What mention of great-smelling
posies would be complete
without lilacs on the list?

We asked what flowers fill your nose with joy. Here's the pick of the crop:

I just love the smell of mums. It takes me back to the days of my grandfather. He had a huge vegetable garden but also had many rows of mums. I can still remember him lovingly picking bouquets of the mums after working long hard hours in the garden. My grandmother always loved lilacs. Funny how one flower signified spring and one signified fall. -- Mary

Maybe I'm late for the ferry, but just this year I discovered chocolate cosmos! They smell like melted milk chocolate; it's incredible! For a chocolate freak like me, a potful of those fragrant blossoms is heaven on earth! -- Maureen L.

So many perfumes in a Sydney garden, I can't have just one favorite. In spring I love boronia, an Australian native flower; on a hot summer night, the port wine magnolia; in autumn, the roses, especially 'Oklahoma'; and in winter, the lovely jonquils, which are at their best when nothing else blooms. "For everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven." -- Diane

Maybe a much overlooked plant, but one that has great fragrance, is four o'clocks! Though they only open late in the day, and close by mid morning, they have such a sweet scent that I just have to make it a point to be in the garden at some point each evening. They remind me of my childhood, as my mother always had bushes of various colors all around our yard. Another favorite is -- and don't laugh -- marigolds! Many people can't stand the scent, but to me it just smells like a garden! I look forward to deadheading mine every day, as the scent stays on my fingers for a long time afterwards. It, too, reminds me of my childhood. I had a practice of setting up my doll house on the sidewalk right next to a bed of marigolds. As I played, the scent was so wonderful. When I'm around them now many years later, I feel 10 years old again. Others can enjoy the roses, peonies, lilacs -- all are nice -- but give me the ordinary, old fashioned, and simple: four o'clocks and marigolds! -- Sissie

Gardenia is my favorite, but it's hard to grow in the northeast. High school dances were special because my mother pinned a gardenia on a ribbon around my neck. I am growing a daisy version and it seems to be hardier. After three years of waiting, my beebalm finally bloomed and I like that scent, too. -- Betsy

Of all the scents in my gardens, honeysuckle still holds first place. We built a trellis privacy fence, 8 feet tall, next to our patio and it is covered now with honeysuckle. We open our bedroom windows when they begin blooming in late spring, just to reap the fragrance showered upon us with every northwesterly breeze. In the evenings spent outdoors on the patio, they fill our surroundings with a celestial scent. Even the roses that share the limelight in front of the vines cannot outshine them. -- Joanne

Having moved to the south (Zone 8) in the last few years, my favorites have changed from lilacs, roses, and peonies to orange groves, confederate jasmine, and certain orchids that can be grown outside. I bring the orchids in during their blooming to enjoy the scent and beauty inside. -- Bonnie

Star Gazers! These lilies were my wedding flower and I make sure to always have them growing in my garden. Such a sweet, wonderful fragrance! -- Yvette

Lily-of-the-valley! I love lily-of-the-valley because it has such a beautiful fragrance coming from such a tiny flower! It reminds me of childhood visits to the woods where it seemed to grow wild. It was my mother's favorite flower but she couldn't grow it in her garden (soil too sandy). When my husband and I were looking for a house, we came across one that had a beautiful perennial garden with a zillion lilies-of-the-valley growing -- it was a selling point for us and today we have so many that we've had to divide them and give them to our friends for their gardens! Spreading the joy! -- Eva

I look forward to the blooming of lilacs and I have them planted where their wonderful fragrance wafts on the spring winds. As they are one of the earlier flowers to bloom, they also remind me that spring is well on its way. One of my fondest memories is of a time when I brought a blossomed branch in to my son who was about a year old. He very carefully removed each and every single blossom and scattered them about the carpet, spreading their fragrance and beauty in our home! -- Bonny