Queen Of The Night

Several years ago I spent a good part of winter in Negril, Jamaica. I was a New Yorker then, and escaping the cold was something I looked forward to every year. Because I returned to Negril many times, I experienced the small town life there.

Power outages were normal, and I would often be caught walking home at night on a pitch black road with only the stars to guide me. The stars and the sweet scent of night blooming jasmine. I got to know at what points on the road the jasmine bloomed, a kind of scented marker. I had never smelled anything like it. It even surpassed the hot house gardenias found in the flower shops in New York.

Night Blooming Jasmine

There were certain turns in the road where the jasmine was the strongest. I knew the road by daylight, and was always amazed that the scent was never revealed when the sun was up. In fact I never even saw the plant. It could be hidden behind walls, and tendrils of fragrance would catch your nose in the night air.

I didn't know then that I would end up living in a sub tropical climate, and that at certain times of the long Summers I would once again drink in the heady scent of the night blooming jasmine. In fact I have a plant in the back garden. But it's my nightly walks with Cholo that are the most enchanting. I can't see the blooming jasmine in my neighbors yards, but I can smell it.

In Jamaica, I was told to snip a bit of the Queen of the Night, and put it on my pillow for sweet dreams. In the evenings, I often bring a snippet in the house for Alberto. Sometimes I put it in a bud vase on the kitchen counter, and one little sprig will fill the kitchen with intoxicating scent. Sure enough by morning there is no fragrance, but once the sun goes down the scent magically returns.

My friend Miss Ann had night blooming jasmine in her French Quarter courtyard, and she broke off a small branch and told me to plant it in the ground. I did, and now that little piece of stick is four feet tall, and has come back after many a freeze.

Early Autumn brings the blooms scenting the soft night air. It will remain quite warm here for another month or two, but there is a subtle feeling in the scented air that the season has changed.