What scents and smells do you like??

And I'm not just talking flower fragrance, though I'll start with that.

We all have subjective likes and dislikes when it comes to garden scents. I don't like the scent of butterfly bush. Can only take oriental lily from a distance. It's too heavy. Also reminds me of a funeral home. I don't like brugmansia at all - way too sweet.

I like fragrant hostas, roses, lavender, lilac, honeysuckle, clethra, fruit blossoms, gardenia and jasmine.

Now for the interesting part - scents in general. I love the smell this time of year with wet leaves.Like the smell of rain. I like the smell skin gets after some sunburn (weird!). I like the smell of gasoline. Love the smell of coffee! Love garlic and most herbs. Wine. Smoked meats. Italian delis. Tomato sauce cooking. Wood - especially after sanding a bit. I like the smell of leaves or wood burning.

I'll think of more. What about you??

Jet fuel! The Ocean, (w/o suntan lotion)! Fresh fish & shellfish!
The scent of November, (hard to discribe lol)

All great scents Victor!

I too love the smell of Fall, although I hate what it brings. Wood smoke. Dried leaves. I love the smell of old Snowmobiles...the oil/gas mix. Could inhale that all day. The smell after a rain, kind of a wormy, fresh scent.
New puppy and kitten smell. Clothes that have been dried on a clothesline. Freshly turned soil. Fresh cut hay...I could curl up and sleep in a freshly cut hay field.

All good ones (except the fish)! I like the smell of babies.

Agree about Italian delis!! For some reason, hamburger and onions being cooked together. Bacon, coffee, garlic, bread dough and baked goods in the oven, vanilla, cinnamon, Fiori di Sicilia. The ozone smell just before it rains. My parrots after a shower - you have no idea how sweet they can smell!

In the garden, native CA salvias, especially clevelandii varieties, plumeria, ceanothus, freesia, certain roses, ginger, rosemary, citrus.

Really, dislike sweet alyssum, lilies, brugmansia, jasmine, gladiolas, pansies, most bottled scents.

What a great subject!

Good ones, KC! Is Fiori di Sicilia a spice? Sounds like something I would love.

How funny about the parrot!! Never would have known.

Good one Victor.
Ohhh, baked goods. I lived three blocks from an Italian bakery but every morning I could smell the bread baking. Heavenly!

Any perfume with honeysuckle in it. Whats that smell coming out the back of a bus? exhaust? Call me crazy, but I like it. Box struck matches, new mown grass, litttle kids' feet, Gain detergent.

Fiori di Sicilia is a combination of vanilla and citrus. You use tiny amounts, so don't let the price scare you. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/fiori-di-sicilia-1-oz

Another odd thing about smells: there is an orchid - can't remember the name of it - that smells beautiful to one person, but literally like garbage to another. I was in a nursery once and a bunch people tested it - half and half! Very weird.

Box struck matches, now that's an olfactory memory!

Just like fish! There's a fish that smells wonderful to some and fishy to others. I don't remember the name of it, wait - I think it's tuna! Babies smell like Port Salut cheese but are politically correct, politicians always kiss them too! Pipe smoke! now there's an awesome smell! Hee hee!

Edit: forgot cigars - wonderful aroma, esp the pricey ones & shoe polish, -you know, the 'Kiwi' brand! ☺


This message was edited Oct 24, 2009 9:12 PM

I love the smell of DH's pillow when he's away. ^_^
I love the 'clean' smell the air gets with the first snow fall.
I like the smell of musk, such as Jovan Musk for Men, Jovan White Musk for Women, musk scented candles, ect...
Lilacs, Appleblossoms, & rain in the springtime.
Fresh Bread Baking!!
Coffee
Toast cooked over an open fire. ( In the winter I do it on my gas stove)
Apple Pie Baking
A real tree in the house for Christmas.

Oh yes - a real Christmas tree!

Box-struck match - good one!

I agree with pipes and some cigars. Others are horrible. Loved my grandfather's cigar. Hated my colleague's!

Celeste - only when DH is away? It stinks when he's on it?!! ^_^

Harley exhaust
Coffee
chocolate
baby
cinnamon
apples
baked goods(bread, cookies, pies)
Play dough
Magic marker
Wood burning
Puppy breath
Pipe
I HATE CIGARS, haven't smelled one that smelled good.

