iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Yup, there is enough that is awful about Trump without exaggerating. I know only one Irish person who admitted to approving of him, and that was in the first term. But, I don’t have any super right-wing loony pals. They would like him for his anti-immigrant stance.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

In fact, few Irish people approve of Trump, but for various reasons many of us did not make it to the protest.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

With respect, there were not 50k people at protest. News outlets say “thousands”, shorthand for <5k. Also, Phoenix Park, where Trump had meetings, is not ‘blocks’ from protests. It is 3–5 km. He would not have heard protests. Important to get facts right & not descend into Trumpian exaggeration.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

This was the first time I had the phone at hand, and I didn’t get close. They’re so beautiful to see though. It would have made my day even without the phone.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Maybe the smaller-flowered older sweet peas would be more wind-proof. ‘Matucana’ is ancient and gorgeously perfumed. Purple. Anyway — your garden looks lovely. A happy jumble.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Also: Hemp agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum), native UK & Ireland. Any Salvia microphylla cvs: Royal Bumble widely available. Flower throats too long for many bees, but all seem to enjoy nectar robbing. Echium candicans (tender-ish) finished July, but hosts 100s of bees for months. Ditto E. vulgare.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

That’s delightful! Unlooked- for advice: You could put some runner beans in next year for a bit of height. If you harvest them young, they’re as good as French beans, possibly more flavourful.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Hummingbird hawk-moth visiting salvia this morning. An incredibly powerful flyer.

Bird-like moth visiting a very pink flower

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

It’s the season for the Orangey-Nosed Birdling* to appear, and @birdwatchireland.bsky.social will be getting lots of “What is THIS bird?” queries. *It's a juvenile starling with pollen acquired while sipping nectar from NZ flax (Phormium tenax) #urbannature #irishnature #speirgorm #spéirghorm

Little brown bird with orangey face on grassy area

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

27C/81F — which is mad hot for #dunlaoghaire. Keeping the terrier cool and occupied with watermelon and iced water. He’s lying on the sofa now, happy and relaxed (for the next few minutes anyway). #spéirghorm #speirgorm

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Dragon arum (Dracunculus vulgaris) luring in some greenbottle flies (Lucilia sp. ) for a bit of pollination. It smells of rotting flesh. Yum 🤢 #urbannature #irishnature #invertebrate #bugsky #pollinators #diptera #speirgorm #spéirghorm

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Echium candicans (or possibly E. webbii) keeping about 100 bees happy: mostly white-tailed and buff-tailed bumblebees. [Next post will demonstrate how I like to keep all my invertebrates busy😊] #urbannature #irishnature #invertebrate #bugsky #pollinators #speirgorm #spéirghorm

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Another one a little early for #WildflowerHour #WildFlowerShow in my wild garden. The Two Thugs: Green Alkanet and Red Valerian. Such a clear blue flower, but another non-native. Still, the bees love it, even if I don't.

of Green Alkanet in foreground with pink Rev Valerian behind.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

A little early for #WildflowerHour #WildFlowerShow in my wild garden, all introduced #wildflowers, except possibly the Dryopteris: Red Valerian, Welsh Poppy with Hedge Bindweed 🙃 coiling coyly through the lot

Pink flowered Red Valerian in foreground, yellow Welsh Poppy behind. Heart-shaped leaves of bindweed and pretty, filigreed fern.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Thanks for info. I sold my camera gear a couple years ago (heavy Canon). I can use my photographer husband’s gear, but he has every conceivable lens except a macro. Your pics make me miss my macro! Don’t stop taking them.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Your pictures are always so delicious! What lens did you use for that?

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

I can’t remember a thing about the bit I saw, except that it was awful. Wiped from my memory. By CSA, you mean the crime to do with kids? (I had to look it up). That’s absolutely appalling — and about half a century out of date as a subject for pathetic humour.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

We watched the first 15 or 20 minutes of first episode. It was truly awful.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

I’m pretty sure these pigeons on the paulownia are plotting something. Or maybe they’re just ignoring me steadfastly.

