I had hoped to write a post about the lovely days I’ve had in my plan to Avoid the Stress and Stretch the Festive Season. . . . However, lovely as they have been, and really, not stressful at all, the last few days have been exhausting. We made it out to visit my mother-in-law this morning, managed to stop for a bowl of pho on the way home, but as soon as I got back to the apartment, completely obliterated by fatigue I sank into a deep sleep. A wonderful nap with a powerful message.
So the longer post will wait. Luckily, I had uploaded these photos before we left our island garden the other day, and I can leave you with some Pretty Pretty. Callicarpa (beauty berries) above, blooms of Viburnum bodnatense Pink Dawn below . . . and oh, how I wish the screen could do scratch-and-sniff. I’m a huge fan of winter-flowering fragrant plants in the garden, so good for the spirit November through February, and this might just be my favourite.
Stunning against a blue sky, they can also impart a very welcome note to a dull grey day . . .
And another favourite below, glowing magically in the sunshine, Mahonia japonica, also a fragrant delight
And also even more welcome in the coastal drizzle of mid-December. . . .
I’m going to enjoy a quiet afternoon now, saving further words for tomorrow. I hope that you, too, are managing that balance between doing wonderful, seasonal things and resting up in between. . . . Take care, festively . . . 😉
Your garden pictures are always such a treat! Rest up, and manage your reservoir of energy for the upcoming weeks.
Thanks, Sue — I love your garden photos as well. And yes, these days/weeks do take careful conservation of energy. . .
Those lovely winter blooms, flashes of colour, puffs of perfume are some of the things that persuaded me to come out this way, one cold and frozen March. It's been years, but I'll never get over the thrill.
The first time experiencing that magic "puff of perfume" as you perfectly call it, one is hooked, absolutely! I remember it especially at UVic, where clever landscapers have tucked lovely little pockets of fragrance around campus where they lift a moody November or February day instantly.
Here it is now early summer, so I have no shortage of blooms – agapanthus, blue irises going for a second show, flighty aquilegias, star jasmine, magnolias, cosmos, and a funny little woodland plant with bells (lost its label …) The azaleas and gardenias and camellias are finished, but the garden is generally quite a green and soothing place to be. I have actually been making a point of spending a couple of minutes enjoying it while I'm hanging out laundry, as otherwise I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle with my lists … Last weekend we were at a tiny wedding (9 people including bride & groom) which was absolutely gorgeous, but there went another opportunity to try to generate some festivity in my house (or bake or buy gifts or wrap or make cards …).
I say enjoy the festivity where you find it — at that lovely wedding — and perhaps some of it might follow you home without having to be baked or bought or wrapped or made. . . . but that's probably hopelessly naive of me and also a bit amnesiac (my days of kids-at-home long behind me). Glad you find some soothing in the garden. Take care!
Sometimes I marvel that we are in the SAME country. (Although if you ask a certain contingent here, we are not.) We got a foot of snow, the mountain sparkles in the sun.
Beautiful photos.
I should admit that I often feel a bit guilty posting my winter garden photos, knowing my compatriots are buried under a foot of snow. Does it help to know that I probably had a mild concussion from my fall on the ice last week? 😉
And here in Maryland we are having an unusually cold December so your descriptions of fragrant flowers are wonderful.
These flowers are such wonderful refreshment in winter, when most of the landscape sleeps. The Callicarpa is so amazingly purple. It's a plant that's fairly new to me – I saw at the UVic garden a month or two ago.
Things were going calmly around here until I was called in to teach today and tomorrow as well. I had it in my mind as a possibility; it just means that I had to exert some effort to accomplish stuff this evening.