Honeysuckle

“if it’s spring where you are i encourage you to go outside and smell the honeysuckle. this morning [while doing so] i remembered sniffing the little white and yellowing blooms along the schoolyard of my kindergarten. i learned from the other children how to pick apart the petals to slurp down a tiny drop of nectar. how beautiful. the child brain trust. is it ancient knowledge? don’t get me wrong, i’m not saying to plant japanese honeysuckle (in the us). i’m not naive to its role in degrading ecosystems. however it is often around and it’s sweet scent is free. or you can buy it from georgia’s own montane as a sparkling water flavor. it makes an excellent wearable fragrance. and somehow even children know of its sensory sublimity. so next time you scoff at its regular degular status as “invasive” maybe at least sniff it?”

“it’s in my top 5 favorite smells”

“Honeysuckles bring me back to summers at my grandparents beach house with my cousins, specifically the splintery weather-beaten wood of the deck beneath our feet, the humid air off the Atlantic Ocean, sand sticking to the sunblock on our skin, music and chatter in the background.”

“We have it vining on our patio and have maybe watered it...twice in three years? Total champ!”