A TRIP TO THE COUNTRY
“Now you just sit there and we’ll be out later with some drinks and a snack.” I’m ten year old and my brother and I are being softened up with the promise of pop and crisps in exchange for sitting in the back of my fathers Triumph Dolomite for the evening.
It’s our monthly trip into the country on a Saturday night and as usual we have started and ended the trip in a pub car park. My mother always loved the country; she would stand for a moment in a field to admire the view, take her Players Number 6 packet out, light a ciggie and say “Ah fresh air” as she inhaled the first puff and got back into the car.
Occasionally there were a couple of other children to annoy who had also been abandoned in a strange place, but tonight there is no-one around, so my brother and I sit waiting patiently for the bottle of orange and packet of cheese and onion.
FOBBED OFF
“Children are not allowed on pubs,” my dad said as he brought the tray of treats over over, “or we would let you sit in with us.” I believed him of course, completely forgetting that I was brought up in a pub and pulled my first pint when I was three.
HONEYSUCKLE
The car is parked by a hedgerow that has got some honeysuckle in flower. I loved this part of the journey, late evening as the light diminished. The smell of this hardy plant would get more intense and fill the car enveloping us as we sipped the sugary drinks through the straws.
EVOKING MEMORIES
Back to today. I’m outside in the garden and the light is fading. I have been cutting the hedges and working my way past the oil tank which is masked behind a wall of flowering honeysuckle (woodbine). The smell is heavenly and this evening (which is the best time to take in the heady aroma) it sends me right back to the days when my brother and I would sit in the confined space of the family car for long periods and try to get on throttling each other.
I have other memory smells of course, almonds reminding me of Play Doh and rancid fridges reminding me of my visits to my grandmother’s house, but they are not the same.
The honeysuckle was put next to the oil tank for a reason. When the tank was put in twenty years ago, apparently people would use it as a landmark from the main road as it was bright red and shone like the new light on the edge of Buncrana pier. Over the years the colour has faded and the plant has covered it up, so much so that it has to be cut well back at the end of the season or it will be in the house.
Oil tanks can be put underground now so they are less intrusive but if you have one that is in a prominent place and needs to be screened quickly, you could use wooden trellis and grow climbers such as clematis or wisteria. Be a bit wary of the Russian vine or mile a minute plant (persicaria) as it might grow quickly but it doesn’t know when to stop.
OTHER SCENTED PLANTS
We usually grow night scented stocks in containers near the back door every year to get the delightful wafts of warm perfume in the evenings, a memory for today. There are lots of other plants that are known for their scent too. Sweet peas, lily of the valley, lilac, roses (especially the older varieties like Mme Hardy), lupins, phlox and carnations. Jasmine is another fine example for a heady smell and certain varieties would help to screen the oil tank as well.
The most common aromatic plants to fill your senses when you are working outside are the herbs. Lavender, mint, lemon balm, sage basil thyme, oregano, chamomile (makes a great scented lawn) and curry plant are all so beautifully pungent that you only have to brush past them to get a release of perfume.
It’s funny how I can never remember my parents coming out of the pub after closing time. I always tried to stay awake but can only remember being carried out of the car and put into bed when we got home… the smell of fresh sheets…there’s another one…
