We walked early today, the threat of thunderstorms this afternoon looming on the weather forecast. Earlier I had seen a post on Instagram showing a morning walk, full of cow parsley and blossom. I shook my head thinking that our hedgerows aren't out yet. On my last walk with the dog a few days ago, the hawthorn was showing no sign of emerging and the cow parsley was just slender stems poking up from rather wet and sodden ground.
How wrong I was! The walk to the brook was filled with beech hedge after beech hedge bedecked in new leaves. Bright green luminescence even on this dull day. The leaves are downy, soft to touch. A velvet coat covering what were bare branches a few weeks ago.
As we turn to down the track, there is instead of the green of last week, a wave of froth. It cascades down as far as I can see. And the scent - can anyone capture that scent of May? Fresh and sweet with an astringent undercurrent. A promise of summer to come.
I think of cow parsley as the Can-Can dancer of the hedgerow. Through the hard months of winter so little seems to be happening above ground. Instead these plants are gathering reserves to suddenly put on a show stopping performance. The sleek stems emerge and then as they march to the front of stage, standing tall on the verges. An immense kick of energy emerges and they lift their skirts to show the frills that have been hiding underneath.
I’ve been quiet on here for awhile. There is post in drafts that explains a little of that, but I wanted to write this and get this out while I can still have that scent of May lingering in my senses.
Although I may say different in September, I love the middle weeks of May with their cool air and warm sun more than any other