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| The Scents of Summer. The first flower in the pot of Regal Lilies has opened - and at dusk, the perfume is heavenly. Heavy and sultry, it is the very essence of a summer evening, I think. Unfortunately, the leaves surrounding the flowers are very yellow this year - a result of my not repotting the bulbs, but just leaving them in their pot to overwinter. Lesson learned - they will be taken out, dried off in the autumn and replanted next spring - hopefully along with the many little bulblets which may well have formed on the parent bulbs.
The scents in the evening here at Autumn Cottage surround me - the essential perfume of the roses, which are still flowering, though much depleted and damaged after the heavy rain of a few weeks ago. But what English cottage garden could ever be without the wafts of their essence floating by on the air? Combined with the lavender, which is also flowering now, they seem to me to be the very embodiment of all that is deliciously romantic at this time of year. The herbs are all flowering as well in the herb garden just outside my kitchen door. The oregano is laden with bees visiting each flower, while the bronze fennel has a heavy compliment of hover flies calling upon it in the corner. I crush a sprig of rosemary in my fingers as I leave the house, and carry in the last fingers of chives to throw in a salad when I return. Simple pleasures, but the sense of smell is one of the most evocative in creating an atmosphere of tradition and comfort here - they are all small things, but accents I would be loathe to live without. Journal prompt - What are the scents of summer that surround you at this time of the year? Do you remember any from your childhood that instantly bring back those long lost days? |