Scented Tulips When we came across a company vending heirloom scented tulips, we felt bound to pass the word on. Yes, we did say scented tulips! Don't get us wrong, we love tulips, but the flowers we tend to love best are the fragrant ones. Hence our excitement when we first discovered the scented camelia, Scentsation. We'd always so admired the waxy, more-than-perfect camelia blooms, but to have them combined with a lemony fragrance, mildly reminscent of the famed daphne odora...well that's pretty awesome!

Though there are several European businesses specializing in heirloom bulbs, rare bulbs, antique bulbs and the like, there is only one U.S. company doing so. We highly recommend a visit to Old House Gardens. This is a truly neat little shop, offering bulbs dating back centuries, including this tulip we're so excited about.

Prince of Austria is the name of this rare treasure, offering a scent of violets and oranges blossoms. Apparently, the finding of this bulb caused the folks at Old House Gardens to start their company. They relate that these tulips not only have a delightful fragrance, but are also so hardy that they have been repeating in their garden for over a decade, without any special care. Now that is an astonishing quality in a tulip, as all veteran bulb fanciers know. We look forward to trying Prince of Austria out in our own garden, and can't wait to see it come up next spring!