Re: Scents

So far, my favorite for fragrance is Polianthes tuberosa (tuberose). It
only has evening fragrance but the sweet, honey scent perfumes the
whole yard around twilight when the air is still. I plant tuberoses
around the walk to the house. It's fun when visitors stop dead in their
tracks, start sniffing the air around them and ask, "What smells so
wonderful?" This year I'm going to put some near the street so the
joggers and dog walkers can enjoy the scent.

I also plant tuberoses in containers and use them to switch with
containers of spring bulbs when the foliage starts looking ratty. The
cut flowers are long-lasting and one blossom scents the whole house in
the evening.

Jim Wilson mentioned on the Victory garden that tuberoses are called
funeral flowers in the south so they may have some unhappy memories
associated for some. I don't care for the scent of gladiolas because
they were so often used at funerals in the midwest. I believe
researchers have found that scent triggers our most powerful emotional
memories--good and bad.

Old-fashioned sweet peas smell wonderful although they don't seem all
that popular now. My grandmother grew loads of them and they were
always blooming when I first arrived for my summer visits so they are
favorites of mine. Peonies are nice for the same reason.

Summer phlox has a sweet summerish scent, good repeat bloom and makes a
terrific cut flower. I like Galium odorata (sweet woodruff) in other
people's gardens but mine doesn't seem to have any scent at all. The
monarda had a lovely scent but I ripped all mine out because of powdery
mildew--I'm trying some resistant varieties this year.

I'm very jeolous of people who can grow gardenias and jasmine. The
fragrance is divine but they don't winter over here. :(

At 12:31 PM -0500 3/2/99, "Saxton, Susan" <SSaxton@Schwabe.com> wrote:

> I was thinking this morning about the one scent that spurs me into a buying
> frenzy at a nursery, that epitomizes the onset of summer for me, and that is
> white alysum.
>
> I don't know what that is tied to in my past, but I always keep a solid row
> of it by my back door for that reason.  It grows with a trachleosperum (star
> jasmine) and when the two are in bloom together, it about knocks you over as
> you approach (pleasantly).
>
> What scent does this for you and why?  How do you incorporate it into your
> garden?
>
> Susan Saxton, zone 6b
> For mine is just a little old fashioned garden where the
> flowers come together to praise the Lord and teach all
> who look upon them to do likewise.
> Celia Thaxter
>
> I AM in shape.  ROUND is a shape!


---
Peggy Enes (peggy@unicom.net)   Zone 5/6    NE KS     AHS Heat Zone 7


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