Butterflies and Perfume

Early summer and my garden is awash with perfume and sprinkled with dozens of butterflies.

When walking to the washing line, a dozen or more butterflies cross before me on the well worn path. They flitter from flower to flower, attracted by the elongated mauve flowers of the variegated buddleia. This buddleia brings happiness each year when it flowers outside my large bedroom window. It tries its hardest to revert back to all green. During winter, even the variegated leaves lost their green. I never quite know which leaves will come, but the green is always strongest.

It is a pleasure to have so many butterflies in the garden as they have been in scarce supply in the past few years.

Another flower that attracts the butterflies is Kiss-me-quick, the common name for Centranthus ruber. It is an old-fashioned flower grown in my grandmother's garden on the farm a hundred years ago. That shows how tough and hardy it is because the old farmers in the early 1900s didn't have any spare water to soak flowers in the garden. It was all needed for the house or livestock.

I try to ensure there is always plenty of shallow water in the garden for the bees and butterflies to have a drink. The birds love to bathe in the water too and are a great source of amusement for us as they splash about, fluttering their wings, or wait in line for their turn in the bath.

The perfume in the garden has been a delight for the senses for a few months, starting with Jonquils, Star Jasmine, then Echium, Centranthus, Roses, Buddleias and Lavenders. We are waiting for the Dais cotinifolia - Pom-Pom tree to burst into blossom and then the Snail Creeper or Corkscrew vine.

Ahh, the beautiful world of Perfume and butterflies.