Panagia’s Garden

A Fragrance Quartet in Bloom

A collaboration between Phronema Perfumes, the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the Stephen and Peter Sachs Museum.

Created in dialogue with the living flora of the Garden, these four fragrances are botanical meditations: olfactory compositions that interpret, not replicate, the smells encountered along the garden’s winding paths: its greenhouses, hedgerows, flower beds, and wild-growing groves.

Pagania’s Garden: Gardenia

Parfum Extrait

Notes:

Tonka Bean, Mandarin, Honey Dew, Lavender, Orange, Gardenia, Violet, Grape, Lychee, Hay, Orris Butter, Mysore Sandalwood, Black Tea

Pagania’s Garden: Tuberose

Parfum Extrait

Notes:

Tuberose Absolute, Ylang Ylang, Jasmine Grandiflorum, Eucalyptus, Petitgrain Bigarade, Galbanum, Green Cognac, Cubeb, Orange Blossom Absolute, Pink Peppercorn, White Ambergris, Citrus zest

Pagania’s Garden: Cubanola

Parfum Extrait

Notes:

Orange, Oregano, Vetiver, Patchouli, Coffee, Caramel, Vanilla Absolute, Heliotrope, Grey Ambergris, Mysore Sandalwood

Pagania’s Garden: Baobab

Parfum Extrait

Notes:

Galbanum, Davana Absolute, Ambrette Seed, Banana, Pineapple, Ylang Ylang, Jasmine Grandiflorum, Hyacinth, Deer Musk, Cabreuva Bark

Gardenia Description:

The first breath of this fragrance is hushed. It opens with the grace of light spilling through leaves. Tonka Bean, Mandarin, and Honey Dew mingle with the sweetness of Lavender and the bright lift of Orange. A soft haze of lemonade hangs in the air.

Next comes Gardenia, opulent yet pure, creamy and soft like first light on petals. The gardenia is touched by morning dew. It transitions to violet shadows, accompanied by Grape, Violet, and Lychee, creating a watercolor wash of purple-fruit tones around the floral heart.

As the day progresses, Hay, Orris Butter, and Mysore Sandalwood emerge, evoking shaded benches, warm skin, and the quiet air of a library. A final hint of Black Tea grounds the floral expanse with contemplative dryness.

Panagia’s Garden: Gardenia is a luminous floral-chypre impression, tender, radiant, and serene.

Tuberose Description:

Tuberose brings movement where Gardenia offered stillness. A lush white floral heart pulses from the opening, with Tuberose Absolute, Ylang Ylang, and Jasmine Grandiflorum braided into an intoxicating green-white garland. Eucalyptus adds lift and breath, while Petitgrain Bigarade and Galbanum introduce a bitter-sweet verdancy. Green Cognac and Cubeb contribute cool, wine-like sharpness. The resin-sweet warmth of Orange Blossom Absolute flows through the composition, resting on a base of Pink Peppercorn, White Ambergris, and citrus zest. The drydown is soft and radiant, like the breath after a hymn. Panagia’s Garden: Tuberose is a modern temple floral, expansive, radiant, and deeply alive.

Cubanola Description:

Where the earlier compositions moved through bloom and light, Cubanola explores the underworld of scent.

Named after the trumpet-shaped plant native to Cuba and Haiti (Cubanola domingensis), it opens with Orange and Oregano, bright and herbal, then moves into Vetiver, Patchouli, and Coffee, earthy, slightly bitter, and grounding. The aroma evokes sun-heated flowers, green chocolatey undertones, crushed leaves, and herbal tinctures prepared in hidden corners.

The fragrance also carries sweetness. Caramel, Vanilla Absolute, and Heliotrope rise with soft warmth, like a breeze carrying bakery aromas through foliage. Grey Ambergris and Mysore Sandalwood anchor the composition, creating a textured harmony between shadow and warmth.

Cubanola captures the scent of herbal lore, sun-dappled archives, and stone chapels hidden in groves. It is a sweet, earthy-green hymn.

Baobab Description:

While Cubanola leans toward earth, its companion celebrates sun-sweetened fruit, heady floral bursts, and warm skin. This is a garden at its most abundant and sensorial. It opens with a striking freshness of Galbanum, Davana Absolute, and Ambrette Seed, forming a green and gently musky prelude. The fruits follow with Banana and Pineapple, naturalistic and full, like orchard air mingling with human warmth.

The floral heart is soft and expressive, built from Ylang Ylang, Jasmine Grandiflorum, and Hyacinth, giving the perfume its flesh and curve. Deer Musk appears subtly, lending lift and sensual resonance with careful restraint. Cabreuva Bark adds rosewood-like sweetness, rounding the fragrance into a soft, skin-toned glow, like warm light settling on ripe fruit.

This perfume evokes the dream of the garden, a scent of joy, radiance, and repose.