My little lemon tree, sitting in the basement where it is cooler, waiting to be freed and to get outside when the days are warmer again, this little lemon tree has two lemons getting ready for harvest. And lots of flower buds that will open soon. Actually, the tree is not that little anymore and this spring it will get a spring gift: A new pot and more room for its roots. Its flowers, when open, are just amazingly scented. I think I remember the scent as a bit fresher than orange or clementine tree  flowers. A bit more sparkling, and a bit less indolic creamy.

I think I remember the scent as being more towards the neroli side  and a bit less towards the absolute side. Neroli being the steam distilled essential oil from orange blossoms (think “$$”, as the yield is so little). You find it in classical colognes (not the cheap ones, though and not the pseudo ones either). The absolute is the solvent extracted form, much more on the indolic (skunk alarm) side, with lots of woody and creamy notes.

Anyhow, we need to wait patiently for the flowers now…

But sometimes, the memory, the imagination is even better than the real thing. The real thing sits right next to the bedroom, separated by a door. As nice as citrus flowers are, after a while you get tired of getting up and the first sniff is citrus flower. LOTS of citrus blossom perfume.

The flowers are creamy white. So I tried to come up with a watercolor illustration before using the easy-peasy Friday slomo towards the weekend in order to play a bit with ideas towards a lemon tree fragrance. White flowers are not easy. I mean: White can mean “empty” of watercolors. That’s the challenge.

Over the weekend, into Monday, I will be off. I need to think about a few other challenges.