I place great value on fragrance in flowers, and take the trouble to have a sniff at most things. So many spring flowers are beautifully scented: the perfume on entering an RHS show in February or March is quite wonderful. Warmth, however is often needed to release it, hence the failure to notice it in the garden. I have no objection to the stinks of aroids and frits, but what I really hate is the scent of lilies and hyacinths. A bed of trumpet or oriental lilies pumping out their sickly pong pollutes the air about it, and I have to leave - much though I admire the plants and their flowers. I once got a pew at a wedding immediately adjacent to a great mass of lilies and was poisoned throughout the service. As Shakespeare said: 'Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.' Lilium candidum is an honourable exception. While on a rant about lilies, I object very strongly to the florists' trick of emasculating the flowers, to prevent the pollen staining. The intention is admirable, perhaps, but it removes the beauty of the flower - that circle of six orange anthers poised above the segments give the flower life and beauty, lost when they are removed. John Grimshaw Dr John M. Grimshaw Garden Manager, Colesbourne Gardens Gardens Cottage Colesbourne Nr Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 9NP Website: http://www.colesbournegardens.org.uk/ >