Not sure if this is the best place to post this, but here is a description from the Longwood Gardens website:
Longwood Gardens presents its first major exhibition, Making Scents: The Art and Passion of Fragrance on view from April 10 through November 21, 2010. An intersection of flora, fashion and science, this exhibition will transform the Gardens gemlike Conservatory into a museum for the senses. Experience the actual plants and flowers behind iconic perfumes, explore the mysterious power of the sense of smell, discover the unique combination of creative artistry and intricate science behind perfume composition, and have the opportunity to compose a basic fragrance at the Make Your Own Fragrance stations located in the Music Room.
Fragrant Gardens & The Science of Scent
The exhibition is divided into four major sections: Into a Fragrant World, The Art of Perfume & Fragrant Gardens, The Science of Fragrance, and Your Fragrant Garden. Longwoods conservatory and gardens will overflow with natures fragrant plants and flowers and as a focal point, an 18-foot tall sculptural trellis in the shape of a perfume bottle has been specially crafted. The exhibition will continue to engage the senses throughout the grounds of Longwood Gardens with outdoor plantings for visitors to see, touch and smell.
More than 260 different Genera of aromatic plants and flowers have been added specifically for the exhibition, joining more than 5,500 types of plants from around the world already housed in the historic conservatory. Yellow freesias, Oriental lilies, hyacinths, gardenias and lilacs are interspersed with the exhibition. The delicate white blooms of jasmine, which emit a sweet and rich scent featured in many notable perfumes, will be contrasted with fresh-scented lavender, popular for centuries as an ingredient in soaps and potpourri. Ylang ylang, a yellow flower of the cananga tree that grows in Indonesia and the Philippines, is highly prized for its rich and complex fragrance and is used by perfumers to add depth and intensity to several important perfumes.
Making Scents: The Art and Passion of Fragrance also will explore the sense of smell and how scent molecules send signals to the brain that trigger moods, emotions and memories. The interpretation of scents can guide actions, influence behavior and affect feelings. The exhibition will describe the biological processes of smell, including how olfactory neurons in the nose are stimulated by approximately 10,000 different odor molecules. Human beings are instinctually hard-wired to respond to smell, but individual reactions to particular scents can be experiential, based on culture and personal experience, such as the sweet and spicy scent of cinnamon evoking joyful memories of family gatherings, or the potent fragrance of lilies acting as a poignant reminder of a loss.
Creating Perfume
Perfumes are crafted from floral and other natural ingredients by artists, like François Coty (creator of Chypre), Jacques Guerlain (Shalimar), Edmond Roudnitska (Diorissimo) and Jacques Polge (Allure), whose disciplined sense of smell guides their vibrant imaginations. The perfumer begins with an idea and calls upon a mental inventory of thousands of distinct aromatic notes, mentally mixing plant, animal and synthetic ingredients. Scent composition takes the form of a pyramid, with top or head notes placed above middle or heart notes, that are supported by base or soul notes. Once a perfume is applied, the scent molecules of the top notes evaporate quickly, bringing the middle notes to the fore. Designed to last several hours, the middle notes are then replaced by base notes, which can linger for a day or more.
Making Scents: The Art and Passion of Fragrance will showcase the technical processes behind perfume creation, from traditional harvest and extraction methods to chemical combinations of synthetic fragrances.
The exhibition will also trace key moments in the history of perfume, beginning with the earliest recorded Egyptian scent around 1800 B.C.E. and culminating with Coco Chanels release of No. 5 in 1921, the first perfume for the modern woman.
A Family Friendly Exhibition
After seeing, touching, and smelling all of the fragrant plants and flowers throughout the gardens and Conservatory, visitors will take a scent journey using a Scent Seekers scratch and sniff guide, distributed only in the Conservatory. Travel through time learning about people (and insects) who have contributed to the industry of making scents like a rose rustler from Texas, a chemist studying the rainforest, and an artist designing fashionable perfume bottles. Find out whose nose knows as you match up sticker scents with the real plant on display.
Experience Fragrant Changes Visit Again and Again
Throughout the exhibition, the changing seasons will offer you diverse garden scents and visual delights. In spring, youll experience lilacs, lilies, and narcissus. Summertime brings the delicate scent of roses, scented geraniums, lavender, and Brugmansias to the fore. During fall youll celebrate sage, mint, lemon, rosemary and Senna didymobotrya, or Popcorn Cassia, known for its popcorn-like smell. In early winter as the exhibition nears its end, youll take in the scents of the sweet, pungent aroma of paperwhites, contrasted with the woodsy scent of pine, juniper and fir.
Longwood Gardens is located about 30 miles west of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in Kennet Square, PA. I went to the exhibit on Friday and had a thoroughly excellent time. If your vacation or travel plans bring you within an hour or two of southeast Pennsylvania between now and 21 November, I would recommend a visit!
