RE: More thoughts on fragrance and the weather....

[Guest guest]

From:

[mailto: ] On Behalf Of Shea

Sent: Friday, April 15, 2005 6:08 PM

Subject: More thoughts on fragrance and the weather....

I wanted to add,as I was thinking(hence the smoke),concerning flowers and

warm/cool weather. Here,you can only smell hyacinths,in the air anyway,when

its warm-upper 60's and 70's. Since it is almost never warm here in Chicago

in April,being in the 30's,40's,and 50's mostly,like it's been lately,you

can almost never smell the hyacinths.(although 50 degree temps are downright

tropical to some Chicagoans-I couldn't believe all the flip-flops,shorts,and

t-shirts I saw people wearing recently-and here is me in a coat and hat.

Maybe I should move to Miami! LOL) If I didn't force some hyacinths every

year,I would probably never know what a hyacinth smelled like! You can smell

them up close anytime,but something about that warm air makes the fragrance

waft about the atmosphere. Of course I know heat makes molecules evaporate.

I've also noticed that the pink and peach varieties smell much sweeter than

the purple and blue ones,those having a kind of funky,off-note when you

smell them up close(which you often have to do here in chilly Chicago),but

they are all pleasant when you get the scent wafting about.

Come to think of it,you cant smell narcissus either,unless you go up to the

blossom. And I've just realized that I can actually detect a light fragrance

from northern magnolia blossoms. I didn't think they had any scent!

Hi ,

Oh, yes, there is a fragrant Magnolia . . . my daughter's neighbor has one

that is probably 80 ft tall. One of these days, I'm going to ask for some

of the blossoms (when they are in the perfect stage of opening and fragrant)

to tincture and infuse, enfleurage. I really doubt that they can be

distilled . . . since they are all over the South, I'm sure someone would

have done it by now.

Check out http://home.att.net/~velvet-hammer/evolution.html and

http://www.floridata.com/ref/m/magno_g.cfm for pictures and more

information.

Be well,

Marcia Elston, Samara Botane, http://www.wingedseed.com

" First of all, cultivate a contented spirit; a garden is a good place to

begin. "

[Guest guest]

From:

[mailto: ] On Behalf Of Shea

Sent: Friday, April 15, 2005 7:12 PM

Subject: RE: More thoughts on fragrance and the

weather....

Marcia,

I remeber being in Kentucky a couple of years ago and seeing and smelling

the southern magnolias. What an experience that was. They are huge and the

fragrance is spectacular. The ones we have up here in Illinois are much

smaller,with pink blossoms, a rounded shape to the tree and the leaves are

different. The southern ones have the deep green shiny,leathery leaves that

are brown beneath,the ones here have light green leaves with a softer

texture. There are also bushy ones with white blossoms,also fragrant. I've

heard that some varieties of southern magnolia will grow up here-I'm dying

to plant one!

Hi Again, ,

I didn't mention that I am in western Washington state, the temperate

rainforest, so we probably have a better chance of growing the fragrant

Magnolia grandiflorum than you do in Illinois. I think it might be worth a

trip to your local big-tree nursery and talk with the experts; you may find

that there are fragrant ones developed to be hardy in your climate. They

are so spectacular, indeed! Especially when they mature to 80 feet in

height. And, the fragrance from one tree can scent a whole neighborhood.

Yummm.

Has anyone here tinctured or made an infused oil or butter from the fragrant

magnolia? I'd love to hear the results.

We were promised good weather for the weekend - been raining hard (with

intermittent heavy hailstorms/thunder/lightening) for days, and today is no

exception. Almost monsoon like rains (only a little cooler) with storms

building throughout the day and dumping gallons at a time. Wish I could say

it means no drought this summer, but it isn't resulting in the needed

snowpack to sustain us. Just an aside comment about changing weather

patterns. Perplexes those of us who garden. We had a warm sunny Feb/March

that was like Apr/May usually is (many flowering trees budded early), and

now April is looking like we're back in February.

