Memories of Summer, Hopes for Spring, and Snubbing Lady Winter

When I'm not hoping for snow and enjoying grey skies and hot cups of tea, I'm plotting what I'll plant in the spring and remembering happy summer days. I found myself yearning for some warm summer colors, so I sat down with my watercolors and had a bit of fun.

Photo: Me

Photo: Me

In general, summers where I live can be unbearably hot (not the 85 degree 'hot' that northerners imagine is unbearable; I mean 104 degrees fahrenheit or more), but there are perks to them; magnolia blossoms, star jasmine, honeysuckle, and gardenias scent the night air and cause me to feel intoxicated, to the point that I'm ready to vanish into the night in search of the fairies who must assuredly be responsible for the other-worldly vapors.

Photos: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Honeysuckle_.jpg , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Magnolia_flower_Duke_campus.jpg , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Trachelospermum_jasminoides1215878198.jpg

There's also the rivers and lakes that I do so enjoy. Even if I don't feel like swimming, there are so many wonderful things to see and find; dragonfly nymphs, pretty stones, moss...

Photo: Me

So until I get a winter wonderland for at least several days in a row, I'm going to snub Lady Winter and plot my garden and dream of summer nights, since I'm not to have my fair share of snow.

Cold Fronts and Early Mornings

This morning I dragged myself out of bed at 6:00 as part of my effort to to become an early riser... and I was immediately rewarded. A cold front had blown in over night, and after finishing breakfast, the wind blowing outside the window coaxed me outside and into the crisp, cool air. What delight to feel that first tingle of fall in my fingertips! Even as I write this, I am listening to the rush of the wind in the trees and breathing in the scent of woodsmoke. Numerous plants are blooming their last few rounds of flowers before it becomes cold for good in the next month or two.

First came the lovely, glowing roses... 

Then the lovely "surprise lilies," which sprang up after all the rain.

The gardenias are still blooming away as well, and there are spiderworts all over the yard, hiding in the ivy and grasses.

This lovely morning glory had its face turned toward the morning sun.

And last, but not least - the first real sign of fall. Gather ye rosebuds while you may, because soon it will be chilly and damp!

My Grandmother's Gardenias

"For you," my grandmother said, and handed me one perfect, perfumed gardenia blossom. I made the universal noise of delight: "Oh!"

There are few things as intoxicating to me as breathing in the scent of a flower,  and of all flowers that give off scent, gardenias are one of my favorites, especially since they always make me think of my grandmother and her lovely backyard. In the summer, it smells of honeysuckle, jasmine, and her gardenias, which she grows better than anyone I know. Something in the water where she lives, or perhaps in the plants themselves, make the clippings she takes and puts in a vase sprout roots within a few days.

While living in the South may have its share of hot days, we at least get to experience the delights of plants that cannot survive farther north, gardenias being one of them. My parents live only two and a half hours north, yet my mother has never been able to keep any of the rootings my grandmother has given her alive.

So I felt like I'd been given a real treasure today when my grandmother handed me the gardenia blossom as I sat outside in the sun crocheting. As I set the blossom down on my piece of handiwork, I was struck by the way the white blossom looked against the lettuce green of my yarn, and ran to get my camera. Such moments must be captured quickly; soon enough the blossom will wilt in its baby food jar and only dried petals will remain, but every time I look at these photos I will smell that blossom once again.