June Perfume

Ah, June.  It’s been a fragrant week or so in my garden, especially in the early evenings as I worked to fill my containers.  Three white flowers accounted for the perfume; blooming together, they were intoxicating, yet reminded me curiously of soap.   All around me was lily-of-the-valley, (Convallaria majalis) emitting an evocative perfume I’d know blindfolded.  Leaving aside the fact that’s it been a stealth invader on an unstoppable march to dominate my entire garden, its iconic fragrance has inspired some of the greatest perfumes, particularly Coty’s Muguets de Bois and Christian Dior’s Diorissimo.

Convallaria majalis - lily-of-the-valley If perfume is music, the fragrant viburnums are crashing cymbals, especially the big-flowered snowball viburnum (Viburnum x carlcephalum), a robust cross between the early, sweet-scented Viburnum carlesii and V. macrocephalum var. keteleeri.  Provided the squirrels don’t eat the buds – which they seem to love – I always have a few blooms poking up beside the sitting area on my deck. Fragrant Snowvall Viburnum - V. <span id=How does this common postural pattern produce compensatory hip, back and pelvic pain? Let’s embark by reviewing notable cialis online pharmacy research regarding functional and structural short right legs and then discuss theories, assessments and corrections that help deal with this troublesome disorder. The medication allows more blood to flow towards the genital area upon sexual arousal, resulting in an erection. viagra prescription australia Lump in your testicles: If there is any spinal raindogscine.com cheap viagra trauma. Increasing cases of erectile dysfunction has made condition inconsequential to suffering persons. generic levitra australia x carlcephalum” width=”800″ height=”533″ />                                                                   And this year, for the first time, I put my nose into the Solomon’s seals that grow along my side yard path and sniffed their light perfume.  Though these are the native North American Polygonatum biflorum, not the European P. odoratum – which, by its Latin name, is obviously scented – there was a decided fragrance from these lovely, swan-like stems. Solomon's seal - Polygonatum biflorum Mmmmm….. June perfume.  I wish I could dab just a little behind my ears and breathe it in when the snow flies in January.

Daffodils on Lake Muskoka

I grew up on the mild west coast of Canada, where huge drifts of daffodils perfumed the air in springtime.  That sweet scent on the wind always seemed to me to be the height of something exotic.  And being able to pick a bunch of “daffs” to bring indoors seemed like the most luxurious of notions. But for one reason or other, I never had daffodils in my various eastern city gardens – at least for long.  I planted them all right, but they never thrived, perhaps because they disliked the clay in Toronto.  Whatever the reason, I didn’t worry much because there were lots of other bulbs and spring blossoms to enjoy.  And I could simply buy a bunch of daffodils at the greengrocer, right?

But when we built our cottage north of Toronto on Lake Muskoka a dozen years ago, I planned to have meadows with long grasses and wildflowers.  And I kept thinking about those mouthwatering photos of daffodils splashed across the English countryside.  As I was considering my options, I walked past my neighbour’s cottage down the shore and noticed lovely clumps of orange-trumpeted, white daffodils in her terraced beds.

“They’re so lovely,” I said to her. “Were they difficult to get established?” Laughing, she replied: “I didn’t plant them.  Charlie Peck did.” Charlie Peck, I knew from family stories, had owned her cottage in the 1950s.  If daffodils had been growing down there without any gardener’s help for more than half-a-century, I figured they’d do just fine for me.  So began my Lake Muskoka daffodil quest. Daffodils edging the path

At first I bought them in cheap mixes, balancing like a mountain goat to plant them in the sandy, acidic soil on the hillsides. Daffodils on the hillside

Then I ordered them by name, looking for “good naturalizers”, like ‘Ice Follies’, and cute ones like yellow-and-white ‘Pipit’.  Then I got very specific and bought sweetly-perfumed ones like gorgeous ‘Fragrant Rose’ and ‘Geranium’ and the poet’s daffodil (N. poeticus ‘Actaea’).  (To see my favourites, have a look at this post.)  Narcissus poeticus-the poet's daffodil
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And slowly but surely, they’ve been multiplying, finding their place among the emerging penstemons and lupines and beebalms.Daffodils suit naturalistic plantings

And in late May, when the woods are adorned with trilliums, trout lilies and mayflowers; when my cottage path is overrun with violets and wild strawberries; when blackberries clamber up the hillside and wild columbines, blueberries, black huckleberries and black chokeberries open by the lake, I have the most exquisite springtime luxury of all – I have daffodils on my table. Daffodils in vintage bottles

And sometimes, I even pack ‘em up to take back to the city.Daffodils heading home in the L.L.Bean bag

 

An Ode to Snowdrops

 There’s an exponential relationship – I know this to be true

Between the length of winter and the desperate way I view

Those first emerging nodding bells of shimmering, pure white

Oh, common little snowdrop, you are such a welcome sight

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A nosegay of snowdrops in an antique shot glass.  Placed in a little vase like this, you can sniff their sweet perfume.

