Saturday, June 06, 2015

Gardenias

Today was hot here. The weatherman said 96, but that doesn't take into account the humidity. When the air is humid, sweat doesn't evaporate from your skin but sits like sorghum syrup on a buttermilk biscuit and instead of cooling, acts as an efficient insulator.

One minute you feel like you're getting a little warm and then next minute your spouse is dialing 911. So through the years we've learned to respect the humidity.

The one thing that isn't bothered by humidity is gardenias. They don't start blooming and thrive when the air is thick.

Some people say the smell is too sweet, but when the air is thick as a wool blanket, our yard is almost intoxicating. You can smell gardenias blossoms when you drive into our yard.

Jilda picks the blossoms and puts them in our bathroom all summer long. When the blossoms die, she leaves stems in the vases to root.

We have 30 or more blooming in our yard and through the years, we've given hundreds of plants away to friends and neighbors.

So, if you're one of the people who don't like the aroma of blooming gardenias, you might want to visit some time other than summer.


9 comments:

  1. My father liked begonias and I hate the smell of them. He liked to have hanging baskets of them on the front porch. Ugh!

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  2. Anonymous9:51 PM

    We have some gardenia trees in the neighborhood--I love it when they bloom!!

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  3. My lady was saying after I put her picture on smelling what I thought was yellow or orange honeysuckles and they weren't, "I don't know too many flowers, but I know gardenias. YOU put some nice pictures on, and I could almost smell the flower.
    Nice visit here in the wee hours.

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  4. Beautiful! It's 26° C here and HOT!

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  5. Your gardenias are beautiful and I do love the smell. I've tried to grow them without success. I don't even your 96 degrees and humidity at all. We rarely get that warm. But I would love the wonderful fragrance there at your house.

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  6. I know I don't handle humidity that well, I hate it when I am dripping in sweat

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  7. I do enjoy the smell of Gardenia but not so much the sweat of humidity! We get some of that up North too! Jack's Mom loved Gardenias..she was a southern gal...and tried very hard to grow them. Unfortunately they didn't do well up here. She had a potted one on their porch and finally, after years of trying, she got a bloom. The story goes that one day she went out to look at it and noticed something strange. One of Jack's brothers had accidentally..as young boys do..knocked off the only bloom but feared the rath of Mom. So he did the only thing he could think of...he taped it back on the plant. Just a little family lore! Have a wonderful day and enjoy those blooms!

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  8. Now I hate humidity. I can't breathe well and I don't sweat so I easily overheat-my mom and her father had the same problems. Smelling the beautiful flowers would never bother me though because it would take away my ornery ways and appreciate the miracle of a beautiful flower

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  9. I love the smell of gardenias; some flowers' scent are a pick up. I feel that way about Lily of the Valley, too. I'll never get enough of it.

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