First sign of Spring, at least to me

March 20, 2008

My Jasmine sambac Duke of Tuscany is starting to bloom. This sambac is

slow growing and has huge - for jasmine huge I should qualify - flowers

about the size of a tiny carnation, full of tightly-packed petals and

the most tender non-indolic jasmine scent ever. I just adore it! I just

plucked the first blossom of the season from it today, and left one on

for the birds and lizards to enjoy ;-) It's full of about-to-open buds,

and I hope I have some to bring to the lunch tomorrow of the Miami NP

crew so they can enjoy it.

I coined the organoleptic term " tender " and I have to add that to the

Aromatic Lexicon on the evaluation sheet my students use. So many of the

home-grown jasmines I have become " tender " upon tincturing. Sigh.

They're just so lovely, tender, powdery, soft, sweet and delicious.

April and May are the big jasmine blooming months here in Miami, not

August and September as they are in India and France. Don't know the

reason for that switch in blooming season, but it is what I have

observed over years of growing the eight varieties of jasmine on my

property. Some vines are much more floriferous than the others, and keep

blooming right through summer, like the J. azoricum. My vines have grown

tremendously since last year, with no fertilizer. I'm looking forward to

a bumper crop of tinctures - it's very exciting!

--

Sincerely, Anya

- perfumes, aromatics, classes,

consultation

1400 member Natural Perfumery group -

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