I think I live in the jungle... 👀👀👀

Lately, work has been taking up all my time and I don't see anything around. But today it just brought my eyes closer.

In fact, the climate of my region does not provide for plants of this scale. We have a normal temperate zone where the plants grow at a reasonable pace and remain in reasonable dimensions.

But lately something has clearly changed.

At first it was the weather - the usual patterns gradually ceased to be familiar. Summer behaves differently than before. Winter can't decide what it wants at all: it's warm, it's freezing 20 degrees. The rain comes when it is not necessary and disappears when it is very necessary.

But it is also reflected in plants. And today was a good example.

I was going to a friend's house on a small forest road. And suddenly I noticed these plants along the edge. I had to slow down just to see them properly. They were huge. Truly huge - not in the sense of "oh, tall plant", but truly so that towered above everything around, with wide flat inflorescences that opened above the head.

These plants grew here before. I've seen them on this road in previous years. But this year's size is a completely different story. As if someone had quietly turned some regulator while no one was watching.

I stopped and took a picture - I put my hand to the inflorescence to show the scale. The hand looks almost small next to it.

A friend who knows much more about plants than I do warned earlier that this species is not very friendly when in contact. It seems that juice in combination with the sun can give serious reactions to the skin. So I didn't stay - just in the photo and immediately back in the car.

Honestly, the first thought after I left: it's good that they didn't decide to grow in my garden. I already have enough trouble with the hops that have been attacking my garden for the last two years 😄

But standing there for a minute and looking up at something that grew from the same earth and the same rain as everything around you - only much bigger than it should be - you involuntarily think. The climate is changing, and the plants are noticing it. They just don't react as we expected.