“If you don’t love things in particular, you cannot love the world, because the world doesn’t exist except in individual things”
Thomas Moore
The ditches are a jumble of briars, a tangle of weeds, a mess of curling browning leaves. They cascade onto the lane, in the subdued light of early autumn.
A heady scent draws you into the middle of a phenomenon. The wild honeysuckle is budding, flowering and fruiting all at once. In the darkening days of autumn this climber is still in it’s stride, an exotic reminder of life cycles.
The young ones on the lane have returned to school, a trio of thrushes are practicing their skills at the top of a tree, the now enormous cattle are munching the EU grass.
And wild honeysuckle is the thing today; absorbing, beautiful, tender.
More life cycles of flowers here in the Petals Gallery
You have captured some incredible shots of the wild honeysuckle. I love the smell; so sweet….
Thanks Nancy. It's always that heady scent that stops me in my tracks too. I don't suppose that people who haven;t come across honeysuckle in the wild would believe in its power. It can draw me in from any ramble!!!!
I love wild honeysuckle but it's the berries that I'm seeing now rather than flowers. It grows in local woods and the flowering this year was really good with that wonderful scent drifting on the air. I shall have to see whether I can find any flowers still as I walk round this morning.
We haven't had a good summer but we are having a mild early autumn as often happens. I suppose this is why I am finding the plants in three stages of their cycle all at once. Sounds like a pleasant task you have ahead of you today Rowan……
Such a gentle Autumnal look at honeysuckle Catherine. Here it is overtaking our roadsides I'm afraid to say and along with passion fruit vine is smothering native vegetation. But as an English girl, I cannot help but love it and the scent that pervades it. You've got my vote too of course!
Thank you Jane! O that's mad! It is still a somewhat subdued and fairly co-operative plant here. My current problem is with the fennel which cannot be contained and is rampaging across the country. Heading into autumn now so you have Spring….wonderful….. I'm picturing it now…..must pay you a virtual visit!
Catherine, I just had to let you know that I was browsing through my Culpeper's Complete Herbal (as you do!) and found this "Fennel is good to break wind, to provoke urine, and ease the pains of the stone, and helps to break it. The leaves or seed, boiled in barley-water and drank, are good for nurses, to increase their milk, and make it more wholesome for the child. The leaves, or rather the seeds, boiled in water, stays the hiccough, and takes away the loathings which oftentimes happen to the stomachs of sick and feverish persons, and allays the heat thereof. The seed boiled in wine and drank, is good for those that are bit with serpents, or have eat poisonous herbs, or mushrooms." So don't panic about your fennel because it seems you can put it to good use! x
LOL! Fantastic bit of information there Jane. I love me some fennel tea so I hope now that my stones are all eased and my loathings are taken away!! Such wonderful language. Thanks for the Friday morning smile!
Honeysuckle does have a wonderful scent. And I like much your quote from T. Moore. Good thought. Jack
Hi Jack. Isn't it a great quote for gardeners? I mean you get to understand the importance of the very tiny creatures when you are on your knees in the mud!! Photography is the same. It becomes impossible to detach from the beauty and value of each tiny thing…..thanks for dropping by:~)
Yum! I'm not sure if this is exactly the same kind of honeysuckle I used to enjoy as a child (a few blossoms picked afforded a sweet treat), but these are beautiful photos! I can almost smell the flowers.
Mary Anne, I'm not sure either! Don't know enough about Alaska for that! It does have a heavenly scent though, so I'm sure they are related!
The scent of the honeysuckle in my garden reminds me of holidays, walking along Cornish lanes on summer evenings. The smell was divine.
O yes it's all over the lanes here too. A reminder of how precious some of those old hedgerow "weeds" are!!!
Oh how I adore honeysuckle, I can smell it from here, I swear.
Good luck in the awards x
Thank you Annie! That honeysuckle is still flowering and the weather here is wonderful! After our awful summer it's hard to believe…….so lapping it up while it lasts x
Oh I do agree Catherine…right now it is the asters and late helianthus drawing in the traveling monarchs here…ah such medicine for my mind, body and soul!
Thanks Donna, September has a poignant beauty about it. These calm autumn days that we are having are just that ….medicine for the soul :~)
I grew up with so much honeysuckle on the farm…thanks for bringing back wonderful memories! Beautiful images!
You could never forget that heavenly scent…..
I so love your quote from Thomas Moore. Thank you for sharing that, I'll write it down to come back to it. I just received your latest post, and can't find a way to comment. Am I missing something Catherine? I usually see the comments at the bottom of the post, like this one. I was so taken by the clouds and the "community" feeling around your home and wanted to comment on it….
I hope you are well. I'm not sure about all this technology Susie!! I think if you can't comment on the email then the best thing to do is click the link READ IN BROWSER. That should take you to the blog and you can comment here. Yes Thomas Moore is one of my faves!
A beautiful quote from Thomas Moore.
I love your honeysuckle in tender shades of pale blue, pink, and light gold.