Staffs and Worcs Canal
Canal banks in June: great mounds of blackberry-promising fatfulness; blushes of dog-rose, fluffing; field roses with hearts of gold; elder sprays of cream parasols; purple-loosestrife spikily soaring; yellow flags already rent and over-blown, but bright to the end; hemp-agrimony, overdressed and busty for an opera of bloom; meadow-sweet candy-frothing and a-buzz; hemlock towering on red-splotched trunks with canopies of flowers; bittersweet, weaving its poisonous way with velvet cunning through the twiggery; armies of mare’s tail on the march; suckabee Himalayan balsam just beginning to pout; tow-path beds of campion, partying in pink; sweeps of buttercups amongst the broken banks of the pasture; good old hogweed, slumming it with grandeur; inevitable rosebay willowherb rising and aspiring to July; lush grasses teetering on the brink.
Sit in the almost silent narrowboat bow and love the flower parade, whose scents undulate like the ripples spreading wide.
Elder
Field rose
Bramble
Hogweed
Spear thistle amidst a medley of grasses
Rampant rosebay on the rise
Christina James, crime novelist 
Wonderful snaps.
We have very similar flora at almost the same stage over on my side of the pond. My elder is in full bloom and the hogweed has come on well in the north meadow .
I have twin fawns among the tall sedges by my raspberry thicket.
I’m thinking of building a garden shed out there so I have a place to retreat.
Thank you, Jack. You paint a picture of rural tranquillity; the twin fawns do it! You’ve reminded me of a holiday we once had in Hampshire, in a deeply-wooded area with open glades, where we saw a doe apparently unwilling to bound away as usual. Only a short search revealed the fawn, dappled and motionless, amongst the tussocks. We enjoyed the moment and moved on to let them be. That shed is a wonderful idea. 🙂
I’ve spent much of today walking along the Kennet and Avon Canal – and it’s been wonderful. A sunny day, with a few ducks, all the greenery lush and summery.
(And cricket on my little radio!)
Hello, Jo. It’s just occurred to me that I haven’t made contact with you lately. Forgive me for that. The canals are so lovely at this time of year: so lush, as you say, and so very peaceful, even around Birmingham, where you’d least expect it. I hope the thwack of leather on willow fitted comfortably into the atmosphere! 😉 (The commentary may very well not have done!)
Wonderfully poetic and descriptive prose, Christina. Thank you for sharing these essences of summer along the canals.
I take that as a wonderful compliment from a knowledgeable lover of wild flowers. Thank you, Jenny.
Gorgeous descriptions Christina. How rich you make the floral world with your words. And through it all comes the peace of canal travel.
Funny how quiet the bow is, when the stern is throbbing away! Thank you, Valerie. 🙂
I pity the person who takes the same walk as you and sees only “the canal banks.” Your descriptive prose brought me right there, Christina.
Thank you, Laura. I’m honoured to receive so lovely a compliment! I’m delighted that you enjoyed reading the post and riding the narrowboat with me. More to follow, soon, on a very different stretch of canal. (Same holiday!)
Gorgeous photographs, there’s nothing like England in full bloom.
Thank you! As for the blooms, yes, glorious! You’re very welcome here. 🙂