Hazel and Dogwood: Honoring Both

The hedgerow in my photo includes Hazel.

During our recent trip to The Burren, the bus driver and our geologist guide were talking about Hazel - mainly, how it grows wild along the narrower roads of Ireland. No doubt, overgrown shrubbery would make the driving more difficult.

Hazel is locally abundant in woods, hedgerows, rocky ground and scrub throughout Ireland.

Then, the conversation between the two turned to the nut crop the Hazel would produce this year. Hot dog, these are the nuts in the hazelnut stuff many Americans adore! Now I get it.

I fondly recall learning to appreciate volunteer Dogwood trees as a child.

As I continued to eavesdrop on their back-and-forth, I learned that the Hazel is somewhat protected in Ireland. There is a ban on hedge cutting and burning on uncultivated land from March 1 to August 31. (For the protection of wildlife who depend on them and I suppose for the good of white chocolate hazelnut cookies everywhere.)

So the Hazel and the Dogwood have something in common - both are honored, if not protected. The Dogwood is the Virginia state flower, and as a child, I was taught to adore and honor it. The legend goes it is illegal to cut down a Dogwood.

Interesting that when we travel, we tend to draw parallels between what we discover about a new place and what we know of the one call home. Why is that? Do the similarities we observe make us comfortable? More accepting?