In the garden, apple blossoms, traditional rose scent.... actually I love it when any flower has a pleasant scent

No, thats just when I notice it most.

Wow, Jen - you like puppy breath and Harley exhaust and think cigars stink?!!

I can't believe I forgot freshly mowed lawns! And a tree in the house. Puppy breath is a good one too. My Grandfather smoked a pipe...I remember it as a comforting smell.

I can smell puppy breath as long as the room is filled with cigar smoke. (lol)

Hee hee!

I love hay also. And ocean air.

sometimes my own exhast - never someone else's :)

Ugh!!!!!!!!!!

LOL! Would that be packaged as phartfenugen or Le farte?

LoL! There's no accounting for taste!

someone had to say it :)

I love the smell of my cat's warm belly when she's been curled up in her bed. mmmmmm

I had a parrot for a while, and I kinda remember that clean wet parrot smell. Or I'm thinking of my cat after she's cleaned herself. can't remember :D

Agree with a lot of others': rain, tomato sauce cooking, baked goods, etc.

and this next one is a combo of good smell and just awesomeness in general: freshly washed sheets. man, what a great thing to get into bed with just washed sheets!!

after the rain yesterday the hike i took today smelled great!

What an interesting thread, Victor! I have no sense of smell - lost it in my early 20s, but I do remember many smells that I loved:
gardenias
real Christmas trees
the smell of rain after a storm
onions and garlic cooking
bread baking
kerosene stoves
sheets dried outside

Funny - I have 2 brugmansias here and had no idea they have any scent!! Maybe I should be happy I can't smell them! LOL

Oh, gardenias, how could I forget that one?

Sorry you lost your sense of smell, DonnieBrook. Does it affect your taste, too?

Viburnum carlesii -- the most delightful spring fragrance
Jasmine -- reminds me of our Arizona home
Thyme -- nice to inhale while mowing the lawn
Chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven -- need I say more?

rosemary

What a riot.
dislike:
fresh compost
cigars
insectasides
deer repellent
nastuerteums and many more
Like:
mature compost
coffee
May Rain
September -October cool air warm sun
dry leaves burning
fireplace
most flowers
spices
herbs
pot roast
on
and
on
I love it when the lawnmower brushes past lavander, sooo unexpected and wonderful
I might have to paint this combo

This message was edited Oct 26, 2009 10:16 AM

ooooh, Jo Ann - what a great idea! I'd love to see what you paint! We're looking for a frame here for our treasure. We decided we'd like our friends here to see it. It may come back with us though. We left the rooster hanger up there in the safe, because it has to hang in front of the actual hanger! So so special!

I was in a daze when I went to this Nursery. Everywhere I looked there were picture oppertunities.

clean babies
baking bread
garlic, olive oil and wine frying
onions and olive oil frying
the old Italian corner store - combination of sawdust, cheeses and sausages
fresh-cut grass
vanilla extract
dirt/soil/potting mix, when you first open a new bag
any cookie or cake baking
leather
chocolate
leaves
definitely box-struck matches
and candles after they've been blown out
beef/turkey roasting in the oven
mulled cider
lily of the valley
the smell after it rains, but only in the city, especially a quick, short rain on a hot day; I miss that now that I live in the burbs. Must be the asphalt and dust....

Good ones digger--especially leather and vanilla extract.

I'm into leather too. ^_^

Jo Ann - sounds like a personal ad - 'Seeking mature compost for strolls in the garden. Please, no fresh ones!'

Jadajoy What you love about Vanilla extract is the high end bourbon the beans are aged in

Forgot to say - how terrible, Louise. No sense of smell at all?!!

That "stinks" Louise. Yeah, same question does it effect your sense of taste?

And I have a super sensitive nose. I'm always asking hubby "what's that smell?" and he's like "I don't smell anything" drives me nuts!

Maybe it's him! ^_^

Oh, Flowerjen, me too! And I smell gas before anyone else. DH pays attention to me when my nose starts twitching. LOL

GE- didnt know about the bourbon in vanilla beans, is there a vanilla bourbon liquour? Probably why my favorite ice cream is vanilla bean.

Sometimes not having a sense of smell could be a GOOD thing :-0

LOL on Jo An's personal ad !