A First Sense of Autumn

 

On my walk yesterday I had a first sense of Autumn/Fall approaching*... Even if summer  here has not been as persistently hot and dry as further south in Europe, it's still been very dry for this area. We've had a few showers lately, but not really a whole lot of rain in total - so the ground is still very dry, and many wild grassy areas have turned brown.

*Meteorological autumn starts on September 1, while astronomical autumn begins with the equinox on September 22, 2026.  

Goldenrod is in bloom now in many places, along roads, or like in the photo above, on the slopes along the railway. There used to be a lot of Goldenrod growing in the "wild corner" of my grandparents'/parents' garden (my dad's childhood home, which then served us as summer cottage for a number of years, before my parents moved there to live in their own retirement years). My mum used to take in some to dry, which she then put in vases for winter decorations - sometimes together with other dried flowers.

In the old cemetery, one can already wade through "fallen leaves" in some places - although I think most of what we see just now is not really leaves, but remnants of tree blooms or seed pods (above, linden trees). After a few windy days, a lot of them just now, though!

 Rowan berries are turning red (even if still more orange than properly red).

And flower beds keep on changing and "maturing"...

 

 

 

The two top flower bed photos are from mid July, the next two from 1st August, the last two from 9th August.

Autumn Flowers

 

 

 

29.8

For my birthday at the end of August I recieved this lovely bouquet of flowers - "all the way from Scotland"... Even if of course the actual bouquet was put together by a florist here in Borås, Sweden. I was quite impressed that they had managed to incorporate flowers to actually remind me of Scotland, though: Thistles (which I recall is the national flower of Scotland) + something resembling heather. (Having done a bit of research now, I think they probably aren't heather though, but some sort of sea lavender.)  

The bouquet seemed to remain totally unchanged for about 1½ week! (I just changed the water in the vase a couple of times.) But then the carnations and chrysanthemum started to fade a bit; and I decided to break up the bouquet. The 'heather' and thistles felt like they had just dried, so I hung those upside down to dry some more for another 1½ week. Two twigs of green leaves still looked just the same, so I put those back in water in a different vase. They still look the same after three weeks!

20.9

Google Image Search identifies these as Ruscus hypophyllum - "a species of shrub in the family Asparagaceae". According to some forums they may remain unchanged for weeks, in water; while other people have apparently managed to get them to grow roots. I guess I'll just have to leave them and see what happens! 
 

The dried thistles and whatever-it-is I have now put in a vase without water, on the shelf by a coastal landscape painted by my friend Lena N; an original water colour of hers which I bought when visiting her exhibition in Smögen on the west coast of Sweden a couple of years ago.

 

No-one is truly sure of how the thistle came to be Scotland’s national flower. A well-known story though attributes the thistle being chosen as the emblem of Scotland to the Battle of Largs (a coastal town in Ayrshire) in the 13th century. A Norse army journeyed to Scotland, intent on conquering the land. The legend has it that they left their ships under cover of night, and were planning to ambush the sleeping Scottish Clansmen. In order to be as quiet as possible, the Norsemen had removed their shoes. However as they crept across the countryside, one of them stepped onto a thorny thistle. His cry of pain roused the Scots, and the warriors rose up and defeated the invaders. 

https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/the-thistle-scotlands-national-flower 

Goldenrods and Fireweed

 

Solidago virgaurea / European Goldenrod 
(Swedish: Gullris, similar meaning as Goldenrod)

Chamaenerion angustifolium / Fireweed (US) / Rosebay willowherb (UK)
(Swedish: Mjölkört or Rallarros)

Both of these flowers are seen in bloom in abundance here, this time of year - reminding us that summer is coming to an end, and autumn approaching. They often grow along railroads and roads, and I think they're both often regarded as something in between wildflowers and "invasive" here... (As they have a habit of sneaking into gardens as well!)

The English Wikipedia article on the yellow Goldenrods tells me that in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries this plant was used in Europe to heal wounds, and has well known "astringent, diuretic and antiseptic" properties.  I did not know that - and  had to look up "astringent"! ("causing the contraction of skin cells and other body tissues") 

Wiki also tells me that the American name for the pink ones, Fireweed,  "derives from the species' abundance as a colonizer on burnt sites after forest fires and other disturbances". Here in Sweden, the name Rallarros means "navvy rose"; because it so often grows along railways banks here. (Even if in my photos above, it seems that it is the goldenrods that have taken over that particular part of a railway bank in my neighbourhood...)

 

Out and About

I'm still feeling a bit "knocked out" by the hot weather here. The temperature may have gone down a couple of degrees (C) compared to the weekend; but instead it's now more humid, with occasional thunder and rain showers. Still too warm indoors; and as my study faces south-west, I'm limiting my time at the computer... 

Today I managed to get out for a walk (or a "stroll") between 10-11 am; just my usual paths around the old cemetery, and down to the little park by the river for a bit. 

