Hyacinth

by Abigail Hinsman February 16, 2021

Hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis)

The scent of hyacinth squeaks against your teeth like a green banana skin. It pokes through spring soil as a juicy succulent, a raceme of flower buds in the shape of a spiked flail surrounded by thick straps of leaves. Just before the flowers open, their pinched buds, as with tuberose, resemble the closed mouths of sheep. Or pursed apricot colored shellfish primed for Ursula to squirt onto her lips, revealing their red guts. The final thought as I stoop over them is that they look like those oysters sleeping innocently under the sun and moon in their bed, just before they were groomed, murdered and eaten by serial predators Walrus and Carpenter. In Vermont, fragrant hyacinth is the earliest perennial to bloom for enfleurage. The rubbery petals peel back to a head-footed gumdrop. Dragonfly wings hum, making the air seem sweaty and humid, but it's just the scent of hyacinth and spring flies. Notes of summer squash, perlite, and aloe.

To see the Wild Veil hyacinth enfleurage, click here.