Saturday, July 21, 2012

Scent, smell, fragrance, aroma, whiff

Many of my memories are inextricably linked with scent; from the smell of shipping diesel and wet dog to roses and marjoram; in an instant just a few scent molecules can take me to a memory long buried away in the recesses of my mind.  That is exactly what happened when we moved to Lake Forest Park (LFP) and I discovered a rose that had been overgrown by nearby Rhododendrons.  It didn't look a promising specimen, each stem was thin and straggly, the few leaves that it had were covered in black spot, but as we were undecided on what to do with that bed we pruned the shrubs and trees as planned. I heavily pruned the rose with the thinking it would either grow back looking a little better with the new improved light situation or it would make it easier for me to dig up. I forgot about it for a couple of months and then one day I noticed a little scrappy red bud opening. I smelt it, and from that point I knew it was going to stay.  It smelt of my childhood summers. In the backgarden of my parents house there is a white rose and a red rose (forever battling the war of the roses), and their scent would waft through the garden in what seemed like endless happy, warm, sunny days. So, how could I just dig up a rose that reminded me of that? I'm still working on the shape but the black spot is under control and each year I am rewarded with increasing numbers of flower buds that look beautiful and smell sweet with an added whiff of happiness.
This is the rose but you miss a dimension without the scent, if only there was a 'click and sniff' app.