Sweet Southern Nights

I love living on the Bayou!  Sure, sometimes there is the unmistakable stench of low tide but mostly there is the sweet scent of the flora of the area.  Early in spring..around the beginning of March, the delightful aromas start with the wisteria. The purple and white cascading blooms fill the arbors with sweetness!  Next comes the citrus blooms then on to the roses and jasmine! The citrus have a spicy scent while the roses and jasmine compliment each other with their distinct bouquet.  Just about the time these start to wane in late May, our hillside bursts into magnolias and gardenias!  Wow!  I never know which I like the best during those sweet  southern nights!

This evening just before dark, I was out for a late stroll about the hillside.   As I neared the back of the house, a familiar scent wafted on the breeze.  I immediately knew that the two magnolia trees had to be in bloom.  Even though it was getting a little too dark to be safely tromping about the woods, I just had to go see for myself!  The blooms were all too high to pick so I just stood there and soaked in the aroma!  Ahh! I could have stayed right there but darkness was starting to settle in and I better get myself where I could at least see where I was putting my feet.  No use in stepping on a cottonmouth moccasin!

If the magnolias were blooming, then the gardenias surely were!  I headed to the front of the house to investigate!  Sure enough, there were the two small gardenia bushes that Michael had planted last year.  Both were in bloom and both were magnificently aromatic!  These I could reach so I started to pick one for inside.  Oops!  Or maybe not!  A fine group of ants had decided that the flower was for them and I was not about to bring ants into my house!  I would just have to smell the blooms from afar!  Planting these on the south side of the house was ideal!  The breeze lifts their smell and brings it in through the open windows!  The cooling night air just heightens the scent!

Both magnolias and gardenias are instant reminders of a bit the good old South.   Both have heavy white blooms with thick, leathery, dark green leaves.  Both, also, have intensely fragrant blooms and it is that fragrance that makes them so unforgettable.  Open windows, rocking chairs, magnolias and gardenias..this all with a backdrop serenade of the small tree frogs and big, ole bullfrogs lets you know that you are down south on a Bayou!  Yep..I wouldn't trade living here for any place I have been yet!  Love my Bayou!