How often do you stop in your tracks to smell the roses because the fragrance is so overpoweringly appealing? Why?

Lucky you Spunky! Lilacs in bloom? Scrumptious! I remember outside my parents home was a gardenia bush/plant. They also had a camellia bush/plant. The fragrance of the gardenias permeated the air as you walked up the steps when they were in bloom. All the camellias did was look pretty. We also had carnations in the back yard which were very fragrant. Through the years I think fragrance has been sacrificed for size or longevity because flowers don't seem to have the same degree of fragrance Or is it just me? Thank you for your reply and Happy Sunday! :)

Yes, when the lilacs are in bloom, the scent is amazing - the bush is as tall as the second story of the building, so there are a lot of blooms.  We also have irises, lilies, butterfly bushes, viburnum, azaleas, tulips, daffodils, spirea, and a couple of others that I can't recall now.  The scent of everything combined on a warm summer day with a little humidity is glorious.  I think as we get older, our sense of smell is not as acute as it once was. 

Sounds as if you LIVE in an arboretum Spunky! Do you? It must be an amazing thing to just breathe in and out there. I think you may be right about our senses slightly diminishing somewhat over time. I know some foods I used to like I don't and some I didn't I do. Go figger! Thank you for your reply Spunky! We have a place called DESCANSO GARDENS in southern  California that is quite beautiful. Actually I don't even know if it is still there. Many decades ago I visited it. I think it was/is in Monrovia. Could  be long gone! :(

We are fortunate to have one shareholder in our co-op who has been instrumental in getting all these plants, trees and bushes for us and getting them planted although the lilac bush has been here for more than 40 years.  It was here when I moved in but the morons who were tending to the landscaping at that time kept trimming it to keep it low and, as a result, kept cutting of the buds so it never flowered.  Once they stopped doing that, the tree grew and flowers beautifully. 

We have the Botanical Gardens in the Bronx which is spectacular, the Planting Fields Arboretum on Long Island, and there is Longwood Gardens down in Pennsylvania not far from where my sister lives which is just as magnificent. 

Oh my gosh you are so wealthy in your choices m'dear. What do they do when winter comes and the plants and lawns are snow-covered? When I lived in Boston decades ago we had our share of n'oreasters. Do you get them too? Thank you for your thoughtful and very informative reply Spunky.

Everything that was planted was done with our climate in mind.  We haven't lost any significant amount of greenery.  Anything that is very fragile in any of the public gardens are probably in the hothouses all year round.  We have had a couple of nor'easters, but nothing terrible. 

That's goodl My son was born during a n'oreaster! We lived 5 miles from Emerson Hospital in West Concord. We left the apartment at 2pm and arrived at the hospital at 4:30pm. Yes. It was that bad!  My son was born at 9:08 pm so it wasn't dire. It was dam* exciting though I wouldn't want to have repeated it! :)

Happy it all turned out well. :)

First own married house had lilac, camellia and rose plus prodigious quantities of fruit. The childhood lilac was for climbing not smelling. Still there the last time I looked. 

What kind of fruit Malizz? We had a fig trees of all things and a very prolific lemon tree in my parents' backyard. There was a  plum tree as well but for some reason the puny plums it produced were inedible! The birds liked them though. "The childhood lilac was for climbing". That intrigues me bigly. Did you actually climb up on one? Thank you for your reply and Happy Monday! :)

Eating apple, cooking apple, Victoria plum (very edible), 3 enormous pear trees, 5 gooseberry bushes, raspberries, brambles, blackberries. 

Once caught a couple of lads pinching the cooking apples. Just chased them off, not like my grandad who would have had them eat them. Ended up going after them to get my dog back who was happily chumming them down the road.   

 

Condolences with regard to the the former and of course if the stems are covered with thorns I would have to agree with you about that. Different strokes, right? Thank you for your reply  D&D and Happy Sunday to thee! :)

 Oh dear! That is a stench that stinks to high heaven. The garage smells of it when the car moves out. Is it  your sniffer that needs repair d'ya think Zack? If you are truly unable to differentiate between the fragrance of flowers and car exhaust I think you know something is very wrong. Out of whack! Thank you for your reply and Happy Sunday! :)

"Life's too short" to stop and smell the roses? How odd that is to me. PRECISELY BECAUSE life is so short one should stop and enjoy the perfume as often as one can. Different strokes. Thank you for your reply Malizz and Happy Monday! :)