Orange blossoms (Neroli)
We stayed at the beautiful Royal Palms Resort & Spa in Phoenix during our recent trip to Arizona. When we got there, I was surprised to see how beautiful the hotel ground is. They do a fantastic job with the landscaping, as soon as I walked through the main entrance I was greeted by this amazing floral scent. It turned out we arrived at a time when the citrus trees were blooming and the smell of orange blossoms just filled the air everywhere. The hotel was built on a citrus grove back in the 1920s and now the citrus trees fills the resort with grounds. The scent of the Neroli citrus tree remained in my memory and when I got back to New York I decided looked it up.
The orange blossoms fragrant comes from neroli, the fragrant bitter orange blossom which produces one of the most cherished and expensive oils in the botanical kingdom. It grows mainly in Morocco, Tunisia, Spain and various other areas of southern Europe. Neroli oil is very precious and one of the more expensive fragrant oils.
Citrus trees
This smells wonderful too but I couldn't tell what it is. Any ideas?
Other random pictures around the hotel grounds:
Citrus tree peeking out from a window:
June 15th, 2009 - 09:17
Looks like a beautiful place! Hard to tell how big the fruits are in that second photo. They look a lot like calamondins – we grew them in our back yard in Florida. The fruits are only about the size of a large grape. I really miss growing citrus.
June 16th, 2009 - 00:50
The mystery plant could be plumeria?
The university I went to for my BA had an orange grove and when the trees were blooming it was one of the most heavenly smells imaginable.
June 17th, 2009 - 08:53
Even the wee bit of perfume scent that we get from our kumquats makes me go crazy whenever I sit outside for a spell. Absolutely love the smell of citrus flowers.
That white flower is definitely plumeria (common name frangipani) as Fern stated. We’ve got trees of those growing at my parents’ home in Hawaii. They’re used for making those wonderful flower garland leis.
June 17th, 2009 - 12:54
Fern – I thought the smell of jasmine was heavenly until I discovered citrus flowers!
Rowena – Thanks for clarifying the plumeria for me. The smell of citrus flowers mixed in with plumeria… oh my gosh!