THE NEW FENCE SMELL

Yesterday when I was out running I smelled the most remarkable thing. It was so compelling that I had to stop and inhale it until I had the scent fixed in my memory. On my short route, a vacant lot that formerly was half of someone’s property is starting to be developed. The loggers and earth-scrapers have done their evil job, and now someone has put up a new fence on one side of the development. My guess is that it’s probably the people who live next to the construction activity, not the developer.

The smell emanating from this new fence was one of the most remarkable wood scents I’ve ever experienced. It was like a mix of freshly cut pine, fir, cedar, and oak wood with not a hint of green leaves, topped off by a smoky, burnt, caramelized sugar. I can't even begin to do it justice in words. 

The really interesting tie-in to this wood smell is the fragrance of a small orchid that’s usually blooming in my greenhouse, Maxillaria variabilis. It has a similar oak wood and caramel smell, and I’ve always been tempted to make a perfume based on it. The fence I smelled today was like a larger-than-life version of the Maxillaria, but even better.

The Maxillaria-new fence perfume is going on my list of ones to make this year!

[Board fence photo from Wikimedia; Maxillaria variabilis photo is mine.] 

MAXILLARIA ORCHID SPECIES: WOOD AND COCONUT

Can you imagine an orchid that smells like freshly cut cedar and oak lumber mixed with caramel? Well, that’s what the flowers of Maxillaria variabilis smell like. It’s a small plant, at least each growth is small, but it quickly spreads all over its growing surface. Mine grows on a big tree fern slab, and has fairly quickly gone from just a tiny cutting to a large clump. The plant itself has flattened, oval-shaped pseudobulbs with a thin leaf or two on top. It’s not particularly attractive when out of bloom, but it can be spectacular when covered with flowers. It’s blooming now, with the flowers arising on short, stubby stalks from the base of the pseudobulbs. I have three varieties, one yellow, one orange, and one so dark red it’s almost black. Regardless of color, they all smell pretty much the same, with wood and caramel notes along with just a hint of toasted coconut. One of these days I may make a perfume based on Maxillaria variabilis, since it’s one of the more unique flower scents out there.

Now imagine an orchid that smells exactly like coconut-scented suntan lotion. That would be Maxillaria tenuifolia, another orchid that’s blooming right now, filling the greenhouse with the fragrance of coconut. The plant isn’t very attractive, with its stacked pseudobulbs topped with leaves like long, fat, dark green pine needles, so it’s unwieldy and prickly when out of bloom. However, it puts on quite a display when it’s covered with its velvety, deep red flowers with white polka-dotted lips. I have two plants that I use for breeding, nicknamed “Bain de Soleil” and “Coppertone”. There would be no point in making a Maxillaria tenuifolia perfume since it’s already been done unintentionally many times over, but it is always fun to smell the coconut orchid in bloom.

I think a lot of people don’t realize what a huge variety of fragrances orchids can have, but these two Maxillarias are perfect illustrations of orchids with strong but unconventional “orchid” scents.