are beautiful. I approve! Again, this plant is not native to Ireland. I think they are considered invasive in some areas, though. But in other areas the plant is appreciated as a colorful pollinator. In the photo below you can see how large they can get.

Does any of this surprise you?

3. Robins

Besides plants, I noticed robins are different from the ones in Ohio. It’s surprising that there are birds, plants, and animals of different species in different parts of the world, but I hadn’t thought about robins. Below are the robins I normally see.

And here is what they look like in Ireland. I saw a little guy like this hopping along the path I was walking on at the Giant’s Causeway. Sorry, North American robin, but the European robin is so much cuter, don’t you think?