Re: HYB: Rose scent: Resending for the Archives

Well, I went to the Archives to see what sort of ghastly mess AOL had?made of my note to Tom and the list--question mark wise--and it looks like the whole middle section of my screed vanished. I'm sending this back into the system, to see what happens. I think folks got the whole letter..maybe.

Not that this is deathless prose or anything, you understand.

Cordially,

AMW

??
-----Original Message-----
From: chatowhitehall@aol.com
To: iris@hort.net
Sent: Mon, 4 May 2009 10:33 am
Subject: [iris] Re: HYB: Rose scent



Good morning, Tom.

Thank you for your?concern. You?must never hesitate to write if you are 
inclined. I always acknowledge?people's email, even when I am very busy.? 

I'm here for bloom season, at least. I've been?working on some?Iris projects and 
articles, as always. I wrote?a review?of the?recent Farr book for the journal of 
the Southern Garden History Society, and I?investigated the story of the AIS 
Seal(s) for the AIS?webpage.?It is up there now, in Overview-History, if you are 
interested. ?I did not dumb it down, and I think it is a pretty good piece. 
Chris, our webmaster, who liked it,?asked me if I had some photos that might 
accompany the articles there, so I've been digging in my files for this and 
that, which started me down a?bumpy Peckham road. 

I've always been interested in Mrs. Peckham, and her son,?so I contacted the 
latter's widow?in hopes of getting a decent picture of Ethel for the AIS page. 
The only one I had was grainy and made her look like a madwoman, and the one 
that was published in a Section?mag recently was actually Mary Williamson. I 
figured the family might have a studio shot conveniently to hand, which we could 
add to the AIS files. Well, no such luck,?but I've?got her wedding portrait, if 
you please, wearing a queen's ransom in lace,?and some other?family photos, and 
I'm trying to extract enough data from her, without prying, to write something, 
anything, to?"pick up the pieces which remain."?

 Ethel went to town with that fragrance classification---"merely tentative", she 
insists---in the 1939CL--see pp,12ff. She says she has "essayed a?simplified 
classification,?using whatever material and notes have been available."?She runs 
through the usual discussion of how different folks smell things differently and 
some not at all and finishes up, "It is hoped that this chart in the future will 
be of aid to breeders so that they may get a?proper clue as to how to classify 
their Iris fragrances."?

And there follow some remarkable?diagrams and lists including the mat
erial I 
mentioned earlier, which no doubt incorporates all sorts of source material from 
all sorts of sources. It is a marvelous artifact, that list.?Cracks me up. Those 
folks did not hesitate to try to firm up squishy?concepts.?The dogwood?is the 
one?which?bewilders me. I'm a Virginian, bathed in the?pollen of doggies in 
perfection?since birth?and I have never?smelled anything off them,?nada.?Dogwood 
in this instance is?almost certainly Cornus florida, for our overseas?members.

If anyone has been considering ordering George Edmonds' book on Bertrand Farr, 
Dream Gardener, and would like to read my review of it, which is long and quite 
detailed, please feel free to?contact me directly. The piece is not available 
for reprint. 

I've got 'Victorine' blooming here today in the rain, the first time I've ever 
seen it. First year plant.?Tiny thing! Is it always more or less MTB?? 

Cordially,

Anner Whitehead
Richmond VA USA Z7

-----Original Message-----
From: thomas silvers <tesilvers@yahoo.com>
To: iris-talk <iris@hort.net>
Sent: Mon, 4 May 2009 8:13 am
Subject: [iris] RE: HYB: Rose scent



[...]
Hi Anner, it's good to hear from you again [I had been a little worried and was 
on the verge of e-mailing you :0)]. You wrote:
 
"that among the fragrances cataloged in the AIS 1939 Check List is 'rose.' So, 
for that matter, are waterlily, may-apple, celery, and the scent of the flowers 
of poplar and dogwood"

I'm not familiar with waterlily, may-apple, poplar and dogwood scents, but I can 

vouch for the celery scent. That's exactly the thought that came to mind when I 
smelled the scent of my two newly registered diploid MTB rebloomers (CRICKET 
SONG and EASY SMILE). It's not exactly the kind of scent one's hoping for in a 
flower, but I guess it's not unpleasant.

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