Never mind the 700 hundred years of oppression, one thing we should always thank the Baltic German nobility for (if someone happens to ask what they’ve ever done for us), is the linden alleys they left behind. I spoke about the Estonian manors briefly in this post and it is very common for them to be surrounded by linden trees.

I. Absolutely. Adore. Everything. Linden. I know this is not a very poetic way of making my point, but really, I’m beyond poetry here. What could I possibly say that would adequately capture the amazingness of linden? I like the trees themselves, especially the old, tall, abundant ones. I like the solitary trees and I like many of them together. I like the smell of lindens, the scent of liquid sunshine and pale honey. I like the actual linden honey and linden blossom tea. I would like linden-flavoured olives, if they existed, and I hate olives.

Both my childhood homes had linden trees. At my grandmother’s place I remember them best in summer when they were emitting that wonderful smell and surrounded by hundreds of bees, so it almost seemed like the trees themselves were buzzing. In Toila, my second home, the park had one of the most impressive linden alleys in Estonia. It’s magnificent in the fall, when the road beneath the trees is full of golden leaves.

I always try to have dried linden blossoms in my house. Preferably from my mother (who still lives where my grandmother used to), or an Estonian pharmacy/eco store when she has run out. But even the commercial infusions have become pretty decent and I’ll happily drink one by Twinings or Lipton, if the real stuff is not available.

There is no perfume that I’ve tried that exactly replicates the scent of linden blossoms and that’s fine with me. But Tilleul by Parfums d’Orsay comes very close: as my decant is finished, I am considering a full bottle – it is such a sunny and lovely summer perfume. L’Artisan’s La Chasse aux Papillons is not a linden soliflore (solitree?), but it does have this note and it’s a very pretty fragrance. Jo Malone French Lime Blossom cologne is nice, too.

I love this period in summer when, like now, the linden trees are in full bloom. But the time I need these little blossoms the most is during the dark and cold Nordic winter. A cup of linden tea and some linden honey tastes like a memory – and a promise – of summer.