26.2.10

paperwhites smell like diapers


i bought a paperwhite bulb kit after christmas that was on super discount, thinking a live flowering plant would be a beautiful, springy addition to our home in the last of the cold winter months. i was also interested to see if i, the serial plant killer, could get them to bloom. the first couple weeks, i was careful to keep them watered and in a cool, dark corner of the pantry closet - and it worked! i proudly presented the tall green, bloomless stems to my mother in law when she arrived and she smiled and delicately asked if i had ever smelled paperwhites before. she even made it seem like their perfume just wasn't for her. man, was she right. they smell like diapers. straight up dirty baby diapers.

so take it from me, if someone tries to sell you anything that smells like paperwhites, run the other way.

7 comments:

chelsea said...

Haha!! I LOVE the smell of paperwhites!!! My sister agrees with you though. When we roomed together she would have none of it. She said they smell like pee!!

ellybeth said...

oh no, seriously?! i actually wish i liked the smell because i really, really love the flower.

and maybe i wouldn't have noticed if i hadn't been warned. they totally smell like pee to me - maybe i spent too many years babysitting.

Rach said...

I, also, am a plant killer. It's sad because I LOVE having green yummy plant goodness in my home. But they DO NOT like me.

Your paper white is lovely.... Too bad it reminds u of diaper days gone bye. Maybe you can cover it with one of those glass "anthropologie" like dome covers??? Do u know what I'm talking about?

Unknown said...

They have a cloying smell that verges on stinky. It's probably analogous to how some people can smell asparagus in their pee and others cannot. They would be lovely flowers. Maybe daffodils or hyacinths next time?

Unknown said...

They would be lovely flowers outside in the spring. Oops, that is what I meant to type.

vanessa said...

Maybe that's why it was on super discount? Next time try an amaryllis bulb. They are just as simple to grow, but the smell isn't as overpowering.

Sharon Stanley said...

oh yeah...you couldn't be more right...the first time I had some I fussed at my boys for having something on their shoes.....we live on a farm.....