Tansy Thrives as Drought Scorches Somerset Meadows

**Frome, Somerset:** While surrounding plants wither into skeletal remnants, one flower is pushing through the drought with surprising vigor: the tansy. At dawn, the air carries the familiar scent of 1976—that endless summer that burned into autumn. The smell first appeared during a sweltering June evening walk, too early in the season. Now, the toasted aroma of spent grass is everywhere: on crisp playing fields, straw-colored village greens, and the scorched, tawny meadows of the combe. Cattle stand scattered with heads lowered, chewing dry grass that resembles instant noodles before water is added. But near a hillside spring, the scene changes. Though the water source is barely a seep, it creates a small pocket of lushness—a welcome relief for the herd. Among this green patch, the tansy grows in great profusion, rewarding anyone who stops to look closely.