As part of Bulmers National biodiversity program in conjunction with the All Ireland Pollinator Plan, 1000 fruit trees were offered to Clonmel Tidy Towns for distribution within our community.
As the home of Bulmers, Clonmel was chosen as the first of what is hoped to be many community initiatives to encourage the growing of fruit trees to aid our bee population. After months of work Bulmers announced their Apple Tree Initiative in September and we launched immediately across all our social media platforms. A QR code allowed posters to be scanned with easy access to the online application form. The response was amazing and by the end of September all 1000 trees had been requested. While we concentrated on providing the trees to local recipients we were more than happy to take requests from neighbouring Tidy Towns groups. We were delighted that Cashel, Ballymacarbry, Mullinahone, Fethard and Moyglass took us up on the offer and requested trees for their own communities.
The trees were grown at Annaveigh Plants Ltd in New Inn. It was important for us that the trees were grown locally not just to ensure they were suited to our environment and insect population but also to reduce the carbon footprint of the delivery. We are thrilled that we were chosen to be part of this great Nation Wide project and to work with a local company. As the ‘Vale of Honey’ any pollination project that supports our insect population is of great importance to us. The time spent by our volunteers organising and promoting this project cannot be understated. On the day itself we had Gaisce Students, Scouts, Church Community members as well as our own Tidy Towns members volunteering to assist with the tree distribution. The following week also included Tús participants assisting with the tree distribution.
The apple trees are Malus d. ‘Golden Delicious’ on an m9 rootstock. A great growing apple tree for the Irish climate. It’s a sweet apple with a taste similar to honey, just perfect for our ‘Vale of Honey’.