Longwood Gardens presents its first major exhibition, Making Scents: The Art and Passion of Fragrance on view from April 10 through November 21, 2010. An intersection of flora, fashion and science, this exhibition will transform the Gardens gemlike Conservatory into a museum for the senses. Experience the actual plants and flowers behind iconic perfumes, explore the mysterious power of the sense of smell, discover the unique combination of creative artistry and intricate science behind perfume composition, and have the opportunity to compose a basic fragrance at the Make Your Own Fragrance stations located in the Music Room.
Fragrant Gardens & The Science of Scent
The exhibition is divided into four major sections: Into a Fragrant World, The Art of Perfume & Fragrant Gardens, The Science of Fragrance, and Your Fragrant Garden. Longwoods conservatory and gardens will overflow with natures fragrant plants and flowers and as a focal point, an 18-foot tall sculptural trellis in the shape of a perfume bottle has been specially crafted. The exhibition will continue to engage the senses throughout the grounds of Longwood Gardens with outdoor plantings for visitors to see, touch and smell.
More than 260 different Genera of aromatic plants and flowers have been added specifically for the exhibition, joining more than 5,500 types of plants from around the world already housed in the historic conservatory. Yellow freesias, Oriental lilies, hyacinths, gardenias and lilacs are interspersed with the exhibition. The delicate white blooms of jasmine, which emit a sweet and rich scent featured in many notable perfumes, will be contrasted with fresh-scented lavender, popular for centuries as an ingredient in soaps and potpourri. Ylang ylang, a yellow flower of the cananga tree that grows in Indonesia and the Philippines, is highly prized for its rich and complex fragrance and is used by perfumers to add depth and intensity to several important perfumes.
Making Scents: The Art and Passion of Fragrance also will explore the sense of smell and how scent molecules send signals to the brain that trigger moods, emotions and memories. The interpretation of scents can guide actions, influence behavior and affect feelings. The exhibition will describe the biological processes of smell, including how olfactory neurons in the nose are stimulated by approximately 10,000 different odor molecules. Human beings are instinctually hard-wired to respond to smell, but individual reactions to particular scents can be experiential, based on culture and personal experience, such as the sweet and spicy scent of cinnamon evoking joyful memories of family gatherings, or the potent fragrance of lilies acting as a poignant reminder of a loss.
Creating Perfume
Perfumes are crafted from floral and other natural ingredients by artists, like François Coty (creator of Chypre), Jacques Guerlain (Shalimar), Edmond Roudnitska (Diorissimo) and Jacques Polge (Allure), whose disciplined sense of smell guides their vibrant imaginations. The perfumer begins with an idea and calls upon a mental inventory of thousands of distinct aromatic notes, mentally mixing plant, animal and synthetic ingredients. Scent composition takes the form of a pyramid, with top or head notes placed above middle or heart notes, that are supported by base or soul notes. Once a perfume is applied, the scent molecules of the top notes evaporate quickly, bringing the middle notes to the fore. Designed to last several hours, the middle notes are then replaced by base notes, which can linger for a day or more.
Making Scents: The Art and Passion of Fragrance will showcase the technical processes behind perfume creation, from traditional harvest and extraction methods to chemical combinations of synthetic fragrances.
The exhibition will also trace key moments in the history of perfume, beginning with the earliest recorded Egyptian scent around 1800 B.C.E. and culminating with Coco Chanels release of No. 5 in 1921, the first perfume for the modern woman.
A Family Friendly Exhibition
After seeing, touching, and smelling all of the fragrant plants and flowers throughout the gardens and Conservatory, visitors will take a scent journey using a Scent Seekers scratch and sniff guide, distributed only in the Conservatory. Travel through time learning about people (and insects) who have contributed to the industry of making scents like a rose rustler from Texas, a chemist studying the rainforest, and an artist designing fashionable perfume bottles. Find out whose nose knows as you match up sticker scents with the real plant on display.
Experience Fragrant Changes Visit Again and Again
Throughout the exhibition, the changing seasons will offer you diverse garden scents and visual delights. In spring, youll experience lilacs, lilies, and narcissus. Summertime brings the delicate scent of roses, scented geraniums, lavender, and Brugmansias to the fore. During fall youll celebrate sage, mint, lemon, rosemary and Senna didymobotrya, or Popcorn Cassia, known for its popcorn-like smell. In early winter as the exhibition nears its end, youll take in the scents of the sweet, pungent aroma of paperwhites, contrasted with the woodsy scent of pine, juniper and fir.
Longwood Gardens is located about 30 miles west of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in Kennet Square, PA. I went to the exhibit on Friday and had a thoroughly excellent time. If your vacation or travel plans bring you within an hour or two of southeast Pennsylvania between now and 21 November, I would recommend a visit!
