Green Old Age
The general greenness has been interrupted in places, not by symptoms of winter, but by summer flowers. On one common the harebells have seemed to take a new lease of life ; and set. as they are, in bright great grass their loveliness has been enhanced. (By an odd coincidence on the day that I wrote this I read the verdict of an artist that blue and green were a "cacophony in colour "I)
One expects the gorse to flower at any season you please, though its reputation is partly due to the existence of two species that have different flowering seasons ; but the amount of blossom this autumn has been enough to fill the adjacent air with its queer coconut odour. Other bushes, especially in the garden, have followed suit. In mine the most notable is a bush of choisya, now blossoming very freely wWt flowers. as sweetly scented as its leaves are peppery. And a rare problem is set for gardeners.. Seed ripened very early, and where it was allowed to spill itself it germinated in astonishing profusion, but it is not altogether easy to tell whether the seedlings arc cornflower, columbine, galega, valerian, foxglove and what not or just weeds. Presumably the stored heat in the ground has encouraged both the growth of the grass and, more certainly, the germination of the seeds.
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