So……I was going to tell you about some GORGEOUS Strange Invisible Perfume scents we got to try in LA but time got away from me, computers and trees crashed during last night’s scary storm and it was all just a mess. SIPs deserve more than a cursory mention, so look for those next week.
Let’s talk Scent Location. In the Midwest, we grow honeysuckle. It can take over a fence – but the fence is 6′ tall. And, to be honest, that’s rare, even for an older ‘suckle. I’ve been struggling to establish one for 2 years and it’s just now deciding to play along.
Take a look at the photo here. That’s a honeysuckle. It’s almost 25′ tall – heck, maybe more. It’s in the garden of the strange little place we stayed in LA – Patty picked it because of the garden and….wow! What a garden! It wends back some bazillion feet, amongst an entire GROVE of bamboo! Here in the Midwest, we can grow bamboo and yes, it can become invasive. But we don’t get groves. Ditto a 25′ honeysuckle hedge.
That’s the power of location. We walked along the Venice canals and marveled at hedges of jasmine, so redolent with scent it left us staggering! Roses the size of dinner plates. Orchids, just growing outside like sunflowers.
I got up at 0’dark-thirty Sunday morning to take the Raymond Chandler Shuttle from Hell to LAX…standing there, on the curb, I was assailed by this amazing, foreign-but-familiar scent. What the hell smells that good at 4am? I’ll tell you…another jasmine hedge, growing like lilacs grow in Illinois. And a gardenia plant roughly the size of a Cooper Mini. Oh…….it was almost worth the terror-filled ride down the cliffside in the gloaming…..
I came back to viburnum and lilacs and sweet irises just unfolding…but what I wouldn’t give for a jasmine hedge – or two. As much as I love jasmine perfume, I suspect the Best Jasmine Perfume is the one growing on the plant!
So…what’s your Location Scents? And what, if anything, would you love to grow that is …shall we say…’unlikely’?
Mine is this: 
the lemon guava tree growing in the garden next door to the incredible garden we stayed at. I can get over myself – we can grow neither lemons nor guavas successfully here – certainly not as a freakin’ tree in the yard….but a gal can dream!
Oh, winners! I am Doofus Central – totally forgot to post the winner for the most recent draw. So here ’tis!
The Inner Strength giveaway winner is Jackie b !!! And I thank you all so much for your kind words!!! There’s another draw that I’ve forgotten but I can’t find it and I’m fresh outta time – so look for that listing later, probably over the weekend! Jackie b, you know the drill, right? Contact us with contact info, tell what you’ve won etc – I’ll get it out to you a whole lot quicker than I announced the winner, I promise!
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