The Feelings of Flowers

"Perfumes are the feelings of flowers."  -  Heinrich Heine September is when my garden is filled with Sweet Autumn Clematis - little white stars climbing up trees and bushes.  It is a haven for pollinators so there is a buzz of sound.  The scent is sweet and citrusy and is everywhere.   It reminds one of May and the scent of apple blossoms and hyacinths.  And then we see a red leaf and know this is the finale I saw red leaves yesterday climbing up poles and tree trunks.  I am curious whether they are poison ivy or virginnia creeper.  My own garden vriginnia creeper is not turning red yet.  So it might be the abundant poison ivy of Niagara that is the first to turn colour.   How to know which it is?  The expression to remember is: Leaves of three?  Let them be!  I didn't stop to check, but kept thinking of the expression. There are more rhyming expressions to help with the identification of poison ivy:  "Longer middle stem; stay away from them." -- the middle leaflet has a long stem while the two side leaflets attach almost directly. "Ragged rope, don't be a dope!" Poison ivy vines on trees have a furry, "raggy" or ragged appearance. "Berries white, run in fright" and "Berries white, danger in sight." "Red leaflets in the spring, it's a dangerous thing." -- new leaflets sometimes are red in the spring. Later, in the summer, the leaflets are green -- while in autumn they can be reddish-orange. "Side leaflets like mittens, will itch like the dickens." This refers to the shape of some poison ivy leaves, where each of the two side leaflets has a notch that makes the leaflet look like a mitten with a "thumb." (Caution:all parts of the plant can cause itching, not just these leaves.) The latest iPhone was announced - at a notable price.  My own iPhone came in handy on the trip.  It was used for these panorama pictures - the iPhone does it all.  Here are two from the Denver Botanical Garden.  This Victorian conservatory had bird cages hanging inside, each with airplanes in each.

The Joy of Floral Scent

A Chocolate and Vanilla garden has pizzazz.  It brings attention to the aspect of scent in the garden and that gardens as a living art appeal to all the senses. So you want to step up the experience of your garden. What are the top ten best smelling flowers? According to the florist association this list is: Stock Freesia Lilacs Gardenia Rose – garden & rainbow Lilies – asian & stargazer Boronia ( a fragrant shrub from Australia) Jasmine We start to think of our own favourites - and don't many come to mind.  Another site considered garden plants and flowers in the top seven:  Magnolia  Lilac  Violet  Rose  Sweet Pea  Gardenia  Freesia My experience is limited in terms of all the flowers in the world. A website with a thread of contributions from around the world covered unknown plants for us in the Northern Hemisphere.  Take a look at Quora.com.  Which floral scent has the cupid's arrow for you?

Charles Daley Park in Autumn

In the Air - Our Favourite Smells

In the Air I came across these Autumn images of Charles Daley Park's weeping willow that sits over the natural lagoon pond.  I realized that Winter doesn't have much mist or fog in the air.  There aren't the smells and scents that there are the rest of the year. Looking at these images I can smell that Autumn air - moist, peaty, full of fallen leaves. What are your favourite smells?  What are the nostalgic scents that make us the happiest?  It turns out to be the smells that remind us of home that bring us the most happiness. These are things like freshly washed sheets, cut grass and home baking. Bacon is a high-scorer too. What about melted chocolate, warm cookies, coffee, lavender, early misty morning, the sea, freshly baked pie, vanilla, rainy day, old books, burning wood, fruity shampoo, new car?  These are some of the top twenty. Now it is your turn to name your favourite smells.