Botany's Daughter Gather Perfume

One day, late summer descended over the lavender fields, and a family of chatty field mice worked diligently day and night. They gathered the lilac-glowing flowers and picked green cardamom pods from the soft, warm earth. They wanted to stock up for the cold winter days and also collected fragrant hay to make their home cozy and comfortable.

All - except Frederick.

He sat all day in his favorite spot under the blooming linden tree. There, the honey-colored sun gently tickled his ears. There, chirping birds flew through the ambrette veils, and the wind carried all the scents from the nearby field right to his nose.

Then the other mice grew angry: “Frederick, why aren’t you working?”

Frederick replied, “But I am working. I’m collecting the rays of bergamot that fall from the sky. I’m gathering the linden-sweet songs that the birds sing. I’m collecting the stories that the wind whispers in the lavender fields.”

The days passed. Reddish-brown leaves fell from the trees and rustled under every step. The mice had huddled in their hideout among the stones of the old field wall, and the longing for the warm, bright days grew ever stronger. Suddenly, it felt very cold and lonely in their mouse burrow.

“Frederick,” they called, “what about your supplies?”

“Close your eyes,” said Frederick and sat down on a large stone. Then he told them about the bergamot rays and how comfortably they warmed the fur. He sang the linden-sweet songs of the birds. He shared the stories that the ambrette wind whispered in the lavender fields.

All at once, myrrh-golden warmth spread and kept the mice warm all winter long. Snuggled together, they listened to Frederick until the spring sun chased away the cold.

***

Botany’s Daughter opens with the most beautifully sun-warmed lavender I know. So lilac-bright and herbally green, lightly supported by bitter bergamot zest, that I can almost hear the bees buzzing, becoming even more enchanted as more and more aromas of nectar-sweet linden blossoms blend with the violet splendor. Musky ambrette wafts through the fragrance like a gentle summer breeze, and cardamom adds its sparkle.
At this point, I was actually prepared for the scent to remain just like this. A cheerful summer day that spreads good vibes and eventually just fades away. But this is the moment when Botany’s Daughter reveals a new facet. Beneath all the summery lightness lies the warm comfort of balsamic myrrh, which elegantly transitions the fragrance from summer to autumn, shifting the color spectrum from purple, yellow, and green towards rust brown.
Myrrh has a tendency to take over in fragrances and drown out all other notes. Here too, it plays the leading role in the later scent development, but it is so refinedly interwoven with brightening ambrette that it never becomes too heavy and oppressive. An impressive effect, especially considering that Ananda Wilson has committed to using only natural raw materials for Gather Perfume and therefore has to forgo the synthetic toolbox that is usually employed to make heavy notes like myrrh soar. The underlying anise sweetness of myrrh harmonizes wonderfully with the herbaceous lavender and the cool-warm cardamom, and incidentally provides such enormous longevity that I can’t help but wonder why this warm, soft, and comforting combination isn’t smelled much, much more often.
Botany’s Daughter works for me in every season, but I think I would prefer to wear the scent most when the days are short and the longing for summer and its fragrances is at its peak.
It is a fragrance for dreamers and storytellers.

(Thank you to Leo Lionni, whose story of Frederick always warms me when the world is dark and cold, whether outside or inside, and with Botany's Daughter, it even smells finer.)