Specialty Gardening: Any Fellow "Fragrance Wierdos" out there?, 1 by

wrote:
fragrance can come and go depending on humidity, heat, cold and day and night. Sometimes the bloom only smells fragrant soon after opening.It was explained somewhere that that certain jasmines and yes jonquils have a chemical in them that is present in cat ...ummm ...how do we say it in a lady like fashion ...poo.
So you are not imagining feline excreta undertones in some plants ...kind of like someone drenching themselves in perfume when they are in dire need of a good wash.
There also is an undertone of burn't rubber in some blooms as they age.Some flowers smell wonderful the first day and then sort of sickly off the next day ...very noticable in the heat.
I agree with everyones observations that a sniff of this or that takes you back in time ...I saw a program that explained that it is a primal instinct we have for "smelling danger" ...smell is burn't into the hardwiring of our brain (I guess we could sniff a Mammoth coming up the hill once) ...sense of smell aids in detecting good and bad food too ...basic instinct. Since we don't have to worry about Mammoths any longer we use our noses for pleasure in the garden, many new plants have lost their perfumes ...give me smell over beauty any day, but most of the time we can have both!
I think we may be nose blind to some "notes" in fragrances just like you can be colour blind ...it is also said hormones play a part in how we enjoy "smells" at various times of the month etc ...it is a magical thing fragrance and it's effect on us ...guess that is why red roses are given to a loved one ...from the moment we bury our noses in them and inhale we feel romantic and happy.
I am a serial sniffer and have been all my life.
chrissy