This week I have so many scented flowers you would think it would be overpowering, but they blend together to make a perfume. We seem to run out of scented flowers at the end of Summer, and it’s a nice change when the cooler weather brings the scented bulbs and shrubs.
It was a dark morning; although it’s not technically the solstice for another 2 days, the day length in minutes is as short as it’s going to get, and it was cloudy.
The perfume is made up of roses Chartreuse de Parme, and one rather battered Gertrude Jekyll, both strong ‘fruity’ scents. The first of the older Narcissus ‘Early Cheer’ is the strongest individual scent. One flower of Daphne ‘Perfume Princess’, some Alyssum, and Wallflower ‘Bowle’s Mauve’, make up the rest. Daphne ‘Perfume Princess’ is a year old, the first Daphne I have ever kept alive for more than a season and it is really thriving under a plum tree.
There are some tiny Oxalis flowers in the vase. These are special Oxalis – not the ones with the clover like leaves that are a weed. They only open up in the sun, but they are very pretty even when they are rolled up. One of them is called ‘Peppermint Stick’ because of the way the red edge of the petals creates stripe of red and white when it’s rolled up. They are working well as underplanting for roses together with Thrift, Freesias, Dutch Iris, and Sisyrinchium ‘Devon Skies’ (blue-eyed grass).
There is a sad story around the cyclamen flowers.
I’m unsure of whether it was jealousy or frustration that possessed Mac the dog. We had a young friend visiting, and Mac had been digging a big hole after a rat tunnel and was filthy, so I left him outside until I had time to wash his feet. Next thing I heard a hedgehog screaming. When I ran outside the torchlight revealed an area of garden completely devastated, cyclamen flung in all directions, with a hedgehog hunkered down in the middle of it. The rescued hedgey will likely survive but I don’t know that I will get any more cyclamen flowers this year.
Cathy has a wealth of purple Iris ensata in her vase over at Rambling in the Garden this week.
Absent Gardener 
Oh, Mac! Like a little kid. Hope Hedgey is okay.
Scent is wonderful in the garden. Right now wafts of clove pinks are reaching me through the open window… pure delight.
Oh beautiful! Pinks are one of my favourite scents, so spicy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen enough together to have wafts of scent coming in the window, but now that I know it’s possible it’s something to try for!
Highly recommended!
Hope the hedgehog is ok they’re becoming quite rare now and they do such a good job on the garden. Love the light in your images.
I think he will be. Unfortunately hedge hogs are considered to be pests here, because they eat the eggs of ground nesting shore birds. We are not close to these nests, so I think it’s crazy when we are overrun by rats which do more damage. Since our rat invasion I found that rats also eat snails, however, as there were lots of snail shells in one of the nests. They must have brought each snail inside one at a time.
Oh what a tale of woe – but we will all be glad about the hedgehog, although of course it is a shame about your cyclamen! The Chartreuse de Parme rose is a gorgeous colour and now I have flowers on my own GJ I now know how wonderful the fragrance is. Thanks for sharing, Cath
It was a shame – I don’t find cyclamen easy to grow and I really love them. GJ is amazing, so robust as well as lovely. I’m getting a lot of joy from the roses this week – they have all opened up and are lovely.
That’s good 🙂
Reading comments, this is a wild hedgehog. So cool. Poor wee thing. Your post made me realize it’s time to cut and bring in peonies. They are finally ready.
Oh Peonies – I’m envious.
I’m glad you were able to rescue the hedgehog! Your vase is beautiful, as usual. Perhaps you can bottle the scent as a new perfume.
Thank you. That perfume would be nice – I suppose we could just go back to wearing corsages 🙂
Dogs in the garden can just drive you mad sometimes. One of mine digs holes (big holes) for no apparent reason. I wish I could catch a whiff of your arrangement. Love the tapestry colors as well. Happy Solstice.
Thank you! Happy Solstice to you too! I have so much un-gardened ground where Mac can dig to his heart’s content, including the compost pile. This particular garden is newish, and it’s a place where he used to hang out, so perhaps he’s trying to reclaim it. It’s probably pointless trying to understand why they do what they do but I keep trying. C said he walked right past a hedgehog the next evening and looked the other way. 😀
Scent is so important and your pretty vase must smell very good. I’m imagining the daphne, the very best of all.
Scent is so important. The one little Daphne is getting overpowered by the others. But hopefully next year I will have more. 🙂
Oh dear, Mac was literally in the doghouse then afterwards, I expect! A lovely vase for the solstice. And just think, in a week or two you will start noticing the days slowly getting longer… 🙂
He was. I forgave him the next morning. The days will start getting longer on the 27th 🙂
Garden drama for sure….nice collection of flowers but also all seasons in one.
Thank you 🙂 Absent gardening tends to have it’s dramas with animals.