Crisp mornings bring perfumed air.

It has been a week of contrasting weather patterns (rain; cold, strong winds; warm balmy weather; more rain; more winds; and this morning crystal clear skies with no breeze at all). So, I was pleasantly surprised when, this morning, I woke to a crystal clear sky, a light frost, and a sweet perfume hanging in the air.

I am talking about natural aromas, here, not Chanel No 5!

The local Sassafras trees are in full flower (as you have seen recently). They have a sweet, light perfume. Not particularly distinctively scented - unlike their leaves, which remind me of Mandarin rind when peeled. But that scent is only noticeable when the leaves are crushed - it does not travel - unlike the trees' sweet floral perfume.

Some of my Wattles are starting to bloom, as well. These are not endemic species, but garden plants, such as Acacia decurrens, which is the earlier flowerer of my two species of ferny leafed, tall wattles.

Acacia decurrens flowers are sweetly scented.

The other similar tall ferny-leafed Wattle which I grow, A. mearnsii flowers in late October, in Robertson.

Close-up of Acacia decurrens flowers.

When I came in for my regular shift at the local Community Technology Centre (where I just answer the phone and help people get onto the Net - nothing too technical, I can assure you) I was greeted with the sweet scent of the creamy Jonquils known (for some reason) as "Straws".
Their official name is Narcissus tazetta var italicus - so "Straws" is easier. These have a sweet perfume which can be a bit over-powering inside a house. But when outside, with the perfume wafting around on the fresh air, the scent is truly delicious - to my nose. This is all the more satisfying, as I planted these flowers, several years ago, when the CTC was newly built.

The "cup" of the Jonquil is how it earns its Latin name "tazetta",
meaning "Little Cup".

Another CTC volunteer at the time, "Boney" helped me rescue these plants, and many others from an old garden in Robertson where the house was due to be demolished. If his partner BJ is reading this in Western Australia, Hi from Robbo! You're in that linked picture too.

Although the Jonquils were really obvious, I realised while photographing them that there was another, even sweeter perfume on the air. It comes from the beautifully named Lonicera fragrantissima. I am sure all my readers can work out what that means. The first name means it is a Honeysuckle. But if you need a clue the "issima" ending on a plant name acts as a superlative - so it means "most" or "very". So, "fragrantissima" - its not hard is it? So, if you are familiar with the sweet smell of a honeysuckle vine scrambling over your neighbour's fence - then imagine how sweet this one is.

Honey Bee in the Honeysuckle flower

It is a Honeysuckle, but not one of those invasive straggling vines. This is a dense shrub. I love this plant for the reason of what it does on days like today. For the rest of the year I have to stop people from wanting to chop it down - for it looks dull and has stiff stems and hard leathery leaves. A most unattractive shrub, visually.

But today I took all the visitors to the CTC outside to stand in the sun and be bathed in the sweet aroma emanating from this plant. I know we are far from Spring, but today, the plants seem not to know that.