Regency Flora, Fauna and News

I hope you will forgive me, for running a tiny bit late today. I am off to the Historical Novel Society Conference tomorrow and had a couple of deadlines to meet.

Of course, everyone waxes lyrical about June. It is really the beginning of summer and all the flowers are putting on their best show. Of particular interest was this little extract.
Honeysuckle is an overpowering sweet odour sometimes the air is so heavy one can'tbreath. I can remember honeysuckle like that. These days it just doesn't seem to have that heady perfume. Or is it me?

What other flowers do we find in the gardens and hedgrows?


Here is a list from the



Times Telescope for 1817: Naturalists' Diary

Flowers: Larkspur, white lily, orange lily, everlasting pea, veronica, hyssop, snapdragon, linaria, yellow loosestrife, marigolds, chrysanthemum, nigella, wallfower, sweet william, iris, cranesbill, red valerian, bachelor's button, poppies, columbine, thrift, candytuft, foxglove, periwinkle, camomile, lavatera, lavender, globe
thistle, squill.


Trees, shrubs, vines: Spanish broom, yellow and white jasmine, roses, tamarisk, lime tree, cinquefoil, honeysuckle, Syringa, viburnum, Passion-flower,
Tulip-tree, spirea, Portugal laurel, sweetbriar.

Out of those I picked a couple that for me hold many happy memories of perfumes during childhood.

Wallflowers - not the kind who have to sit out the dancing.
They also have a sweet perfume and grow well in the lose mortar of walls. Hence their name.

The other one is foxglove. Come on now, don't you just love that name. We always used to pick the heads of the flowers off and pop them on the ends of our fingers, like gloves. Didn't do the flowers much good, though I must say.
Do I hear you crying, digitalis - that's poisoness. If I did you are quite correct. So if there is a murder in 1817, we know this is one plant that could be to blame.

Something else the Diarist tells us. June is when the birds stop singing. By the end of June most of them stop their call, including the cuckoo. You have to be very careful about when you have a cuckoo make its appearance - if it is the call you are using.


I am going to do more on this topic for June, because there are a few more plants and wildflowers that I would like to include, even though I cannot inclue them all.


News

I also want to tell you that I will be going on vacation from June 15 to July 10. I will be gathering lots of pictures of places for this blog as well as visiting my mum.

So I hope you will be patient if I miss a day or a week here or there, because I don't always have access to a computer.

I will be here next week and will finish up the flora and fauna and hope to get a little bit of Fashion done for June.

I hope you are enjoying some nice early summer weather. Until next week, Happy Rambles.