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writerblocked
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Location: The garden in my mind

Q: What do lilacs smell like?

Okay, so I like flowers and plants.

OBVIOUSLY.

But I also like writing, and I really want to use lilacs in my current story. But I know very little about them, so I'm hoping someone here can tell me...

What do lilacs smell like? And what time of year do they grow?

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Unfortunately, Willy Wonka hasn't released his "Smell-o-vision" technology to the rest of the world.... :lol: JK :wink:
In my neighborhood, they bloom around last week of May~first week of June.
I think your best bet for finding out how they smell would be to go to a local store that sells essential oils -- Whole Foods, for example, and try smelling their test sample. :D

mfedukovich
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Location: Southern WV

Lilacs are my husbands' absolute favorite flower and on the list of my number 1's! :) (I love flowers it's hard to pick!) So early spring, (they're already blooming here in southern WV) we have some fresh picked Lilacs in the house often. He picks them for himself as much as for me. :lol:

I definitely prefer the smell of fresh Lilacs over any oil, candle, or anything else that I've smelled. The best way I know how to describe them is this: Fresh Lilacs smell like sweet heaven on a perfect spring day! That doesn't do them justice though, not even close!

I don't know where you're located but maybe you can try to find some at a greenhouse or nursery. That way you can have a sniff and know first hand. I'm sure with you being a writer you would be able to describe it much better!

M Fedukovich :D

BonneFemme
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writerblocked wrote:.

What do lilacs smell like? And what time of year do they grow?
In zone 5, lilacs are always in perfect bloom on Mother's Day.

They smell like heaven- they are sweet without being cloying, fruity but not citrusy, exactly, floral but not that fake flowery-soap smell. They smell fresh and clean and sweet and innocent. Not sexy. The leaves are shaped like hearts, which makes them perfect to be brought in by the arms full for Mother's Day gifts.

Sorry for you that you've never experienced them,

BF

Alan Jordan
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BonneFemme wrote:
writerblocked wrote: They smell like heaven- they are sweet without being cloying, fruity but not citrusy, exactly, floral but not that fake flowery-soap smell. They smell fresh and clean and sweet and innocent. . . .
Sorry for you that you've never experienced them,

BF
This is a superb description. Would you be okay if I used it in the chapter Rude Awakening of <I>The End of All Times?</I>, the first book in the Harmony123 series. (Of course, my writing is always subject to an editor's revision.)

Here's the proposed usage:
Universe 7.
Lake Tahoe, NV
Year: 0000 AGM


The question is also the answer. Since the beginning of time, the question had always been the answer. Those thoughts, the image of a one-way traffic sign, were predominant in Roger Jacob’s mind as he was wrenched to consciousness by the rude ring of a hotel phone that bore absolutely no resemblance to Frederick Schiller’s Ode to Joy. Roger never tired of hearing this piece. He consciously appreciated how the spam started off soft, and gradually grew louder. Alas, the phone in this hotel room was loud, jarring. “Hello,â€

84pagirl
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I agree thats what first came to my mind...heaven!

mansgirl
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Location: West Michigan

Where I am they bloom mid-May, and they smell like spring. I always have them in my house when they're in bloom and have acutally just boughten a re-blooming dwarf lilac so that in a few years I can smell them all summer. They're sweet, slightly overly so, but still very pleasant, and they have a heavy aroma that is very fragrant and clings in the air. When a breeze blows in the kitchen window and I have lilacs on the sill, they make the entire house smell like happy.

Have you ever smelled Gardenia or Peonies? The smells aren't that similar, but that same heavy smell of spring and newness is there too. : )



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