“The trees that have it in / Their pent-up buds / To darken nature and be / Summer woods”–Robert Frost
It’s officially summer as of 8 p.m. (EDT)–and not a moment too soon. We had a winter that more than made up for a lack of snow in recent years. I’m still sore from all the shoveling! Our snowfall this past winter reminds me of a saying from The Old Farmer’s Almanac, that reads: “When February give much snow, / A fine summer dost foreshow…” Let’s hope that it will be a fine summer this year. It will if the air is fragrant with summer’s beautiful flowers…
My daughter is finishing up exams in high school and my son’s school year will be over in a week. I know they’re both looking forward to a summer of ease and excitement. I’m anticipating the heady scents of flowers in bloom…
In the March 1990 issue of Victoria magazine, in an article about heart-notes or perfumes, a writer said: “To discover whether night blooming jasmine, or any kind of fragrance, is right for you, it is best to wear it for a few hours in the early afternoon, when your sense of smell is sharper.”
I had something else planned for tonight till a summer breeze brought me another faint scent of jasmine this afternoon. My wife and I were out by the pond recently when she turned to me and said, “Do you smell the jasmine?” The air is so perfumed now with the heady fragrance of so many blooms that I almost missed it. I walked over to our mock-orange plant and deeply inhaled its intoxicating scent. My neighbor’s beautiful climbing roses are also scenting the air, vying for my attention.
This is what the writer in that issue of Victoria magazine had to say about this exotic scent. “Bespeaking elegance, grace, and sensuality in the Victorian language of flowers, sweet jasmine says, ‘I am too happy,’ as may the woman who wears a fragrance with this heart note. Often called the most exquisite floral essence, jasmine blooms at night and perfumers hand-pick the delicate blossoms before sunrise–hence its centuries-old name, ‘Moonlight of The Grove.’”
Joris Karl Huysmans in Against The Grain, wrote: “Perfumes, in fact, rarely come from the flowers whose names they bear … with the exception of the inimitable jasmine, which is impossible to counterfeit.” I’m pleased to discover that there is at least one fragrance associated with the season that is difficult to reproduce.
To conclude my short blog tonight, one of my favorite writings that describes a summer frame of mind. Katherine Mansfield wrote, “The mind I love must have wild places–a tangled orchard where dark damsons drop in the heavy grass, an overgrown little wood, the chance of a snake or two, a pool that nobody’s fathomed the depth of, and paths threaded with flowers planted by the mind.”
I hope you will get a chance to travel some of those paths this summer. I also hope a summer breeze will entice you with a scent of jasmine or even a single rose.
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Don Jackson
