Tree perfumes
This evening en route to the bus station we allowed an extra few minutes to stop and admire the black locusts, which are just coming into bloom around Queen Street hill. We want to monitor the development of seed pods for a dye source, but the flowers themselves are lovely and shed a sweet, intense perfume. On still, mild evenings, the aroma pools downhill, along Elizabeth Street, but tonight was cool and breezy, so we had to get close and intimate with the trees. Most of the branches in the park at the top of the hill are too high to reach, but one tree by the Red Chevron Club has lower limbs laden with blooms. We'll take a step ladder there later this summer.
I feel a loss when a season goes by and I miss an exquisite flower or natural aroma.
For the future, black locusts bloom at the end of lilac season. Probably also about this time, the linden flowers are opening. Theirs is another favourite fragrance, but the closest trees I know are in Toronto.