In praise of boxwood. I didn’t grow up in the boxwood tradition; there were boxwood in the neighborhood where I grew up, but not in our family garden. I probably first encountered the cult of boxwood in the garden of one of my paternal relations in Virginia. It was only later in life that I began to experience the pleasure of a garden with big old boxwood. As for the “stink”, to me there is something primitively domestic about that odor. It’s the fragrance of home, the aroma of long habitation. The vaguely feline quality of that scent is not at all disagreeable to me, although we’re a dog family and not a cat family. Right now the tea noisette roses which cover the south side of the house (and part of the roof) are in full bloom; when atmospheric conditions are just right, the scent of the roses and the scent of the boxwood combine into something poetic and hypnotic. And I mean hypnotic in the sense conveyed by the etymology of the word hypnotic, because on a warm moist day this commingled scent quickly put me to sleep. What dreams I dream in the thrall of those two! It’s the dreamy scent of summer days, although a warmish winter day will evoke it from the boxwood, too. And yes, I know that there are those who can’t abide the scent of box, just as there are those of us to whom truffles smell like dead rat. If you can understand the “pity” for those who don’t like truffles (but it’s really schadenfreude, isn’t it?) felt as they shave more over their pasta by those who love truffles, then perhaps you can understand the “pity” I feel for those who don’t appreciate the scent of box. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7, where the various Dichelostemma are in bloom. My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/