With the advent of spring, I’ve been treated to many beautiful flower photos on social media while, in my own garden, the earliest bulbs are just beginning to waken from their winter’s rest. Over the next couple of weeks, the garden will come alive with tiny blooms while their sweet fragrance will once again fill the air.
The first emerging spring flowers such as Snowdrops, Chionodoxa, Puschkinia, and Crocus may be small in appearance but they can be big on fragrance. Since you would have to be at ground level to catch their delicate scents, many people miss them altogether. To capture this fleeting essence of early spring, I like to cut some of these little gems and place them in vases inside where their soft colors and subtle fragrances can be enjoyed close-up.
As I take it all in, I know it’s just the beginning of many weeks of delightful garden scents as Daffodils, Hyacinth, Tulips, Lily of the Valley and Alliums make their debut! Soon, the fragrances of blooming shrubs and perennials will envelop us. One only has to take a walk on a warm spring day to fall under this intoxicating aromatic spell; all around, fragrance permeates the air!
There are many scents that I enjoy this time of year, but if I could pick just one flower that speaks to me most powerfully, it would be the Lilac. Here in New England, it’s hard to find a yard that doesn’t include at least one lilac shrub. Many people have several different colors and some properties even boast lilac hedges. It’s a perennial favorite and for good reason – there is simply nothing else like the fragrance of lilacs!
More than any other flower, lilacs hold the magical power to transport me to another time and place. The scent carries sweet associations of my childhood as I envision the white and purple blooms by the back porch, my mother filling a vase for the house or my little self carrying a small bouquet to school. It’s the fragrance of many cherished memories!
The romantic scent of Roses also has a powerful effect on me, carrying me back to a gentler time when ladies wore long flowing dresses and carried parasols to protect their fair skin from the sun. My mind conjures up images of Downton Abbey, the grand entrance filled with huge oriental vases, all overflowing with fragrant English roses. Thanks in part to the efforts of breeder David Austin, the romance of rose growing has resurged in recent years and it’s easy to find roses of many colors everywhere you buy plants. Once you’ve added fragrant roses to your garden, you will never again want to be without them!
The next time you pass a beautiful bloom, go ahead and give it a deep sniff. Take the time to stop and smell the flowers! It may surprise you to find out that many plants we don’t typically think of as fragrant carry their own sweet scents such as Pansies, Violas, Iris, Astilbes, Daylilies, and even some Hostas. This year, try incorporating some fragrant flowers into your gardens or outdoor pots and experience what the power of fragrance can do for you!
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