A to Z Challenge: J is for Jasmine

In case you missed it, I'm taking part in the 10th anniversary of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, the annual event where hundreds of bloggers write 26 blogs—one for each letter of the alphabet—and post them each day of the month, except Sundays. I’m blogging about: THINGS THAT GROW IN ALBERTA. Leave a comment on my blog, Facebook page, or Twitter for a chance to WIN a set of the Superman Duffy books.


Missed a post? Click here start back at the letter "A."

J is for Jasmine

Have you ever smelled jasmine flowers?  They have a really strong scent—not a bad scent, but overpowering, in a way.

My grandma has a small patch of them in one of her (many) flower beds, and sometimes when I stay there and keep the window open in the summer, the smell is...well, strong. I probably shouldn't complain because one time, I left the window open and a skunk sprayed something in the yard and that was a very strong, very bad scent.

But back to jasmine. No matter how hard she tries, my mom can't seem to grow it in our garden. Even though there are like 200 different varieties of jasmine plants (not all of them can be found in Alberta, of course), Grandma says we don’t have the right environment for them in our yard: not enough light in the back because of our giant evergreen tree, and the front flowerbeds don’t get quite enough sun.

Since she can’t grow any of her own, Mom buys a lot of jasmine tea—mostly for the smell, she says. <shrug> I guess to each their own.

Is there a flower, plant, or tree in your yard that smells really strong? What or who does it remind you of?

Gotta jet! Tomorrow we have fun with a "K" plant!

~ Chase Superman Duffy