The peonies are in bloom at my in-laws’ house, so when my wife goes to visit she has been bringing some back home to put in a vase on the kitchen table.
For me, peonies have an overpowering smell, and not a pleasant one (as opposed to, say, lilacs, which can be strong, but I like it). When I was in college I worked in a pizza place that was next door to a hair salon, and you could always smell the chemicals when they were giving someone a perm. That’s what peonies remind me of.
My wife, on the other hand, describes it as a delicate odor that she can barely smell. I think she’s nuts. And it’s not like I have a better sense of smell in general than she does, but we have a pretty wide difference of opinion on this one.
So for those of you who are familiar with the smell of peonies, how would you describe it? Do you like it?
My father grew the classic white (with splashes of red) peony “Festiva Maxima”. I inherited it and several other varieties when we bought our previous house.
I’d describe the fragrance of these peony hybrids as mild and pleasant, very far from “overpowering”.
*if peony fragrance is that overwhelming for you, stay far far away from tuberoses, night jessamine or heirloom roses, or you’ll wind up like the characters in the Wizard of Oz when they entered the poppy field.
**I was very pleased yesterday to see that my Amorphophallus survived the winter and is sending up characteristic shoots that look like a dead man’s fingers. With any luck, the strange dark purple bloom with scent of rotting flesh will appear later this spring.
I have giant peonies in the front of my house and don’t remember them having any particular smell. I will definitely smell them when they bloom and let you.
I just went by a hedge of star jasmine while walking the dog, and I nearly gagged. Reminded me of taking the Hearst Castle tour decades ago, and one of the other tour-takers asking what the smell was. It was star jasmine. It’s so ubiquitous here (SoCal), I couldn’t imagine someone not knowing it.
Peonies don’t grow well here, so I don’t even know what they smell like whether they’re strong or not.
I’m not familiar with the scent of peonies. But star jasmine and gardenias gag me, and the flower known simply as “stock” somewhat does too.
OTOH, I like the scent of chrysanthemums, although most varieties have nearly none. I’ve been told that most people don’t like this, and therefore the breeders have bred the scent mostly out of them.
Peonies remind me of my grandma. She had the white with red splotches, pink, deep red, and white ones. They went around the entire perimeter of her backyard. In her memory, I planted a few in my own yard. The fragrance is very subtle to me - kind of light rose scent maybe. I have to stick my nose right in one to really smell it.
I always get sick to my stomach when I think of what happened to my grandma’s peonies. My sister and BIL bought her house after she died. He had the entire backyard leveled - all of those beautiful peonies were plowed under. I would have taken them all, but at the time, I didn’t have anywhere to put them.
And BTW - up here in NE Minnesota we pronounce it pee oh knee! Most of us anyway.
Wow, I guess I am just more sensitive to the smell than I realized. I get within about five feet of them and I instantly have a headache. I can’t think of any other flowers that do that to me. As I mentioned in the OP, lilacs are strong but I don’t mind the smell at all. (Where I used to work, they had lilac bushes planted along the side of the building, and when they were in bloom I could smell them all the way from the parking lot as I was walking towards the building.)
My mom had a gardenia bush in the backyard. They’re very delicate, so we had standing orders to never touch the blossoms (they’d turn brown) so we’d avoid them . I liked the smell well enough (peppery peaches), but I wouldn’t want them inside where the odor would be overwhelming.
And it’s not like I have a better sense of smell in general than she does, but we have a pretty wide difference of opinion on this one.
I would have taken them all, but at the time, I didn’t have anywhere to put them.