Autumn

End of summer

In the last days of August, there starts to be a chill in the air, even when the sun is shining.  Seeing these pictures, taken one year ago, I remember how the stone (of the steps of the Harju Ridge, Jyväskylä) felt cool to touch.

Happiness is...

... tasting the season's first homegrown tomatoes:

A misty morning

Berries

Autumn is approaching. The pomes of Sorbus aucuparia are turning from to green to orange:

We have found a redcurrant shrub, which, though abandoned, carries some berries.  I find their taste a little bit too sour...

... and like much more its black relative:

No wild raspberries this year  -  Rubus idaeus has suffered much those many weeks in June-August with almost no rain.  And, according to research, severe drought stress affects the production in the next season as well:

It's finally raining!

Plants look soaking wet and happy!

Potato digging (like in the good old days)

... in a very cute postcard my mother received some days ago.  Torpan Tarinat - Croft House Tales, photo by Johanna Heikkilä:

August

It's still hot.  In these areas we have been lucky: no heavy thunderstorms have occurred. Like many people, I do find storms fascinating; one would just hope they wouldn't cause damage to people or animals or homes or gardens... This photo was taken during an afternoon, when a storm was expected.  However, more dramatic than this it didn't get:

Many flowers start to have a faded look:

Evenings are getting darker.  This photo was taken in the cool-coloured twilight hours, with some cosy light coming through the living door window:

Guess what this is:

It's a cloud that I found particularly elegant, photographed at about 10 p.m., facing south.  Only later it came to my mind that it could be just a condensation trail left by an aircraft.  But I don't think so. :)

"Gardenia" - Greetings from Italy

The Italian "Gardenia" is one of the most elegant horticultural magazines I know, but one can find there practical articles and down-to-earth gardening tips as well. 

In the August 2014 issue, there is an interesting article (by Margherita Lombardi, photos by Marianne Majerus) about Greenway, an estate on the River Dart near Galmpton in Devon, England. Agatha Christie and her family used to spend summers and Christmases there. In the garden, one can admire the large and romantic woodland and stunning views over the river.

Già, è la passiflora  -  disse Miss Marple  -  Cresce molto in fretta.  È l'ideale se si deve nascondere un muro in cattivo stato.

... Mentre uscivano fuori, nel sole, Poirot sfiorò le foglie di una rosa rampicante che cresceva su un pergolato. I fiori erano rosati, dal tenue profumo.

Mormorò: "Sapete come si chiama questa rosa? È la Zephirine Drouhin, amico mio".

"E con questo?" disse Peter Lor in tono stizzoso.

"Quando ho visto Elinor Carlisle" riprese Hercule Poirot "mi ha parlato di rose. È stato in quel momento che ho cominciato a vedere... non proprio la luce del giorno ma quel tenue barlume che, per esempio, si scorge in un treno quando si sta per uscire da una galleria. Non è ancora la luce del giorno vera e propria, ma solo una promessa di quella luce"...

Gardening often features in Christie's literary output.  She had considerable expertise in poisonous plants; it is said that more than a half of her "victims" were poisoned. Many of the murder weapons used can be extracted from common garden plants, such as prunus, willow, yellow jasmine, monkshood, foxglove, and oxalis...

The above passages in Italian are from Nemesi (Nemesis) and La parola alla difesa (Sad Cypress). Unfortunately I didn't find the original English texts on the internet and the libraries with books in English are far, far away from here.