On 2015-01-23 14:44:28 +0000, FrankB said:

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
A customer came in yesterday who said that, no matter what she bought,
or where, scented plants seem always to lose their scent once she gets
them into her garden. Even her Daphne bholura 'Jacqueline Postill' is
poorly scented. She says friends have said the same of their gardens
and have been told it's because of the time of soil they have. Warmth
makes no difference, apparently. Has anyone else experience of this,
or heard of soil making a difference to scent?
--
I don't know.

Last year I bought a red rose Thinking Of You, which was described by
various sellers as having a great scent. Although it bloomed beautifully, I
could barely detect any scent, nor could anyone else that I showed it to. I
brought this matter up on another forum about roses, and one poster said
that she had grown plants with 'scented' blooms that didn't have any
detectable scent in their first year of planting, but in subsequent years
they did produce the anticipated scent. So maybe it takes time for some
plants to establish thenselves in different soil conditions before they are
happy to reward you. Or maybe in my case the rose breeder was just lying
about that rose having a strong scent and fasely describing its scent as a
sellingpoint.

I've often seen many varied descriptions of plants have a strong scent
or being 'sweetly fragrant' etc. Obviously, reactions vary according to
an individual's own sense of smell. I've often seen Lonicera purpusii
described as strongly fragrant, whereas to me it's merely nicely
perfumed. I'd called Sarcococca and Daphne bholua and Akebia quinata
alba strongly scented because I and others often stop in our tracks to
detect where 'that lovely smell' is coming from. You may be right -
maturity of the plant may have somethiing to do with it, or
pollination, or who knows what! And of course, a lot of things will
smell scented in the warmth and stillness of a conservatory, that
wouldn't be especially noticeable if blown about by wind in a garden.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk