So this post is a first for Stone Art’s Blog: throughout the past two years or so that I have been writing this blog I have highlighted many artisans and stonemasons. However this post is the first time I have highlighted a landscape designer. And who better to begin with than one of my favourite Irish designers, award winning landscape designer Mary Reynolds. Mary Reynolds, the first Irish winner of a Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal for garden design, started her landscape de

Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) Draigean (Gaelic name) This native Irish tree may be known by its Latin name Prunus spinosa or one of its many common names, such as sloe, wild plum, wishing thorn or mother of the wood. A close relative of cherries and plums, Blackthorn is a deciduous small tree or large shrub, growing up to 4 metres high at a medium growth rate. It is often found growing wild in hedgerows, on the edges of wooded areas or popping up on rough farmland. The Blacktho

One of my favourite things to build is stone seats. There is something very special about sitting in a stone seat, it feels very grand, almost throne like. When building stone seats, a portion of my time is spent sitting, making sure that they are comfortable and positioned right. I must admit I have on occasion sat there wondering ‘will this seat still be here in a few hundred years. Will archaeologists be examining it to try and discover what kind of ceremonial uses it once