Be well,

Marcia Elston, Samara Botane, http://www.wingedseed.com

" First of all, cultivate a contented spirit; a garden is a good place to

begin. "

[Guest guest]

At 09:07 PM 4/15/2005, you wrote:

>I wanted to add,as I was thinking(hence the smoke),concerning flowers and

>warm/cool weather. Here,you can only smell hyacinths,in the air

>anyway,when its warm-upper 60's and 70's. Since it is almost never warm

>here in Chicago in April,being in the 30's,40's,and 50's mostly,like it's

>been lately,you can almost never smell the hyacinths.(

should move to Miami! LOL) If I didn't force some hyacinths every year,I

would probably never know what a hyacinth smelled like! You can smell them

up close anytime,but something about that warm air makes the fragrance waft

about the atmosphere. Of course I know heat makes molecules evaporate.

Hi :

Cool temps can really keep the odor molecules supressed. See my previous

post on the winter/spring sambacs vs. the summer ones. There are some

flowers here that shout out their presence, no matter what time of year,

like the ylang ylang, citrus, fragrant dracena (which blooms often in cold

weather.)

I learned early on that blending is best done in a warm room, with moderate

humidity. I don't know the techniques that folks in colder climates use,

but most of the year, here in the tropics, that means even if the air

conditioning is on, I crack open a window to let some humidity in. Plus, I

always keep an overhead fan on the slow speed, to lazily circulate the air.

My blending room is about 80-81 degrees for the most part. It just helps me

see the true nature of the scent, and helps evaluate the blend as it develops.

> I've also noticed that the pink and peach varieties smell much sweeter

> than the purple and blue ones,those having a kind of funky,off-note when

> you smell them up close(which you often have to do here in chilly

> Chicago),but they are all pleasant when you get the scent wafting about.

That funky note is indole, found in lilacs, gardenias, tuberoses. I have

some grand duke sambacs that I didn't notice last year until they were

turning brown at the edges. I still tinctured them, and have them labeled

'indole dukes'. The first whiff is funky, but the drydown is sweet and

delicious. I don't use them in blends, I just dab it on my wrists for a

personal one-note perfume.

>Come to think of it,you cant smell narcissus either,unless you go up to

>the blossom. And I've just realized that I can actually detect a light

>fragrance from northern magnolia blossoms. I didn't think they had any scent!

Check out hte narcissus at different times of the day. I'm only familir

with them from forcing them years ago, and they were very strongly scented.

You would never know the night-blooming jasmine (Cestrum nocturnum) had a

scent until it was twilight - same with the brugmansias. Then I grab a big

bowl and go outside for some nighttime harvesting. Like I said, the

neighbors are used to it. Last night, it was quite dark, and someone drove

down the dead-end alley and said Hi out the car window. I have no idea who

it was, didn't recognize the car, and wonder if he was wondering what I was

doing, standing there with a huge white bowl in my hand.

Anya

http://anyamccoy.com

" The day Microsoft makes something that doesn't suck is probably the day

they start making vacuum cleaners. " -Ernst Jan Plugge

[Guest guest]

On Apr 16, 2005, at 3:03 PM, Marcia Elston wrote:

>

> I didn't mention that I am in western Washington state, the temperate

> rainforest, so we probably have a better chance of growing the

> fragrant

> Magnolia grandiflorum than you do in Illinois.

My son and I were walking home earlier today and we came across the

most beautiful Magnolia tree. was excited about the blossoms-

and many were on the ground. He began picking up these large petals and

carefully holding them in his hand (he is 5 yrs old). I asked what he

was doing and he said he was bringing them home and was going to make a

perfume from them. He was very excited and when he got home carefully

filled a glass part way with water and added the petals and stirred and

sniffed. He had to go shortly after to his father's for the night and

wanted to bring his " perfume " with him.

I am so happy for this season and for all the gorgeous fragrant things

that are growing!

