An Irishwoman's Diary

THEY ARE NATIVE heroes; small, tough, determined and elusive. A field in north Co Dublin on a sunlit evening in May becomes a wonderland, as do fields and ditches, marshes and woods in many places, often expected, always welcome as the orchid season begins.

Across the island of Ireland, from the North Bull Island in Co Dublin, to Kerry, to the islands off Donegal, to the Burren and the quarries of Co Fermanagh, this year’s orchids are adding their colour and grace to the landscape. The best way of enjoying the beauty and variety of Ireland’s wild orchids is by securing a copy of the remarkable field guide, written by Brendan Sayers of the National Botanic Gardens and magnificently illustrated with original work by botanical artist Susan Sex.

Complete with waterproof pages, magnifying ruler and clever spiral spine, this is indeed a robust working book, easy to handle and specially designed to be carried into the field. The American Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries has this month selected it to receive one of the council’s 2010 Annual Literature Awards.

It is a great honour and a deserving win. Sayers and Sex have taken the concept of the field guide and fashioned something unique, as beautiful as it is informative. Last night in London Susan Sex was due to receive the Jill Smythies Award from the Linnean Society honouring her painting career, particularly her achievement in creating all the art work for two major books on the orchids of Ireland. Part of a wonderful tradition, that of the Irish botanical artist, Sex is self-taught. A life-long painter, she had worked in display and special effects, creating for 30 years a certain kind of magic, the illusion of shape and size. She always loved looking at plants; then she began painting them.

The orchid is special; it is exciting because it is unpredictable and resourceful. This is a plant that can disguise itself as a bee or a fly to attract real insects to pollinate it. The Greater Butterfly orchid has a scent that lures moth pollinators. This orchid can grow almost as a high as the average adult’s knee. It is elegant and for all its delicate beauty shares the quality common to most orchids, resilience.

Studying orchids in the field is a pleasure but also a responsibility. These plants thrive in their natural setting; they don’t like being uprooted. Anyone who commits the folly of picking them to place them in a vase, will be rewarded accordingly: the plant will keel over.

The Fly orchid is dramatic and smells, at least to a young male wasp, like a female wasp. Many a young male has had a moment of passion with this orchid and in doing so has unwittingly pollinated it.

Bee orchids will make their appearance from early June onwards and are invariably a favourite. They do resemble bumble bees. The great Austrian botanical artist, Franz Bauer (1758-1840) is acknowledged as the consummate master. He spent 50 years working at the botanic gardens at Kew, in the employ of Sir Joseph Banks who through his travels revolutionised British botany. For Susan Sex, whose flamboyant style combines artistry and scientific accuracy, Bauer is an inspiration. As are Wendy Walsh who encouraged her to submit work to the Royal Horticultural Society in London, and the late Raymond Piper, referred to by poet Michael Longley as the Orchid Man; most of all Susan Sex greatly appreciates having had, while at secondary school in Maryfield, Drumcondra, a wonderful art teacher in Palm Skerrett.

Susan, who was born in Dublin and is the mother of six children, would have loved to have gone to art college; but life took over. She has, since her first exhibition at the Botanic Gardens in Dublin in 1997, been awarded one silver gilt and three gold medals by the Royal Horticultural Society for paintings of Ireland’s native orchids and is internationally recognised as a major exponent of this most subtle of arts.

Her career began relatively recently; it is only 14 years since she began visiting the Botanic Gardens in Dublin to paint specimen plants. Horticulturalist Brendan Sayers was impressed by her gift and pointed out more and more plants. The orchid family is exotic, and diverse. There are between 30,000 and 60,000 species throughout the world. The exotic tropical orchids are intensively sought after. Wild orchids continue to fall prey to orchid thieves, although hundreds of thousands of tropical orchids are being produced legitimately across the world for the flower trade and for sale in plant centres and supermarkets.

The orchid of today causes as much intrigue and interest among passionate collectors as did the tulip in 16th and 17th century Europe. Susan Sex became increasingly drawn to the mysterious, self-possessed native Irish orchids; plants that come into their own in a field lightly and consistently grazed – but not over-grazed. Ferns dominate the shadows, but most orchids enjoy the sunlight, and appear in dunes and marshes; the roadside or on a limestone pavement.

The more she painted, the more work she accumulated over a period of six years. Breathtaking folio-sized portraits of orchids needed a home. Why not a book? In 2004 she and Sayers collaborated on a magnificent limited edition of Ireland's Wild Orchids, it weighs 5 kilos. The book, a collector's item, was financed by advance subscriptions and by patrons who effectively purchased a painting which was then donated to the National Botanic Gardens. The folio edition quickly sold out. All of the 33 original watercolours are now held in the library of the National Botanic Gardens. So finally there was a record of Ireland's wild orchids. But still no sign of a much-needed field guide. Sayers and Sex, using the same designers, Propeller, from Galway, set out to provide one. Vincent, Susan's husband of 40 years, co-ordinated the entire project.

The field guide had to be smaller. Sex set out to paint a new set of scaled down versions to suit the guide while still depicting the orchids at life size. Her wonderful studies are accompanied by photographs of each plant in situ and in close-up.

Most of the pictures were taken by dedicated amateur photographers Leueen Hill and Jackie O’Connell.

The various American botanical and horticultural societies met for their annual conference last week and on the agenda was the celebration of a field guide devised by an Irish botanist and a self-taught botanical artist of genius. The book was published quietly in Ireland, launched at the Botanic Gardens and purchased by keen orchid watchers. There are a few copies left, including the quarter-leather library edition. Meanwhile, the early orchids are waiting to be seen; Irish lady’s tresses will be visible on lake margins by July, Autumn lady’s tresses invariably signal the end of summer, but a rich season of orchids has only just begun.

For details of

Ireland’s Wild Orchids: a Field Guide

, see www.orchidireland.ie