"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?
--

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

Its more likely to be problems with the customers sense of smell, it is
quite common for some scents to get factored out by our noses, probably so
that you can continue to detect other smells while in the presence of a
strong scent. the best known is violets. Other plants will only release
scent when the weather conditions are right as they are trying to attract
insects and there is no point if its too chilly for them to be flying, this
seems especially true of winter and spring flowering plants, so it could
just be poor positioning in the gardens. But I have never heard of soil
effecting scent.

--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk

On 2015-01-24 17:19:47 +0000, Charlie Pridham 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?
--

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

Its more likely to be problems with the customers sense of smell, it is
quite common for some scents to get factored out by our noses, probably
so that you can continue to detect other smells while in the presence
of a strong scent. the best known is violets. Other plants will only
release scent when the weather conditions are right as they are trying
to attract insects and there is no point if its too chilly for them to
be flying, this seems especially true of winter and spring flowering
plants, so it could just be poor positioning in the gardens. But I have
never heard of soil effecting scent.

It was a new idea to us, too! But she swears the things smell strongly
to her in others' gardens but not in her own, citing the D. bholua as a
particular example. Of course, it's perfectly possible that she's so
accustomed to the scents of her own garden, she is indeed factoring out
some scents. We did talk about the warm weather factor but again, she
didn't think that came into it at all.
--

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

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

On 2015-01-23 17:09:02 +0000, Bob Hobden said:

"Sacha" wrote

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?

It has to be something about conditions they are growing in, possibly
nutrients.
I say that as, and I have mentioned this before, many years ago my wife
used to ensure there was a vase of flowers in the house, normally spray
carnations which had no smell at all as bought. I noticed as I arranged
them that a few had offshoots that could be used as cuttings so I took
them potted them up as any gardener would and when rooted plated them
out on our allotment. That meant they grew hard in an open position
with no care at all other than weeding. When they eventually started
flowering the next season they all had that glorious clove like scent
missing from their parents and it was strong too. Can only have been
the difference in the way they were grown.
Too much fertiliser or rich soil perhaps?

Could be - definitely another possible theory. I wonder if any of those
are grown hydroponically?
--

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

On 2015-01-24 13:12:47 +0000, Jeff Layman said:

On 23/01/15 22:55, sacha wrote:

Hmm, could be. She's here in Devon. Our scented plants are very scented
in our garden but hers aren't while plants in gardens closeby are
lovely. All a bit strange.

I'm a bit confused now. Are you saying you have been to her garden and
the plants really /aren't/ scented, but those in other local gardens
are? In your OP you said that she has friends whose gardens similarly
lacked scent. and that was "because of the soil". Are those local
gardens or not?

Sorry for the bad pun, but something smells here! I just don't believe
that none of the plants in her garden has a scent, while others nearby
do. Any chance of you visiting her garden to check out what is going on?

No, we haven't been to her garden. This is what she told us. And yes,
she's talking about gardens local to her in a particular area of Devon.
I don't think we'll be asking to visit her garden to 'smell the roses'
though! We may be a bit busy here to do that! It would be an
interesting garden consultation, though. ;-)
--

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

On 2015-01-23 15:17:25 +0000, Janet said:

In article , lid
says...

On 23/01/15 09:53, Sacha wrote:
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 can't say I've found many plants that are not scented in my garden,
but are scented elsewhere. I do wonder if multiple vegetative
propagation might weaken some plants in certain ways, which might
include scent, but that would not be a garden-specific change.

I do find it hard to believe that in one particular garden normally
scented plants are not scented.

OTOH many people seem to have little awareness of how much location,
aspect exposure and density of planting affect plant performance. In a
sunny sheltered garden, where the air is still, scents will be more
noticeable. In an exposed windy garden they may be barely perceptible
until you cut flowers and take them indoors.

I've often noticed in nurseries that where there are masses of one
plant all in full flower, sheer volume of flowers makes the scent almost
overwhelming and attracts customers from yards around, a great selling
point but far more concentrated than one small purchase will produce in
its new home.

Janet.

This customer wasn't only comparing how things smell in a Nursery or
garden centre but also how her plants and those of some of her friends,
perform compared to other plants in the gardens of other friends.
There, they are grown singly and not for a sales display. She's an
experienced gardener and is well aware of the difference warmth, air
currents, etc. will make and is talking of her plants bought over
several years.
--

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