Whole Life Essentials

http://www.WholeLifeEssentials.com

Request Free Samples with your order!

[Guest guest]

Anya,

Thats quite an image-you in the alley gathering flowers with a bowl. That

reminds me of me back when I lived in the suburbs and was always harvesting

something or other.

<I'm only familir

with them from forcing them years ago, and they were very strongly scented.>

Well, the paperwhite narcissus,which is usually the variety sold for indoor

forcing,especially around the holidays is extremely fragrant(and not hardy

here,by the way). The daffodil/jonquil types are not diffusive,no matter what

time of day/night. Of course,it could be the weather,but I have never noticed

them smelling strongly at all. They are definitly a " stop and smell the

roses(jonquils?) " type of flower. I remember when I was in cooking school,the

receptionist in the office begged me to take a couple pots of paperwhites off of

her hands and out of the office. She said " Please,get them out of here,they

reek " . I, of course, happily obliged.

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[Guest guest]

Marcia,

I have a gardening catalog that sells a southern magnolia cultivar,called " Edith

Bogue " that is supposed to be hardy to zone 5. In fact,the description mentions

that it's hardy in Chicago! I would love to get one,the only problem is where to

put it. I tried to convince my parents to plant one on their property,but they

weren't having it. They chose some other trees,equally as beautiful,that I

picked out for them-red maple,a laburnum,and two royal paulownias. The

paulownias are supposed to be fragrant. I thought a tree with lavender blooms

was very unusual.

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[Guest guest]

From:

[mailto: ] On Behalf Of Shea

Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2005 6:13 PM

Subject: RE: More thoughts on fragrance and the

weather....

Marcia,

I have a gardening catalog that sells a southern magnolia cultivar,called

" Edith Bogue " that is supposed to be hardy to zone 5. In fact,the

description mentions that it's hardy in Chicago! I would love to get one,the

only problem is where to put it. I tried to convince my parents to plant one

on their property,but they weren't having it. They chose some other

trees,equally as beautiful,that I picked out for them-red maple,a

laburnum,and two royal paulownias. The paulownias are supposed to be

fragrant. I thought a tree with lavender blooms was very unusual.

Hi ,

I will check and see if my daughter's neighbor knows the latin species for

the magnolia in her yard. Although Seattle is temperate (zone 6-7) we can

have snow/freeze occasionally. We have moved 24 miles NE in the Cascade

foothills (only 500' elevation), but we do get colder weather than we did in

Seattle. Our drive is lined with styrax japonicas or Japanese snowball, one

of my favorite fragrant flowering trees. I think the variety I have is

'camellia Forest Dwarf

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/trees-new/styrax_japo

nicus.html

I haven't tried to tincture the blossoms yet . . . Maybe this year.

Be well,

Marcia Elston, Samara Botane, http://www.wingedseed.com

" First of all, cultivate a contented spirit; a garden is a good place to

begin. "

[Guest guest]

At 09:02 PM 4/21/2005, you wrote:

>Anya,

>

>Thats quite an image-you in the alley gathering flowers with a bowl. That

>reminds me of me back when I lived in the suburbs and was always

>harvesting something or other.

Well, keep that image burned into your brain, because with all the sambacs

blooming right now, I'm out there in the morning and at night, LOL. The

grandi isn't blooming, but the sambacs are just going wild, so I'm out

there checking and picking all the time, since the cool weather seems to

make their scent equally strong at all times.

I was on a site I love, and found some nice magnolia flowers and

descriptive info:

http://hjem.get2net.dk/bojensen/EssentialOilsEng/EssentialOils18/EssentialOils18\

..htm#Magnolia

Check that against what you have growing in your area.

Anya

http://anyamccoy.com

" The day Microsoft makes something that doesn't suck is probably the day

they start making vacuum cleaners. " -Ernst Jan Plugge

[Guest guest]

Those are NOT the magnolias that grow here,but they ARE the ones I saw and

smelled in Kentucky(and Washington D.C. too,although they were not blooming at

the time).

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