Fragrant Neglect.

These days I spend somewhat limited time in my white house on the hill. Instead, almost every weekend I am adding miles to my little Toyota engine, as my faithful car takes me up north to a place that is increasingly becoming my new home.

Thus my terrace and garden are suffering from a certain mild neglect. The patio tiles are surrounded by weed and I have not planted any seasonal flowers since early this spring.

My potted plants are luckily all evergreens and they seem to be nevertheless thriving quiet well and have grown beyond belief. The garden is now displaying the bloom of all my fragrant bushes and shrubs, such as jasmine, caprifolium and a variety of roses.
Despite the lack of my attention, the growth proceeds undisturbed in an uncanny way.

The other morning, as I stepped outside with a cup of coffee, I had to linger there for a while, inhaling the perfumed morning air, saturated by dew and scents of June bloom.
A faint, slightly undetermined feeling encompassed my entire being, a mixture of sweet melancholy and subtle sentimental longing with a hint of excitement. My mind became aware of an approaching finale of a certain personal era, while my consciousness captured mental shots of a moment in time - one that might never ever repeat itself again....

(Please click image for a larger view)

The Time Of Rose Hips.

In September, the many Scandinavian Rose hips bear fruit. Interestingly, they also do flower simultaneously, a certain curiosity I have observed during the past few years.

These sturdy plans grow everywhere, even on the sandy beaches. They are dominating the landscape where ever planted and will take over within years, displacing almost any other plants, thus are perfect to use as a natural hedge instead of a fence, due to their density and impenetrable shield of thorns.

Just in front of my terrace, there is a large area that is free and almost park like. A few years ago, the county decided to cut through it with a small pedestrian and bike trail, to all our dismay. However, we were happy to learn that the trails were going to be placed on the outskirts of our backyard and to be an underpass, leading below the ground level, becoming shielded from our houses by a large dirt bank. As soon as the work was done, we planted Rose Hips all over the bare surface of the bank. Interestingly, they seemed to have completely disappeared over the years, as the ground slowly became covered by natural growing wild plants.

It has been interesting to observe this development, as clearly different kind of plants gain footing each year. To begin with, only grass would grow there. This would be followed by an array of Dandelions and Red Poppies. Last year, a multitude of wild flowers took hold there and this summer, Thistles have been dominating the plant life. However, slowly, the Rose Hips are protruding through the vegetation, in higher numbers and more each year. In a few seasons, they will have outnumbered and out dominated all the other plants, creating an ocean and a protective wall of vivid pink flowers and red fruit.

Spring in Autumn?

In recent years, I have observed strange phenomena in nature. I see spring bushes blooming in the fall. Perhaps this is a natural occurrence, but I have not noticed this until perhaps a few years ago. Rosebushes have fruits and flowers at the same time (as seen on picture taken in the end of September) and my hedge is in full bloom, although its flowering season is in May-June. Well, I do not mind, it is beautiful to see flowers, when the leaves are about to fall and the days are getting shorter and colder. Maybe nature, just like me, simply refuses to acknowledge that autumn is here.