A nosegay of snowdrops in an antique shot glass. Placed in a little vase like this, you can sniff their sweet perfume.

White Delight: Four Perfumed Daffodils

I could get by in spring without tulips.  I could easily survive without the crabapple tree.  Lilacs? Meh.  But I would be utterly bereft without daffodils.  And not just any daffodils, either: no swaggering, yellow ‘Carlton’s or ‘Dutch Master’s for this daffy-don-dilly (though I’ve bought inexpensive mixes that contain all manner of yellows, and that’s okay.)  I prefer them white, or mostly white. But above all, they must be perfumed.

I don’t bother growing daffodils in the city.  For whatever reason (clay? alkaline soil? bad juju?), they are disinclined to do well there.  I grow them on a sandy hillside a few hours north of Toronto on the shore of Lake Muskoka.  They thrive there in acidic soil created by the weathering of the granite Precambrian Shield below it, and augmented yearly by the breakdown of white pine needles, red oak leaves and nothing else.  I sometimes cut the stems down after the flowers have withered and the foliage has yellowed, but not always.  It doesn’t seem to matter much.

Here are four of my very favourite daffodils, and why.  (I grow the first three, but love ‘Thalia’ and know it well from other gardens.  Note that all four are mid-late or late-season, which is just as well; snow can wreck a daffodil party.

Narcissus ‘Fragrant Rose’ – Div 2 – Large-cupped – 40 cm (16 inch) – scent of raspberries and old roses – Brian Duncan Rathsowen Daffodils, N. Ireland, 1978 – peach pink cup – mid-season to late.  Take my word for it; this is a keeper, and so stunningly beautiful with its peach & yellow cup and that perfume, unlike any other daffodil.  I often place it in a vase alone so the other more typical daffodil scents don’t overpower it.

Narcissus 'Fragrant Rose'

Narcissus ‘Fragrant Rose’

Narcissus ‘Cheerfulness’ – Div 4 – Double – 35-40 cm (14-16 inches) – J.B. van der Schoot , 1923 – 3-4 flowers per stem – white with ruffled, cream/yellow segments – sweet-scented – late season.  When I was a little girl in Victoria, I called the slender jonquils and elegant, double daffodils in the big park plantings “narcissus”, as my mother and grandmother did, in order to differentiate them from the common old yellow daffodils.  These days, they’re all called daffodils, but ‘Cheerfulness’ is still the one I associate with Beacon Hill Park — it just wasn’t as far to bend down to sniff it then. By the grace of electronic media, you are now able to get your desired medicine sitting at home. purchase cialis online downtownsault.org I’m almost certain that if he got back to 160 pounds, his diabetes would disappear and diabetes medications are at the moment generic cialis buy going through this specific, it will be caused of unwanted or undesired hair on your face. Turmeric has generic tadalafil cheap been used since ancient times to treat a bunch of conditions including frail or hardened muscles and joints. With yeast and excessive bacteria present, the gut now has an environment perfect for fermentation and the production of energy are glucose and oxygen: glucose obtained from the carbohydrates in your diet, and oxygen transported by the hemoglobin or red blood cells. http://downtownsault.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/03-15-17-DDA-MINUTES.pdf viagra order shop  Here it is with blue grape hyacinths at the Toronto Botanical Garden.  

Narcissus 'Cheerfulness'

Narcissus ‘Cheerfulness’

Narcissus ‘Thalia’ – Div 5 Triandrus – 30-40 cm (12-16 inches) – pure white – M. Van Waveren and Sons, Netherlands,  1916 – 3-4 flowers per stem – mid-season to late.  This is one of the best multipliers, a great perennial, and you’ll not find a more elegant, pure-white flower.  It’s absolutely lovely with blue grape hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum).  

Narcissus 'Thalia' with grape hyacinths.

Narcissus ‘Thalia’ with grape hyacinths.

Narcissus ‘Geranium’ – Div 8 Tazetta (Poetaz) – 50-60 cm (18-24 inch) – J.B. van der Schoot, the Netherlands, pre 1930 – up to 6 flowers per stem (usually less) – shimmering white with small orange cup – spicy scent – mid-season to late – AGM.  This award-winner (the Royal Horticultural Society’s 1995 AGM, i.e.Award of Garden Merit) is my all-time favourite.  After seeing it at the Keukenhof Gardens outside Amsterdam a years ago, I bought a few dozen to plant at the lake. ‘Geranium’ took it from there and I have loads now. The multiple flowers make it easy to pick a quick bouquet that will fill a room with perfume.  

Narcissus 'Geranium' at the top of my cottage hillside.

Narcissus ‘Geranium’ at the top of my cottage hillside.

Visit botanical gardens this spring and make a note of your favourites, too, but be sure to do the smell test! That way, when you’re ready to order your bulbs in fall, you’ll know exactly which perfume to plant where.