One of the first plants to greet visitors by the front walk is a rare 15-foot-tall Chinese perfume tree. “It has the tiniest flowers you have ever seen,” Ms. McCoy said, “about the size of a match head.” Gathering these yellow blooms, by her account, sounds like it’s about as much fun as picking cat hair off an angora sweater. But the bouquet is peerless: a little “like whole warm uncut lemon,” she said.

— The New York Times talks to Anya McCoy of Anya's Garden (and several other natural perfumers) about distilling their own raw materials in In the Garden: Making Flowers Into Perfume.