education: Flowerdog

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Flowerdog

A dog's world is made primarily of scent. There are sights, to be sure, and sounds, but scent reigns supreme in the canine sensory array.

There are stories in the grass: of voles passing, of rabbits and crickets, of droppings and tracks and scent molecules you and I could never perceive. Chet reads them all like you and I read the daily paper.

He turns the page and answers my call. Chet Baker, we have something for you to smell.

It's a tuberose, fresh from the garden. (Astute readers will notice that these photos were taken when one could still be outside in shorts; when the Queen Anne's lace was abloom instead of afrazzle; when the tuberoses perfumed the entire yard each evening and early morning with their swoony scent.

Why, that is delightful, Phoebe! Of course I could smell it as soon as I came out of the house, but it is nice to have it up close, right out of the flower tube.

May I smell it again?

Mmmmm. That is delicious. It reminds me of...hm. I do not have a word for it, but I know I smelled it before. Perhaps last year, in August, and the year before.

Tuberose?

Yes, thank you. It is tuberose. The basis for many perfumes. You are not a perfume-wearing woman, but you should know that. Tuberose is in the agave family. It grows from bulbs, which you must pull up every fall and store in the basement.

Yes, I know, Chet Baker, and we need to do that very soon, before it freezes and the leaves wither away and it's hard to find the bulbs.

I will help you do that. I never tire of the scent. I am a sensual dog. They say that dogs like awful stinky smells, and that is true, but we also appreciate smells you think are beautiful. We have a much wider smell palette than you do.