A 'Wisterious' London Walk
"Such Beauty; and she there to see it. Such beauty; and she alive to feel it."
Angels are wonderful but they are so, well, aloof.
It's what I sense in the mud and the roots of the
trees, or the well, or the barn, or the rock with
its citron map of lichen that halts my feet and
makes my eyes flare, feeling the presence of some spirit, some
small god, who abides there.If I were a perfect person, I would be bowing
continuously.
I'm not, though I pause wherever I feel this
holiness, which is why I'm often so late coming
back from wherever I went.Forgive me
Mary Oliver, from Blue Horses ~ Forgive Me.
Such Beauty; and she there to see it. Such beauty; and she alive to feel it.
~ The Enchanted April, Elizabeth Goudge
Dear friends,
Won’t you join me today in revising an exquisite walk I took last month with my dear friend Theresa. This was a route I’d seen advertised online and had a one hour loop you could complete around South Kensington, taking in the various flourishings of Wisteria. We were actually out all day what with stops for coffee, cake, lunch, photo after photo after photo! I really do have the most patient of walking chums who thankfully loves to get her steps in.
I’ll post my beautiful full gallery here for your enjoyment. Observe the varying hues and saturations, the gradients of blues and purples. Some are in their most intense display of flowering while others were just getting onto it or beginning to fade and show full leaf.
We spoke to a local who said he believed they were all planted around the same time approx 70 years ago as they are in a concentrated area. It made me chuckle to think it could have been one of those keeping-up-with-the-Jones’ movements.
I’m offering my paid subscribers two high resolution digital downloads from the collection. You can print them as an image to frame, use them as a desktop screensaver, phone lock screen, you can basically print and use them as you wish.
I will provide download details at the end of this post.
To see a world in a grain of sand.
And a Heaven in a wildflower . . . .
~ William Blake
There was that in the atmosphere of San Salvatore which produced active-mindedness in all except the natives. They, as before, whatever the beauty
around them, whatever the prodigal seasons did, remained immune from
thoughts other than those they were accustomed to. All their lives they
had seen, year by year, the amazing recurrent spectacle of April in the
gardens, and custom had made it invisible to them. They were as blind
to it, as unconscious of it, as Domenico's dog asleep in the sun.
~ The Enchanted April, Elizabeth Goudge
'Established' is a good word, much used in garden books,
'the plant, when established' ...
Oh, become established quickly, quickly, garden!
For I am fugitive, I am very fugitive -
Those that come after me will watch, as I do now, the wisteria
burst, in the sunshine, from its pale green sheath.
Planned. Planted. Established.
~ Ursula Bethel
You always considered beauty as well as use about the
house and garden, and wherever you worked.
~ Laddie, Gene Stratton-Porter
I hope you enjoyed this visual tour of our wondrous Wisterious London today. And now my friends, you can make your selection, details below the paywall.
Blessings and an armful of luminous mauve blooms for you today!
Jacqui x
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