Humans don’t have the strongest sense of smell — that award goes to the African elephant — but it is indeed one our strongest senses. A mere sniff is enough to evoke memories of times long past. For me, certain smells in my garden can take me back. 

My Garden Memories

I’m certainly not alone when I say that the smell of freshly mown grass is one of my favorite smells, with the exception of freshly baked bread or cookies. Freshly mown grass takes me way back to when I was a kid. It is indicative of a carefree time in my life when the only thing on my mind was the upcoming crabapple battle between the boys and girls of my suburban block. 

Another of my favorite smells (non withstanding baked goods of course) is the smell of a tomato leaf. Have you ever noticed what a distinct aroma a tomato plant has? The scent is difficult to describe but certainly there is something almost grassy combined with a little spicy-sweet to it. 

Of course in the garden we also have flowers… or at least I do. Some of them smell better than others but they almost all have a definitive aroma about them. Take geraniums. Some hate the smell of geraniums but to me they are akin to tomato plants — another scent that is hard to describe but nonetheless distinct and to my nose, pleasant. 

Memory From Smell

Dogs can smell an odor 40 times better than humans and sharks can apparently smell a drop of blood in a swimming pool. I’m not sure about putting a shark in a pool… but I wonder what these smells evoke for them.

Perhaps my dog is remembering a good time playing ball when she’s scouted and dug up a muddy, rotting tennis ball. I hope so.