Aromatherapy in the Garden
A good friend of mine came visiting last weekend. It was her first trip to Southern California. We couldn’t have shown more brightly; living up to our well-earned Mediterranean reputation we had clear skies, armloads of brilliant sunshine, foothills turned the color of emeralds, snow in the mountains, oranges on the tree and temps in the 70’s. Classic California in January.
One morning my friend went for a walk in my neighborhood. She came back with a large citrus blossom asking was it a Gardenia? Sniff, sniff, deep inhale – this fragrance makes your eyes roll back and your head spin. Visions of paradise. No words. Just breathe. Yes, amazing huh? Well you know, I told my friend, with over 2,000 acres of citrus from Ontario Ave. to the foothills, this whole neighborhood used to smell like that.
Deep breath, visions of paradise. Paradise lost, maybe?
Not to say Corona Ca. has ever been paradise, but like any other community before the urban sprawl tsunami wiped out any vestige of sensible living, we were probably more in balance with what nature intended for us to have to live and thrive and be healthy.
I asked myself the question: what if what is wrong with all of us is a critical lack of aromatherapy? I mean really, what if at least some of the craziness in our modern world is just a lack of nature’s perfumery?
Could be.
Verbena De La Mina in the front garden.
I was poking around in the front garden yesterday and another of the most soul satisfying fragrances hit me: savory, spicy, the scent of cloves. I drink it in. It is the native Verbena ‘De La Mina’. I have a couple of these sub-shrubs and one is right by the front walk. People think they like me and my house, but maybe it is really just the Verbena infusion on the way to the front door that makes them feel so good.
The cool weather annual we call Stock (Matthiola) has a spicy fragrance similar to Verbena De La Mina. I'm going to fill the pots on either side of the front walk with a mix called 'Katz Pink' Stock, from Parks Seed. Here in Corona, it will last longer into the warmer days of Spring if it can get some afternoon shade.
And what about the way everything smells after the rain? This fragrance even has a name: Petrichor. The term was coined by a couple of Australian scientists in 1964. We love that after-the-rain smell, which is especially strong after long periods of dry. That fragrance brings a signal of relief. Especially for us drought stressed natives. I was born in Santa Monica, but my Celtic DNA yearns for the cool, cloudy and the wet. This is the source of my D.A.D. No. Not my father, Dad. It is a syndrome like S.A.D. seasonal affective disorder, where people need to sit in front of lights to make up for the lack of sunshine. Well, I have D.A.D. – Drought Affective Disorder. And I know I made that up, but it is real. After about 4 years of less than 4 inches of precipitation a year, I really need some significant rain. When that smell Petrichor, tells my brain it is here I get so very happy.
