Corners of happiness

One of my favorite scents is lavender. One summer I grew some on my balcony along with Maid-of-Orleans Jasmine for the first time and it was my small corner of happiness. The balcony was off my bedroom and I had hung wind chimes and would play my records while I watered all my plants at night. My friend Nickie was buying lavender and Mexican petunia that summer, really, ages ago. We had gone sort of plant crazy and couldn't stop going to nurseries. We would phone each other just about every night to talk about how much our boyfriends sucked but how wonderful our plants were turning out. Just the other day we were remembering those calls and laughing at how young we must have been to not see the solution: ditch the boyfriends, by more plants and feel so much better.

Around that same time I read how Sinatra loved Yardley's lavender soap. I have been told that the soap was made a lot stronger before the 1980's. Today the scent is mild compared to how it used to be and doesn't last.  I finally managed to get lavender plants into my backyard today. The breeze this evening brought scents of jasmine, cinnamon basil and English lavender. I thought of Nickie, summers spent in Mexico, My Abuelito and his opera collection, and our honeymoon through Key West and thought of how my little corner of happiness has grown.

I just planted the lavender and cinnamon basil because I enjoy the fragrance. There is such a thing as a scent garden. Recommended plants are:chamomile, lavender, artimisia and rosemary. Flowers to plant are: jasmine, honeysuckle, roses, mahonia and philadelphus.