For years, in the spring I’ve noticed a stunningly fabulous scent while out on my morning walks. It happens in March, and I have never been able to find the source.

Last year I decided it had to be the buckeye blossom, but this year I changed my mind again.

The smell showed up last week and there are no buckeye blossoms out. It is not lupine or redbud or fiddleneck or popcorn flower.

It smells like orange blossoms, but there is never an orange tree nearby.

Well, guess what?

It IS orange blossoms!

Turns out you don’t have to be near the tree at all to pick up the scent. Once we really scouted around, we always found a citrus tree of some sort. It wasn’t always in bloom yet, but the buds were there, and they were beginning to smell from 50 yards away or more. (I am writing this post with these very blossoms on a table across the room- not 50 yards, and the scent is strong and lovely.)

As the daughter and granddaughter and niece of citrus growers, you’da thunk I’da figgered that out.

Only took 15 years.

Too bad you can’t scratch and sniff your screen.