# @ahs_gardening on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DcV-FAwm6va
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/69414863-ahs-gardening-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/bbf57ba367.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-08-22T13:00:21.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** American Horticultural Society | American Gardener Magazine (@ahs_gardening) — https://gondola.cc/ahs_gardening

## Caption

Have you ever smelled a flower twice?⁠
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Violets can play a peculiar trick on your nose. The key aromatic compound in sweet violets, ionone, temporarily desensitizes our scent receptors. You smell that unmistakable sweet, powdery violet fragrance — and then, suddenly, you don’t.⁠
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Wait a few minutes and there it is again.⁠
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Victorian writers found the disappearing scent mysterious. Modern perfumers call it chemistry.⁠
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And that’s hardly the strangest chapter in the long history of Viola. Violets and their relatives have been symbols of courtly love, objects of intense Victorian competition, garden stalwarts and even confections. True candied violets are made from fragrant Viola odorata — not our common North American blue violet, Viola sororia, which is essentially scentless.⁠
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As we head toward another major bloom season for these small but surprisingly storied flowers, revisit the “Grower’s Almanac” in the May/June issue of The American Gardener to discover more about the versatile genus Viola at ahsgardening.org.⁠
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Not a member? Join us at us at ahsgardening.org/join to become a member and gain full access to American Gardener magazine. ⁠
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Writer: Matt Mattus (matt_mattus) ⁠
📸 creds: Unsplash, Katerina Niuman; Unsplash, Yoksel Zok ⁠
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#growersalmanac #timelesstips #gardeningtips #viola #sweetviolet #violets #springgarden #beddingviolas #showpansies #johnnyjumpups #horticulturalhistory #gardenhistory #americangardener #americanhorticulturalsociety #ahsgardening #pansies

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## Tags

showpansies, ahsgardening, sweetviolet, viola, beddingviolas, violets, springgarden, americanhorticulturalsociety, gardenhistory, johnnyjumpups, horticulturalhistory, pansies, growersalmanac, timelesstips, gardeningtips, americangardener

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