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Captivating Work
Barry Lupton talks to Stephen Butler, Curator of Dublin Zoo’s plant collection.
Putting on a good plant show can be a challenge at the best of times. Soil problems, correct watering, flowering times, associations, exposure and weather fluctuations are just a few of the factors that can conspire to undermine the efforts of even the most diligent of plant loving professional. So imagine arriving to work every day with the knowledge that your work might be trampled by hoards of rampaging children: or worse, trampled by rampaging elephants; munched by incorrigible marsupials; battered by boisterous bonobos and pecked at by puzzling parrots. These, and a host of other unusual challenges are what face Stephen Butler, Curator of Dublin’s Zoological plant collection, each and every day.
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Environmental Alchemist
Good business ideas are one thing, but realising them into successful, money making ventures is another thing altogether.
Back in 2002, two entrepreneurial lads were making a healthy living maintaining gardens in Castleknock, when they hit upon a possible business opportunity. At the end of each day, the two lads found themselves with vast amounts of green waste that needed to be disposed of and as their business grew, so did the volume of waste they produced.
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A Sound Approach
In an industry where many long established businesses are making dramatic cutbacks and considering closing their doors for good, you would imagine that it would be nigh on impossible to locate a horticultural start-up: let alone one that’s thriving. Enter David Cusack and Freestyle Nurseries.
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Seeds of Change
Barry Lupton talks to an Irish horticulturalist who has devoted his life to working for the benefit of others.
Making charitable donations is engrained in the Irish psyche. Ask anyone about their introduction to giving and they’ll probably recall the first time they brought home a Trócaire box from national school; and how pleased there were to return it some weeks later, weighted down with shillings and pence. Perhaps it’s our predisposition to guilt, or our long history of abuse at the hands of others that has blessed us - some might say burdened – with an amazing capacity for empathy, understanding and giving. Whatever it is, giving to others is very much part of being Irish.
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Tough times, tough decsions: what the next generation thinks
We’re facing deeply troubling times. The global credit crunch, a decade of negligent economic mismanagement, cheap imports and three years of horrendously poor summer weather have brought our industry to its knees. One or two more knocks and it could be lights out for Irish horticulture.
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