I used to collect fragrant flowers back when I had a sense of smell (before 2009. before any COVID stuff). I wished and wished I had room for a mock orange. They seemed to be the plant I couldn't have since I didn't have room or the finances for. In 2015, I moved to a house that had all the shrubs cut to the ground? But that's the truth. Last year, the garden club came and everyone kept saying, what is that beautiful fragrance? Yep. A mock orange. I never knew. Even when it was, you guessed it, right under my nose. Man, I miss my sense of smell. And taste, but mostly, smell. I think I was more sad than glad to learn that one. Pretty flowers if that counts.

I understand that taste depends on the sense of smell but of the two, the first is very important to me. I'd hate to lose or a have diminished sense of taste. Smell to an extent is important beyond giving pleasure - smelling a gas leak, smelling something amiss (a malfunctioning sewer line, something dead or rotten, something musty).

I'm curious, was this the result of an accident or illness?

many many sinus infections. And you're very correct, it's unsafe. I even worry I'll consume something that is tainted. I don't have my youngin' to say, does this smell right to you? any more. It's not something I take lightly. What if my house catches fire and the detectors don't work? There's so much that many take for granted. It's not completely gone, but it's bad enough I can't smell mock orange even if my face is buried in the blooms.

Rob- Do you have any sense of smell at all? Mine took years to come back, and it’s still not 100% but worlds better than nothing. I do think that ”retraining” helped. Essential oils of clove, lemon, eucalyptus, and rose were what I read and used.

Chisue, I've been gardening many years and I hadn't realized until a couple of years ago that honeybees drink water. We were having an exceptionally hot (for us on the coast) stretch of weather and I found the entire perimeter of the birdbath lined with drinking honeybees. I read about them then and found they also carry it back to their larvae in the hive. I didn't know or would have provided water for them years sooner.

chisue, just wanted to say we’re big fans of Japanese maples and have several. The blooms are often not that noticeable since they can be so small and/or match the leaf color. Beautiful trees!

My world is ruled by my hyperactive sense of smell. I wish my hypersmell and your lack of smell could get together and agree to give each of us something normal and moderate!

Every since I contracted a virus in 2008 (just a horrible cold flu that lasted a month) I have become like a blood hound and my entire immune system goes on overload due to tons of scents.

I'm out $40k on a lease I had to break because of a smell that was irritating me and making my face go numb. I'm now in another apartment and spending hours everyday scrubbing down walls with alcohol and peroxide to get rid of a lingering Glade odor.

I have to close my windows most of the time because someone might be walking past with a cigarette, doing laundry in the laundry room with Glade, idiots have decided that burning fires in their backyards are a great thing to do. (Really, in a city? When wildfires are the norm?)

rob, I wonder if there's such a thing as a service dog that will alert their human when they detect a scent they've been trained to know signals a possible danger?

I'm so sorry this got so derailed chi!

I have done everything possible to revive my sense of smell. I've had three physicians working on it and it's just not going to happen. I'd give a million dollars to be back where I was back in 2017 after I had sinus surgery. After a couple of months of steroids, the surgery work cleared everything out, and a steroid implant that dissolved over time, I got my sense of smell for 3 months. I didn't care if it was a skunk, if I smelled it I was on cloud 9 million! I drank it all in. Delicious smell like food passing by, somebody wearing a subtle perfume as they walked past me, deep dank earth, even cow poo.

I've seen the implements they make for people who can not hear (shaking beds that replace alarm clocks, flashing lights instead of ringing doorbells, etc.) I can't think of what anybody could do to help somebody who has a lack of smell.

Rob, this topic of smell is interesting to me. I have a diminished sense but I can still get there most of the time.

I worked with and older woman who was mugged and as a result of a head injury she lost her sense of smell and taste. It was depressing for her but nothing could be done about it.

Re: water for insects - saw this the other day and now I want to make one:

Recycled bottlecaps glued to a tree branch

Kendrah, I feel you! I, too, have a strong sense of smell. I'm lucky that most natural smells don't bother me. I even like a lot of them, including most flowers. But artificial scents have something in them that's just toxic to me. Being near someone wearing perfume will set off a migraine in minutes. I've had to leave the theater (expensive ticket, too!), change tables in restaurants and I often have to hold my breath in elevators. For me, the one good thing to come out of Covid is masks. I frequently put one (or more) on when I find myself around someone who stinks of cologne. It helps cut the odor, and has the added benefit of making me look sick, and making them want to keep their distance.