The garden was gorgeous, lots of beautiful and different spaces with a small river running through it and a peaceful sound of rushing water. Beautiful little rambling roses, wild fragrant jasmine and no less than three Ylang Ylang trees one in full bloom. If heaven exists, it will smell like this.
I was given a huge handful of Ylang Ylang flowers and cuttings of the jasmine. My hostess recommended floating them in water to absorb the oils and release the smell into the room. So that is what I did, back on the coffee farm, I put the Ylang Ylang flowers in a bowl of water and floated some white roses and gardenia between them. I have a small old fashioned rambling white rose as well as a couple of larger tea varieties. I think my friend would be proud of me.
My gardener took great interest too. He tells me the wild jasmine is hard to propagate but we can do it if we can get it to sprout roots. I also learned that if you touch a gardenia flower it will turn brown in a day or so. You have to pick gardenia carefully, never touch and they will last a week or more.