What is the Perfume Project?

This blog is a constantly evolving forum for thoughts on perfume, perfume-making, plants (especially orchids and flora of the Pacific Northwest) and life in general. It started out chronicling the adventures of Olympic Orchids Perfumes, established in July 2010, and has expanded in other directions. A big part of the blog is thinking about the ongoing process of learning and experimentation that leads to new perfumes, the exploration of perfumery materials, the theory and practice of perfume making, the challenges of marketing perfumes and other fragrance products, and random observations on philosophy and society. Spam comments will be marked as such and deleted; any comments that go beyond the boundaries of civil discourse will also be deleted. I am grateful to all of you, the readers, who contribute to the blog by commenting and making this a truly interactive perfume project.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

IT’S CYCLAMEN SEASON!

I missed my usual Mass-Market Monday post because I spent the entire day putting things away after the weekend’s orchid show, and catching up on shipping orders. I’m still not caught up, but it’s better.

Our hometown fall orchid show is always held at one of the local nurseries, and my tradition is to buy one or more cyclamen plants for the garden. Over the years I’ve collected quite a variety of cyclamens, which seem to have interbred and produced more different leaf and flower designs. They’re really fun to grow because they go dormant and disappear over the summer, but as soon as the rains start in the fall, up pop the flowers or the leaves, in different order depending on the species, and sometimes both flowers and leaves together. Different species bloom at different times, so there are flowers continuously from early fall through winter and spring.


This year I went all-out and bought 4 plants – a pointed-leaf hederifolium, a coum with variegated leaves to offset the silver-leaf ones that have bred like rabbits and gone wild beneath the fig tree, and two gorgeous purpurascens. Most cyclamen species have at least a little fragrance, unlike the big florist hybrids, which are unscented. What I wasn’t expecting was a huge blast of fragrance that rivaled jasmine or fragrant lilies in strength. As I approached the cyclamen bench, I smelled what could have been a fine floral perfume wafting through the air. It didn’t take long to trace it to the Cyclamen purpurascens, which were pumping it out like crazy.  After a lot of sniffing I chose the two most fragrant ones, which, just by chance, have very different leaf designs. They are now happily planted in the front garden under a Japanese maple tree.

If this doesn't make you want to grow cyclamens, I don't know what will. 

[All photos are mine]

8 comments:

  1. How wonderful! I just love species cyclamen. Unfortunately around here one only ever sees Cyclamen hederifolium, and even that is not as common as it deserves to be. I must get hold of some Cyclamen purpurascens to experience that scent!

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  2. Nic, the purpurascens scent is absolutely amazing. We are lucky to have a few nurseries that sell species cyclamen plants. I've also bought some of the more unusual ones by mail order, but I think it's best to smell the flowers in person to get the most fragrant ones.

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  3. I don't actually have any idea of what cylamen smells like; how would you describe it?

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    1. Neyon, To me the best general description of cyclamen fragrance would be a bright, crisp, clean floral scent unlike that of any other flower. The Cyclamen purpurascens actually smell like a full-spectrum perfume, with the bright, clean, almost aldehydic top notes accompanied by a rich floral heart and warm, musky undertones.

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    2. Thank you, sounds extremely wonderful and unique, will have to try to grow myself now.

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  4. I became acquainted with fragrant, wild cyclamen in the mountains of Northern Italy this year, and they just knocked me out with their beauty! A little like the scent of wisteria, a bit like jasmine, sooooo gorgeous! It's really too bad the hybrids have lost this exquisite perfume.

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  5. Sadly here in Sydney Cyclamen are annual, they rot in the ground.
    BUMMER
    Portia xxx

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    1. You would think they would rot in the ground here in Seattle where it rains constantly all winter, but for some reason they survive. Maybe they need colder weather than you have in Sydney? Just a wild guess.

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