Help - Need a flower that blooms in spring and smells pretty.

BarbaraKE · Jan 5, 2009

I am not a plant person. But I need a flower, preferably white, that blooms in the spring (May) and smells pretty. The scene is set in Berlin, Germany.

It would be best if it's a flower that grows there (or at least in northern latitutes) because I don't know how much flower importing was done in 1870.

Any suggestions?

(Rep points will be given

)

Ol' Fashioned Girl · Jan 5, 2009

Lilacs.

My favorite flower. Now, whether they grow in Germany or not, I don't know. But they do come in white and purple.

KTC · Jan 5, 2009

Hyacinths are my favourite.

ETA: They would have been found in Berlin in the 1870s. (-;

Ol' Fashioned Girl · Jan 5, 2009

Ooo. Ooo. A linky!

Ol' Fashioned Girl · Jan 5, 2009

Hyacinths, too! Love 'em. They have such a distinctive aroma.

Ciera_ · Jan 5, 2009

I always love daisies. They're geographically correct, but I actually have no idea whether they smell strongly or not.

KTC · Jan 5, 2009

Daisies, depending on the type, can smell quite off-putting.

Mike Martyn · Jan 5, 2009

Daffodils

zenwriter · Jan 5, 2009

Lily of the Valley gets my vote. Sweet scent, grows in the shade. Pops up in March or so after a mild winter. Later after a long winter. Would grow in Germany. Lilacs are also a good suggestion. They bloom in may and are very fragrant (especially in the evenings).

Corpus Thomisticum · Jan 5, 2009

I'd vote for common purple lilacs, often the first to bloom in spring, and very fragrant. They originate in the Balkans, in the higher elevations of the southern mountain ranges, and were spread westward into Western Europe in the 16th century by a Holy Roman Imperial ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in Constantinople.

C.bronco · Jan 5, 2009

KTC said:
Hyacinths are my favourite.

ETA: They would have been found in Berlin in the 1870s. (-;

Ditto. Those and Lily of the Valleys. The smell is wonderful.

BarbaraKE · Jan 5, 2009

Thanks everyone.

I grew up in Upstate NY and we had lilacs (a white and a purple). They were what I thought of first but I didn't know 1) when they bloomed and 2) if they grew in Europe. I also would prefer a smaller flower (it needs to fit in a small vase inside a carriage).

I will also look up Hyacinth. I'm not that familiar with them - they may be a possibility.

Lily-of-the-valley never occurred to me. I'll check into them too.

Thanks again.

emandem · Jan 5, 2009

Gardenias are small, white, and smell great---again, the Germany question I'm not so sure of...

KTC · Jan 5, 2009

BarbaraKE said:
I will also look up Hyacinth. I'm not that familiar with them - they may be a possibility.

They're actually as beautiful as they are aromatic...

IceCreamEmpress · Jan 5, 2009

Remember that in 1870 Berlin was not in "Germany" but in the Kingdom of Prussia, which was part of the German Confederation. The German Empire was not created until 1871.

As for the flower stuff, the standard May Day flower in Germany is the narcissus. Lilies of the valley are done flowering by mid-April in Germany.

Lilac, of which some species are still flowering in May, is native to Europe, and was imported to the US.

Keyboard Hound · Jan 5, 2009

Are you wanting something shrubby? Lilacs are.

Maybe roses would be blooming. Some of the older varieties are really fragrant. And they could be cut with stems that would fit a smaller vase.

Hyacinths are beautiful, but top heavy. They'd have to be in a sturdy container not to topple out.

Pansies have lovey light-weight blooms and they are often fragrant.

Mumut · Jan 5, 2009

Snowdrops? Do they yave a fragrance?

Tepelus · Jan 5, 2009

In Germany, they make a beverage called May Wine, and they use sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum), a white flowering, fragrant ground cover that blooms in May, and the foliage is scented as well, like a combination of hay and vanilla.

BarbaraKE · Jan 5, 2009

IceCreamEmpress said:
Remember that in 1870 Berlin was not in "Germany" but in the Kingdom of Prussia, which was part of the German Confederation. The German Empire was not created until 1871.

You're 100% right. The main part of the story takes place in Feb. 1870, a few months before the Franco-Prussian war starts. References are made to the tensions between the two countries and the Austro-Prussian War (1866) is also mentioned.

But I thought saying "Berlin, Prussia" might confuse some people.

smoothseas · Jan 5, 2009

zenwriter said:
Lily of the Valley gets my vote. Sweet scent, grows in the shade. Pops up in March or so after a mild winter. Later after a long winter. Would grow in Germany. Lilacs are also a good suggestion. They bloom in may and are very fragrant (especially in the evenings).

Lily of the Valley - such a lovely, delicate flower. They get my vote, too.

also, the Lily of the Valley presages the arrival of happiness.

Barb D · Jan 5, 2009

Easter Lilies?

IceCreamEmpress · Jan 6, 2009

The narcissus is going to be the move, because it was the flower of virtuous love in 19th century Germanic culture, it's very aromatic, and it blooms in May.

It's also the kind of flower you'd put in a vase, unlike the (also May-blooming, also very aromatic, also very popular in Germany, as Tepelus points out) woodruff.

Lilies of the valley are done by mid-April in Berlin, so they'd have to be hothouse plants from a florist's shop.

Tsu Dho Nimh · Jan 7, 2009

Hyacinths and narcissus were often "forced", because they are easy and smell great. Either one could be used in a vase in a carriage.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/DG1116.html

Lilacs, gardenias, roses would be hothouse plants ... luxury items. Possible, but only for the rich.

pdr · Jan 7, 2009

What about...

white violets? They would be blooming in Germany from March until the end of May, smell very sweet and were popular at the time.

Just a query but wouldn't the white scented Narcissus be over by May. Violets flower over a long period but narcissus are usually done by mid-April.

kristie911 · Jan 7, 2009

I have to second OFG...lilacs. My favorite flower, I love the smell of them. It's not spring until I can smell the lilacs in the air.

I have them in dark purple, light purple and white.

Help - Need a flower that blooms in spring and smells pretty.

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