The tree for this period of the year in the Ogham tree alphabet is the Rowan or Mountain Ash.
Representing the letter L and the number 2 for the second Lunar Month
It was on a cycle ride last September when I found a Rowan with berries to recognise it and in a good place to photograph about 2½ miles from home.
They are much more common in Wales and Scotland and although we had a couple at the smallholding that got to over 10 feet tall while we were there, they rarely had more than a few berries.
I've never used the berries to make a jelly, mainly because it needs an awful lot of sugar to take away the astringency and I usually had redcurrants anyway. In history it was also used to ward off evil spirits and witches.
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Sue
I have heard that one of my ancestors in Scotland had two rowan trees planted either side of their gateway, specifically to ward off evil spirits. Folk lore is so interesting :)
ReplyDeleteI love the mountain ash, partly because of the leaves and the berries but also the two names. Lovely names.
ReplyDeletexx
We had a lovely rowan tree in our previous garden. I made a batch of jelly just once. The time, effort(and sugar) involved meant that I never repeated the experiment
ReplyDeleteI love the Mountain Ash I have one in a pot I bought in Morrisons for £3 several years ago. I have nurtured and nurtured it and I'm so hoping it will survive until we move somewhere we can plant it in the ground. It is lovely to know a bit more about it, it makes it even more special.
ReplyDeleteWe've always had rowans in our gardens as they keep the witches away. Today ours are both buried under about 8" of snow.
ReplyDeleteWe had one at the gate at our last house, rescued from when Next Door was busy grubbing up hedges. None at our new home, but may plant one for old time's sake, as we had two growing in the garden where I grew up and I used to climb them to the top-most twigs (I weighed next to nothing in those days!)
ReplyDeleteI made Rowan Jelly many years back but it is SO bitter and never made it again.
I also made Roman jelly, awful, had to discard it.
ReplyDeleteI have planted rowans in my garden to ward off witches! The birds soon strip the red berries, the orange ones last a lot longer, they mustn't be as tasty. xx
ReplyDeleteI love your folk lore posts and the Ogham tree alphabet.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
We had one in our garden in Northampton. Didn't know you could use the berries, not that I would have anyway.
ReplyDeleteI love Rowans. We have one.
ReplyDeleteI always make sure I have a Rowan planted outside my houses, and we planted a row of them interspersed with Whitebeam at the smallholding, they really compliment each other. I'll need to buy another Rowan now for my new garden ... any excuse for tree shopping :-)
ReplyDeleteI love the range of colours the Rowan berries come in. I had no idea they came in pink and white forms too until I saw them at a local aboretum. Arilx
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a boy , the garden was filled with Rowens
ReplyDeleteMy mother once made jam out of the berries
Terrible
We don’t get Rowan trees in New Zealand, but I first met them when visiting friends north of Liverpool. They flourished there, covered with startlingly red berries. Does the astringency put the birds off, or are they eaten?
ReplyDeleteRobins in particular love the berries. I have one outside my kitchen window and they have it stripped of berries very quickly in the Fall. Our robins are quite a bit larger than those in the UK, more the size of a blackbird.
ReplyDeleteWe do have rowans in NZ - the forest behind Hanmer Springs is full of them. We had one in our garden at Morven in South Canterbury, but given they are a mountain ash, it was never going to thrive on the plains next to the sea. If the jelly is anything like hawthorn jelly it vastly improves with age, and is then best on cheese or cold meat.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds as if everyone is in agreement on the rowan jelly. I've never seen one before, but looking up information on it, I see that it does grow here. I will have to look for it.
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