On our windswept in hill in Co. Clare I’ve planted over two hundred trees, various kinds of native species. It’s only now, several years later, that I can get my head around which is which – recognize leaves, identify bark textures. The only tree that truly thrives on the hill is the gorse, which has always been there. But I carry on planting trees, in some kind of obsessive desire to change the landscape… and block out the new bungalow behind us.