Heaven scent

Close my eyes and at last there is the heavy perfume, nectar of the gods, sweet and lingering fragrance that wraps itself around the garden – the ‘pinks’ have opened their petals and intoxicate the air.

I was introduced to pinks as a child. A name, easy to remember with a perfume hard to forget. My mother had large clumps of them, the old-fashioned double variety with twirls of one-coloured petals, slightly clove fragranced, long stemmed type. She would cut a few and place them in a vase and their perfume filled every corner of our home.  I have loved them ever since but lost my original plant due to bad weather several years ago. It has been impossible in my area to purchase the same variety and over the years I have bought the single petal dianthus which are a poor substitute. Last week I called into a couple of nurseries in the hope of finding a few more plants to fill up one or two spaces in the border and found a two-tone double pink with a strong, sweet, sugary smell that is just lovely.

Dianthus: Scent First – Raspberry Sundae

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Country Quips:

• The sweetest smell on Earth is the down on the forehead of a new born baby. It is like no other; it is the greatest gift bestowed on man.