Five feral pigeons ranged on the branches of a tree, all facing away from the viewer.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Thank you! I’ll follow that feed 😊

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Yes! Apparently that’s it. I had forgotten that from my school-days Irish.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

I think the genitive is goirme — but I’m not sure.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

I hear you!!! I can’t sleep if I’ve made an error.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

PS I still have an ancient Irish English dictionary that I bought in the 70s for school. Published in 1962. It has the dot for the séimhiú 😊.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Thank you! I know about lists, and made a couple when I joined Bluesky, and I do follow some feeds. And thanks for explaining ghorm & gorm. I learned some Irish back in the dark ages at school. I had forgotten about the séimhiú (never knew how to spell that!) for adjectives with fem. nouns.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

What is a “single first-mover” tag?🫣

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Why the ghorm instead of gorm? Genitive?

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Friday night question for Irish Bluesky. Is it #spéirgorm or #spéirghorm? Is ghorm the possessive: ‘Sky of blue’? And another thing: most people (including me) leave off the fada, because we don’t know if hashtags like fadaí. But, if we could just sort out the gorm vs ghorm issue, I’d be happy.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Timber Press are all about *functional* titles — so I guess that's why you couldn't have the more creative Painting with Plants (I used that as a chapter in one of my books 😄).

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

A bit early for #wildflowerhour: Horsetail (Equisetum), but which one? And Colt’s-foot (Tussilago farfara) on cliff ledge in Shanganagh, Co Dublin. The first contains silica and was used for scrubbing pots, and the second is reputed to be good for scratchy throats and coughs. #storyplants

Curious pale spikes with ornate black bands stick up out of the soil. Also here: roundish leaves and yellow dandelion-like flowers.

Closer view of the previous picture: Curious pale spikes with ornate black bands stick up out of the soil. Also here: roundish leaves and yellow dandelion-like flowers

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

Moon alert!!! Cruddy phone pic of gorgeous crescent moon, with a corona. If your skies are clear it’s worth paying homage to our beautiful moon 🌙

Dark tree branches and wires silhouetted against dark sky with tiny crescent moon

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

Ummm… I don’t know what that sentence means. Is Pointless a game?

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

That’s a good one! I’ll be sure to use that next time I meet a botanist 🤓

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

I'm made happy by all the excellent, slightly abstruse words in Urban Plants by @trevorthebotanist.bsky.social. Here's one: endozoochory (seed dispersal in animal poop). But my favourite so far is BATOLOGIST: one who studies BRAMBLES. Thanks, Trevor, for brightening this rainy day 😊 #urbanplants

Book cover of Urban Plants by Trevor Dines

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

It was all artists and hippies and workers connected to the port.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Yes! Death of a mother is pretty world-rocking. I’ve lived in Dun L for years. It used to be tremendously cheap and unfashionable.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Well, if it’s any consolation, I’ve been in bed all weekend with some ghastly respiratory bug. But, yes, the night sky lifts my spirits hugely.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

The sky is so good tonight even in my light-polluted town. Jupiter is there. Orion too, and Sirius — brightest star in the sky now.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Oh, that is sad. So young. I was 29 when mine died, also of cancer. But there is a world of difference between 22 and 29.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Oh, that is just perfect. I love that, a “children’s moon”. Your mother sounds like a warm and funny woman!

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Get outside if you have clear skies! Bright and beauteous full moon to the northeast. My phone pic does not do it justice. Such a thrill to see it after all the rain, rain, rain.

Full moon in the sky, with chimneys and houses underneath it. A tree in the foreground.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

That’s a pity! It’s so lovely and delicate. And delightful — with the egg and pupa and food plant.

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Jane Powers @powersflowers.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

That’s gorgeous! And re Keble Martin, I demanded it from a friend for my 21st birthday, aeons ago. I still have it. A lovely book.

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