For the artists who make perfumes, a garden is more than a visual destination, it is a laboratory of scents and fragrances that inspire their work.
They bottle up the plants and flowers, with scents that can transport you right back into the greenery, surrounded by ancient trees and magnolia flowers. To places like the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, an oasis across the street from the city's Convention Center.
To show off some of these species, the garden hosted world-renowned perfumers and the CEO of The Fragrance Foundation, a trade group for the fragrance industry, for a panel and a sensory tour last week. Along with a botanical expert, perfumers taught a group of Miami-Dade high schoolers the role that garden plants and flowers have in their fragrances.
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The group of 30-odd students are part of the mentorship program 5000 Role Models at Miami Lakes Educational Center and they came prepared with a list of questions that only grew as they passed every new tree, leaf or flower that could be part of a perfume.
Master perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux said he knew he wanted to work with fragrances since he was child. He remembers trying to smell the flowers embroidered on his grandmother’s apron and sees gardens as a tie to his childhood, making them natural places to find inspiration for his perfumes.
As the tour brought the group in front of a Ylang Ylang tree, a plant native to Southeast Asia, he explained the tree is used as a base scent for many perfumes. The plant is dubbed the "perfume tree" for having a signature smell that evokes calm and makes it useful for perfumery and aromatherapy.
“There might be possibly 30 to 40 tons of essential oil of this flower, this tree, produced per year” Rodriguez-Roux told the group. “And it's very important, for example, in Chanel No. 5.”
He also pointed out a Monstera plant, which can be found in many gardens. One of the favorite perfumes he’s made, the Monstera Xinū, features notes of the plant native to southern Mexico.
Invisible accessories
Patty Hidalgo, a perfumer for the manufacturer International Flavors and Fragrances, said a common thread among perfumers is to make fragrances that remind them of home.
“You tend to create what you love. I love creating tropical fragrances that transport someone to the beach and their happy moment,” Hidalgo said.
Perfumes, she said, are invisible accessories that also serve as a way to communicate the world more about yourself.
And the current trend is that young men are purchasing more high-end perfumes and fragrances to do so. “They have collections, not just one signature scent, and they're really finding it a way to define their own personality,” said Linda G. Levy, chief executive officer of The Fragrance Foundation.
A renewed interest in fragrances among younger people may be another result of the pandemic. After spending time apart from each other and experiencing the loss of taste and smell, people rediscovered their sense of smell in a new way, she said.
This exploration has led younger generations to create their own scents. According to the Global Wellness Institute, one of the “wellness trends” for 2026 is fragrance layering, which involves layering different scents to create a unique signature smell.
Engaging the senses
For 14-year-old Miami Lakes Educational Center student Christopher Guzman, talking to perfumers gave him insights and answers to questions he always had. Like how to properly spray perfume: spray everywhere you want, but don’t rub.
Spending the afternoon in the garden was the perfect way to reconnect with nature and learn new things, he said.
He hopes to come back for another sensory experience, as the garden hopes to turn the sensory tour into a permanent fixture for all visitors.
“ I definitely think it's a great way to not only connect and learn so much more, but just build relationships and get that exposure and that wisdom that you may not have already,” Guzman said.
The garden is often a place where people go to disconnect from the noise of everyday life, Guzman said, so an experience that engages the senses can help tune out the rest of the world.
More than anything, perfumers like Rodriguez-Roux want that experience of the senses to send a message. The message he sends with his perfumes is full of citrus and florals and he likes his fragrances to be “chatty.”
“ I’ve always said that perfumes are conversations, perfumes are a bridge, perfumes are a link between people,” Rodriguez-Roux said. “Nowadays, with the political environment, I think perfume is also a link about peace, about beauty, about culture.”
