by Lesley Parness – lparness@morrisparks.net

This year, fragrance is the Plant Sale’s theme. Likewise, it is the topic of programming for Garden State Gardens (www.gardenstategardens.org) and for a new cell phone tour here at The Frelinghuysen Arboretum. To get you up to speed, follow your nose to these sites.

Start at coty.com to learn about our funder’s history.

From the sublime writings of Diane Ackerman in “A Natural History of the Senses,” at http://www.american-buddha.com/lit.naturalhistsenses.smell.htm to the ridiculous at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smell-O-Vision.

Understand the role of smell in human evolution at http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2011/05/19/Sense-of-smell-drove-brain-evolution/UPI-44821305848041/.

Enjoy some pleasant narration on the nose at http://www.chemheritage.org/discover/media/distillations/088-sense-of-scent.aspx.

And finally, listen to smell snob Chandler Burr, the New York Time’s first ever fragrance critic, at http://poptech.org/popcasts/chandler_burr__poptech_2008.