It's sprig business for a shamrock producer on Saint Patrick's Day
After a few tough years, shamrock growing on a commercial scale is making a comeback.
Producing the perfect crop in time to hit such a narrow marketing window takes green fingers. The trick is to have the shamrock looking bright and bushy for the big day. But very few people are growing shamrock to produce seed for re-sowing, so it is difficult to get a pure source.
White clover is a close relation of the shamrock and, in the true tradition of the Irish family, the clover cousin will often turn up where it is not wanted!
Shamrock growers wince at the sight of a white-tinged clover among their delicate shamrock leaves. Gardeners will know the shamrock as Trifolium dubium, and white clover as T. repens.
Our picture by Shane O' Neill shows Minister for Horticulture, Trevor Sargent with Rosemary Swan, shamrock producer in Kilmessan, Co Meath.
