SWANTON'S PLANT CENTRE…read more My poor Rosemary was a victim of the hard winter and but it took me a while to write off her chances of a full recovery. That decision out of the way, I headed to Swantons Plants at the Ballincollig Farmers Market to get a replacement. Told the man on duty my tale of woe and we concluded that the effects of the prolonged winter on plant-life were much the same as those of the banking collapse on business life. The market is held in a lane between modern buildings, quite a few of them empty. "I've been trading here a year, " said the man from Swantons. "And not one new shop has opened." Swantons' main business is in Skibbereen and they are also regulars at the market there. I had bought some parsley and sage on an earlier visit and added just a pot of thyme to the rosemary. The herbs by the way cost a very reasonable two euro each. The stock though goes away beyond herbs and you can buy all kinds of flowers and small plants there and get a bit of home-spun philosophy as well.