 

Yellow water lilies in the river, blurry because zoomed in from quite a long distance with my phone camera. 

 

 
A number of similar flowerbeds in blue are found in different "park" areas of the cemetery.

I have shown several photos before of the hares living in the cemetery - or at least I assume that they "live" there, as that's where I usually see them. However, it happens that they also visit the lawns between the apartment buildings where I live. But it's usually in winter evnings that I have spotted them there, and not least when snow on the ground, so I have kind of assumed that it's been when they've had difficulties finding food elsewhere.) But a few nights ago (Saturday) I saw one grazing on the lawn below my balcony, and it wasn't even dark yet! And certainly no lack of greenery in other places, less frequented by humans. (It was unusually quiet in the neighbourhood at the time, though - not children out playing etc.)

Multiple images of one and the same hare, zoomed in from my balcony on Saturday evening.

Sunny Flowers in the Rain

 

Flower beds that "shine" even when the sky is grey...

 

 

Linking to Mersad's Through My Lens 

 

"After the rain, the sun will reappear. There is life.
After the pain, the joy will still be here." ~ Walt Disney

Wallflowers

 Definitions of Wallflower:
"a person who sits by the wall at a dance because no one has asked them to dance"
"a shy person, especially female, who ...  does not attract much attention".

On top of a stone wall along the old cemetery, these tiny yellow flowers are now in bloom. I did not know their name, but put my photo into Google Image Search, and found that their Latin name is Phedimus hybridus or Sedum sibericum (English: Siberian Stonecrop;  Swedish: Sibiriskt fetblad.)

A bit further on, a taller and older part of the wall is totally covered by these big old Hydrangeas - or Hortensias - which really don't fit the symbolic definitions of wallflower, as they are rather majestic... They are still flowers growing on a wall, though! ;-)

Everything at Once...

 

Summery weather with daytime temperatures around 23C (73F) has made nature go very quickly from spring to summer. Walking through the city park again today, it was almost like wading in pink snow, with all the cherry blossom now falling to the ground. 

At the same time, other trees and plants are now springing into bloom instead. 

On Tuesday, I noticed the first azaleas in bloom in the cemetery, especially the yellow ones. The next day (yesterday), the red ones had caught up as well.

The horse chestnut trees are "showing off" too:

The birch trees are all green now, so the worst of the birch pollen explosion should be over soon... But there are obviously still a lot of "whatever" kind of pollen in the air lately anyway, as I've been having extra problems with my eyes - itching and feeling dry in spite of multiple eye drops; and a couple of weeks ago I had a red eye for a whole week, looking like something out of a horror movie. (I hid under big sunglasses whenever I went out, whether the sun was actually shining or not.)

 Viola tricolor growing wild on a hillside between the cemetery and a nearby street.

It's also dandelion time.

And today I spotted the first lilacs:

 

Bird-in-a-bush

 

Did you start looking for a bird in that first picture? Sorry! There isn't one (I think). But according to Wikipedia, bird-in-a-bush is one of the names for this flower.

When I came across the flower on my walk today, I had no idea what it was called in any language, Swedish included. So I used Google Image Search to find out. 

It seems to be one of those plants that go by many different names. In Swedish it's called stor nunneört. A direct translation of that to English would be something like "big nun's herb" (but implying it's the herb that's big rather than the nun). In Latin it's called Corydalis solida. In English, it's goes by the names fumewort and bird-in-a-bush. Another article on only Corydalis adds that the name comes from Greek korydalís = crested lark. (Latin Galerida cristata, Swedish tofslärka). 

So does "bird in a bush" refer to crested lark? I still had difficulties quite seeing it...

Image from Wikipedia

But then I read on a bit further still about the bird, and found this passage: 

Francis of Assisi considered the crested lark a bird of special significance, based on similarities he perceived between it and the life of the Friars Minor: its plain earth-coloured plumage and hood, its humility ("for it goes willingly along the wayside and finds a grain of corn for itself"), and its time spent in song.

Now perhaps we're getting there? The flower also grows along the wayside, and "sings quietly" (but with colour rather than sound).

(PS. In the article about the crested lark, there are also a couple of video clips where you can listen to it sing, sitting on the ground.)

The Progress of Spring

 

 

 

Another quite warm day here, in spite of being rather grey. I managed a short walk just after lunch, before it started raining, and noted a lot of Scilla in bloom now, in the lawns around the estate where I live. 

And they have also started planting garden pansies in various places, like in a pot at the entrance of a small neighbourhood shop...

... and in the cemetery.

It was also warm enough for me to wear my new denim jacket rather than a winter coat.

I'll probably have to go back to wearing a winter coat again tomorrow though, as forecasts predict that then the temperature will have dropped back to 8 rather than 18'C (+ rain).

 

FLOWER in the crannied wall,

I pluck you out of the crannies,

I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,

Little flower--but if I could understand

What you are, root and all, all in all,

I should know what God and man is.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson