Sorbus, Week

Common Sorbus, with its white flower heads, is one of the dominant flowering trees in week 2009/19. Plainly, this is unfolding as a very different year from 2008. Laburnum is in full flower in week 19, and the Crataegus all white, whereas the Paulownia has failed this year to produce its blue flowers: we have to be content with the tufts of blue in the Rosmarinus bushes. Mid-week, Clematis montana comes into flower. This climber has an astonishing habit of bringing on all its flowers and once, yet they all seem to perfectly spaced and never overlap. It reminds one of ballet, with all the dancers perfectly positioned. Though the species is said to be happy with shade, at the close of the week, we see a healthy specimen romping over a rusty, chain-link fence at the Umweltzentrum Karlshöhe, a 19th-century country estate which is now surrounded by the city of Hamburg.

Syringa Week

2008/19: Here it comes: the mauve of the Syringa vulgaris, making a wonderful offset to the apple blossom and the dainty little finger-shaped blossoms of Prunus laurocerasus. A close look shows the big Aesculus or horse-chestnut trees growing their candles for the approaching display, and the Crataegus is everywhere white.