1. Fascination of Plants Day events at NUI Galway:
Blog for all events in Ireland: http://www.fascinationofplants.blogspot.ie/
Botany and Plant Science: http://www.nuigalway.ie/botany
School of Natural Sciences: http://www.nuigalway.ie/naturalsciences
College of Science: http://www.nuigalway.ie/science/
NUI Galway home page: http://www.nuigalway.ie/
Dr Zoë Popper: zoe.popper@nuigalway.ie
 Photo competition
Such a large number of stunning photographs were submitted from all over Ireland
(including the North) that the panel of seven judges (Dr Dagmar Stengel, Dr Heinz Peter
Nasheuer, Dr Sarah Knight, Lorraine McIlrath, Dr Olivier Leroux, Sandra Raimundo and Dr Zoë
Popper) had an exceedingly hard time choosing the winners. We finally reached agreement
and the spectacular winning photographs were exhibited at the exhibition from May 18–23.
Winners were as follows:
School-age children:
Best photograph of a Burren plant — Daire Elberse: Burren
Best photograph of fruit(s) and/or vegetable(s) — Clyde Dockery: Melon
Best photograph of fern(s) — Raymond Joyce: ‘Uncurling’
Best photograph of alien/non-native/naturalised plant(s) — Eleanor Collins: ‘Sun cup’
Best photograph artistic merit — Cristina Wall: ‘Blown away’
Joint best photograph: undergraduate:
Eamonn O’Sullivan: Cowering sorrel
Laura Killeen: Ox-eye daisy
Members of the public (18+), postgraduate student, or university staff member:
Best photograph of a Burren plant — Brian McMahon: ‘Dry stone wall’
Best photograph of fruit(s) and/or vegetable(s) — Pat Morgan: Beans
Best photograph of seaweed(s) — Julia Baer: 'Sea Spaghetti (Himanthalia elongata)'
Best photograph of fern(s) — Ray Butler: ‘Ferny corner in Barna Woods’
Best photograph of alien/non-native/naturalised plant(s) — Martina Wernecke: Crocosmia
Best photograph artistic merit — Susan Prediger: Moss macro
 Exhibition at NUI Galway Art Gallery: Our Fascinating Flora! May 18–23
The exhibition drew many visitors to see the winning photographs from the competition
exhibited alongside plant-centred art in various media and styles from botanical drawings to
silk screen printing to sculpture (I think? or was it conceptual?) to images taken with the aid
of a microscope to ceramics and wood turning. The exhibiting artists were Margareta Pertl,
Helen Pertl, Miriam de Burca, Alan Crowley, Peter Sherry, Veronika Straberger, Anna Pielach,
Louise Browne, Ambrose and Brid O’Halloran, Wil Organ and Dr Olivier Leroux, St Dominic’s
and NCAD students.
 Exhibition School pre-view and opening May 18
A very excited group of school children from Presentation primary school and the Jez
previewed the exhibition before the morning storytelling session. We were all amazed by
your response, energy and engagement with the exhibition (in particular with Latch-on
http://latch-on.blogspot.com — it was very funny to see you spontaneously line up across
the entire length of the gallery to look into the peep-hole).

2.  Storytelling: May 18th
Rab Fulton captivated and thrilled 60+ primary school children from the Presentation
primary school and the Jez with plant-centred Eastern European folk tales at the morning
storytelling session. In the afternoon, Dr Maria Tuohy from Biochemistry and members of
her lab (Toni O'Donovan, Mary Shier, Jessica Coyne, Finola Cliffe, Vijay Gupta Manimaran
Ayyachamy and Jeremy Brebion) acted out Jack and the Beanstalk for pre-School children
and helped them plant their own bean plants.
 NUI Galway organic garden open: May 18th 2–4 pm
The organic gardening society (http://www.socs.nuigalway.ie/society_profiles/view/365/),
now in full bloom, gave guided tours of the vegetable beds, herb spiral and fruit bed!
 Tree climbing: May 23rd
For once we actually had perfect weather for tree climbing rather than ducks and the NUI
Galway mountaineering club (http://www.nuigmc.com/) ably lead by Keith Browne
facilitated people to get up into the canopy of a beech tree.