Saturday, April 17, 2010

things in bloom



i first discovered the heavenly scent of orange blossoms 5 years ago and wrote about it here. every april since, i have fallen in love with the scent all over again any time i pass by an orange tree. last april, while pretty much confined to the couch, i realized that when the wind blew in from the ocean, it carried the scent of orange blossoms from the orange tree behind our yard, right into our living room. sometimes i would just close my eyes and breathe deeply, allowing the sweet smell to gently intoxicate me until i felt as if i was light as a feather, floating away on the breeze. seriously people, its that good. i think a big reason why i'm so fond of it is because it isn't a heavy, sticky, floral scent. it is light and barely there, but oh so sweet. i get a little bit sad thinking about the other 11 months of the year when the orange trees aren't in bloom.



speaking of blossoms, our jasmine vine is popping them out like crazy and they smell pretty good too. that little garden gnome was sitting in the hobbit hole of a backyard at the first house we lived in the day after our wedding. he was guarding a gardenia plant ~ a gift from my mom, which unfortunately burned to a crisp in the sun several years ago ~ and even though his beard is patchy and his clothes all faded, he still takes his job guarding our flowers very seriously. this jasmine vine will not burn to a crisp on his watch!



these snapdragons were carefully seeded by me and then lovingly planted by my husband while i was in the hospital last march, as a surprise to me. they were barely 6 inches tall a year ago and they obviously love where they are planted because they are now as tall as tristan! the red geranium on the right is one that has survived every move we've made. when josh and i were engaged, we'd sometimes dream about our perfect home. we both agreed that our perfect home would have one room as the library, dedicated to books and nothing else. josh's perfect home includes one of those showers where you get sprayed from all directions. my perfect home has a wraparound porch and red geraniums in the window boxes. the house we live in now is far from our perfect home, but i will keep that red geranium alive along with the hope that one day i may get my wraparound porch and window boxes.

6 comments:

Julie said...

Isnt spring great?! Wish I could smell your Orange Blossoms and see your other pretty plants :o)

ⒿⒶⓃⓔⓉ said...

It is smelling wonderfully at my house right now too!

kelly ens said...

so beautiful! I feel about lilacs as you do about the orange tree. i hope to cut my first blossoms tomorrow to fill the house with that beautiful aroma.
enjoy!

Christy B. said...

I still remember driving through the orange orchards by your house (the name of the exact town escapes me, I think it was something spanish sounding). Anyway, it was heavenly! I have tried to describe it to people, but you have to be there, to fully take it all in.

Am there with you in spirit, taking it all in! :)

Jessica LaTour said...

Orange blossoms are amazing, I love them too! And you are such a skilled gardener! I tend to off anything I try planting.

Thoughts on Life and Millinery. said...

That kind of jasmine grew over a lathe house in our La Mesa house. I couldn't figure out why I always thought of my mom when I smelled the flower's fragrance in the breeze until I remembered my mom always drank jasmine tea while I was growing up. Funny how scents stir forgotten memories.