Rosie Greening ART

There are many challenges which come along with writing a book.

Firstly there is research – finding suitable reliable and accurate sources for information on the plants.

I’ve got a great book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flora-Isle-Man-D-Allen/dp/0901106232
I’ve got the agreed native tree list: https://www.mwt.im/news/manx-native-tree-list along with the great work on the ancient forests: https://www.mwt.im/terrestrial/ancient-woodland-inventory
And, lastly from Biosphere Isle of Man: https://www.biosphere.im/uploads/appendix-1-isle-of-man-site-designations.pdf

Secondly there is finding the plant species themselves. Identification in the field when the plant is unfamiliar to me isn’t easy! For this reason I’m taking guided walks where possible, to make as many botany minded allies as possible. I’m lucky the Isle of Man has so many people with so much passion and knowledge they’re keen to share!

Thirdly, there’s combining those two things in to a beautiful page composition of art and words. This involves much writing, editing and re-writing and a lot of sketching, drawing, planning, going back out for more searching, more researching, checking references and so on. It’s a never ending loop in search of perfection.

One good thing, is that this is making me get out and around our beautiful island’s glens and plantations. My aim is to tick off all of them by the end of the summer. However with plants being so seasonal, i’m going to have to do them all again come autumn and winter I’m sure!