Tagged With: Fragrance

Crap Aftershave

Crap Aftershave

Crap Aftershave

Seriously, would you buy an aftershave called “Crap”? I mean, what would you expect it to smell like? I understand, it’s meant to be a reference to craps, the betting game played with a pair of dice. But really, an aftershave, which is meant to evoke a mood by way of an odor, using the name crap? I don’t think so. But apparently someone thought this was a good idea and got it all the way through the corporate process to a finished product. We found this in the back of the closet in Cathy’s parents’ house. I’m not going to comment on the fact that someone obviously bought this. I should also note that it doesn’t appear to have been used. Anyway, maybe it doesn’t smell as bad as it sounds.

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Roseraie De l’Hay

Roseraie De l’Hay

Roseraie De l’Hay

My roses have had a rough few years. Three of them outright died in the last twelve months and I’m not entirely sure why. This one, a hybrid rugosa named ‘Roseraie De l’Hay’ lost a lot of stems but is still hanging on and has just started to bloom. The stems are relatively thin and the heavy flowers are too much for them, so they face pretty much downwards, especially after a rain. Like most rugosas, this rose has a really wonderful scent and the leaves are a beautiful green, generally untouched by any disease.

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‘Perle d’Or’

‘Perle d’Or’

‘Perle d’Or’

In the continuing series of roses, this is one of my favorites. I’m down from a high of 13 roses in the garden to 5. One of those, Crépuscule, was nearly killed a few years ago after being by far the largest rose I had, covering a 20 foot trellis on the south end of the house. This on, a small china rose called Perle d’Or is growing just outside our front door. It lost a few canes to the cold this winter but is in full bloom now, really showing off and giving off a wonderful fragrance.

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Viburnum carlesii

Viburnum carlesii

Viburnum carlesii

One thing Cathy and I are thankful for is walks in our neighborhood. It’s a relatively quiet neighborhood, especially now, as traffic in the area is considerably lighter than normal. Foot traffic has always been high with a lot of dog walkers and people out for a stroll but that’s increased significantly during the covidian interval. This shrub, Viburnum carlesii, is scattered through the area and right now, you can often smell it before you see it. The fragrance it strong, spicy, and sweet with a hint to me of vanilla. This and Viburnum × burkwoodii, which is cross with V. utile, are among the best viburnums for fragrance (and it’s possible that the one in this photo is the hybrid rather than the species). In fact, Cathy has requested that I plant one in our yard when we’re able to browse the garden centers once more.

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Lilacs

Lilacs

Lilacs

Many years ago my dad gave me a subscription to a thing called The Seed Guild. The idea was that this guy had relationships with botanical gardens and arboreta around the world and had worked out an arrangement where he collected seeds from them and distributed them to Seed Guild members. I don’t remember the details but I do know the seeds for this lilac came from there. The catalogs I have (from the late 1990s) list three species, Syringa amurensis, S. josikaea, and S. wolfii, so I assume it’s one of those three. I’m leaning towards the last of them, which may more properly be known now as Syringa villosa subsp. wolfii (C.K.Schneid.). I had it growing in a container for many years and it never got very big. When we moved here in 2006 I planted it in the back garden and now it’s about 8 feet tall and obviously doing well.

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Rose ‘Perle d’Or’

Rose ‘Perle d’Or’

Rose ‘Perle d’Or’

Although it will bloom off and on throughout the summer, there really is nothing to compare with the first flush of blooms on even the best repeat flowering (or remontant) roses. This rose will have at least a few blossoms on it from now until well into the fall but right now, it’s so covered with buds that by this weekend we’ll be hit with their heady fragrance as we come out the front door. We really couldn’t ask much more from a plant. The flowers are small and delicate but really pack a punch in terms of their small, which is wonderful.

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Rose ‘Perle d’Or’

Rose ‘Perle d’Or’

Rose ‘Perle d’Or’

I really do try not to have pictures that are very much alike, especially near each other. However, I’m a few days behind in posting things and I often take pictures forgetting what I’ve photographed in previous days. Or, I take pictures of a variety of things and then pick one that I like, forgetting that a few days later I took a similar photo and have less to choose from. It’s that sort of thing the brings you the second photo of Rose ‘Perle d’Or’ in four days. Sorry about that. But you have to admit this is a really pretty flower.

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Rose ‘Perle d’Or’

Rose ‘Perle d’Or’

Rose ‘Perle d’Or’

I’ve posted photos of this rose before but it deserves to be shown a few times each year. It’s a small China rose called ‘Perle d’Or’, bred by Joseph Rambaux in 1884. It has a wonderful, fairly strong fragrance that sits in the air outside our front door (where the rose is) and we are often treated to is as we go out or come in. I don’t think it’s been without at least a few blooms since it started in May. Some years it’s hurt by a particularly cold spell but we’ve had relatively mild winters the last couple years so it’s doing particularly well now.

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Rose ‘Perle d’Or’

Rose ‘Perle d’Or’

Rose ‘Perle d’Or’

The forecast said we’d have a freeze overnight tonight so I took some photos of this rose, outside our front door, figuring that they would be the last of the year. As it turns out (I know because I’m posting this two weeks after the fact) it didn’t get down below about 38°F, so I was a bit premature. Nevertheless, we’re likely to have a real freeze before too long, so I’m not upset. As you can see, although it’s the middle of November, this plant is still going strong. I have to say, it was definitely a good buy.

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Rose ‘Perle d’Or’

Rose ‘Perle d’Or’

Rose ‘Perle d’Or’

It’s rose time. This little China rose, ‘Perle d’Or’, bred by Joseph Rambaux in 1884, is putting on a fabulous show right now. Especially on warm, humid days like we’ve been having, the fragrance hangs in the air all around the bush. You don’t need to get close, it’s wonderful. This first flush is, of course, the best we get from it all year. Nevertheless, it will have flowers on it pretty reliably until well into the fall. It’s not a big bush but it’s as big as it’s ever been and it probably needs to be pruned back a bit, but certainly not right now.

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Rose ‘Lady of Shalott’

Rose ‘Lady of Shalott’

Rose ‘Lady of Shalott’

I’m writing this over a month after the photo was taken, having fallen behind in posting my photos. This rose is called ‘Lady of Shalott’ and is one of two David Austin roses that I bought last year specifically to plant in half barrels on our patio. The other is called ‘Gabriel Oak’ and a photo of that will be coming shortly. They both have a wonderful fragrance, which is an important criteria for me. There are so many roses with fragrance, I don’t know why I’d want to settle for one without, unless they were being used in a way that they would never be approached (e.g. for roadside planting). For David Austin roses, see: https://www.davidaustinroses.com/.

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Rose ‘Munstead Wood’

Rose ‘Munstead Wood’

Rose ‘Munstead Wood’

In the late spring of 2020, in the midst of the opening months of the Covidian Nightmare, I bought three David Austin roses: the yellow ‘The Poet’s Wife’; the salmon-pink ‘Boscobel’, and this deep crimson ‘Munstead Wood’. This is the healthiest of the three, at least partly due to planting location, I suspect and is growing quite strongly. Its first flush of flowers is very impressive and they are not only beautiful but they are strongly fragrant. It’s only been in the garden three years and it’s still not clear what its final shape will be but it’s growing strongly.

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