While buying groceries two weeks ago, I picked up two blue hyacinths for $3.99 each – a nice splurge, I thought, one for home, one for my desk at work.

I had forgotten that hyacinths have an overwhelmingly powerful scent, and worried that I’d have complaints from patrons at work, especially after I came into the children’s room one morning and the whole room reeked of hyacinth.

But the hyacinth has been a HUGE hit.  Patrons come into the room, lift their noses up a bit and sniff, and then wistful, wonderfully happy smiles burst across their faces as they say, “Oh, that flower smells so GOOD!  It’s like spring is here!”  And to a one, each patron comes over to the hyacinth, lifts its heavy flower stalk, and breathes in deep.  Children get lifted up by their parents to smell the flower.  And everyone is happy.

Well, ok, not everyone.  Lisa and Mary admit to hating the smell of hyacinth, and stay on the far side of the children’s room desk when they need to talk to me about something.  And the first night that our home hyacinth was in flower, Jim greeted me with, “Is this flower new or something?  It STINKS!”  So, with Mary and Lisa in mind, the next bunch of forced bulbs that are working to flower on my desk are some yellow narcissus – the ones that look like daffodils, and, to the best of my memory, don’t smell like much.  And at home, for Jim’s sake, we’ll be sticking to gerber daisies. 

But meanwhile, it’s been great fun bringing smiles to so many faces in the library.