Fragrant garden

suvigirl

So, I have a great inherited garden,lots of colour and unusual plants, Flowers etc but there is not any smells?

I'd love some flowers/plants etc that will give out some fragrance. I know it's too late for this year, but any advice on what I could plant, in pots or otherwise that could add some nice smells outside?

wildwillow

Lilies and sweet pea are great summer fragrances. Some daffodils are very fragrant.

Osmanthus burkwoodi and sarcoccoa, philadelphus belle etoile, lilac, some vibernums are good shrubs. All the lavenders, dianthus (carnation mrs. Simkins) some roses, honeysuckle, jasmine. The list is endless. Visit your garden centre regularly and note which plants have pleasing scents. Note any scents when walking or visiting gardens

hamburgham

night scented stock.

I'd like to have more scented stuff too. Hyacinth are incredibly fragrant right out of the depths of winter and Jasmine is very strongly scented when in bloom. I inherited a rose called rambling rector which is so highly pungent it hangs in the air for the entire month of June, the neighbours can smell it and it is divine. Many roses are heavily scented, I've been inhaling rosa new dawn since it started blooming and its like a drug.

In the late summer begonia odorata are great in baskets or window boxes. I have osmanthus burkwoodii but have never got much scent from it, at least not yet anyway. Same with honeysuckle, maybe it just gets lost in all the other scents but never really picked up on it in the air. Lilac trees, Orange blossom or choisya are supposed to be highly fragrant too.

I keep a lot of herbs like lavender and oregano, thyme, mint and sages (and catnip) and while they don't really scent the air it's nice to walk by and pick some just to smell, it clears the senses and is very grounding.

Sweet annie or artemisia annua smells like juicy fruit, it's foliage mostly but it carries in the heat or when you brush past it. Dianthus, smells delicious too.

looksee

Nicotinia is very fragrant. Sarcococca for winter scented shrub. Privet is strongly scented though not everyone likes it. Wallflowers. Dianthus.

Goldengirl

Choisiya Mexican orange blossom . Beautiful scented white flowers twice a year , perennial shrub , easy to keep beautiful evergreen light green foliage year round

Peonies in May gorgeous . Leave foliage to die back and will get a beautiful crop again following year .

I have two scented jasmine both deciduous climbers one flowers all Summer ,the other late summer /Autumn. Little small star shaped white flowers that really pack a punch with perfume .

They are on either side of my garden and surround us with scent in the evenings ..best value and very easy . Chop back well every Autumn and they cover the walls by May every year .

Lavender is easy and heavenly . Mine gives off scent when sitting near as well as by touch.

Thyme and Lemon Verbena likewise in pots .

I have a buddleia which was meant to be a baby but it's coming out because it is a thug unfortunately. Scented purple flowers but they go brown quickly which doesn't look that nice . My friend is putting it at the back of her much bigger garden .

Last one is Australian Palm tree ( typical seaside one !) with beautiful flowering seed heads every May and June . Incredible perfume. Leaves / fronds are a curse when they blow off because they don't compost like others . Can be used to cover beds that you are putting bark on though like a weed prevention mat if you want to recycle them .

I have mostly perennials as I am a lazy gardener who apart from the odd clip back and feed and water likes to just chill for the Summer ;)

Enjoy your garden , Suvi .

Goldengirl

Think I will look into the Sarcococca @looksee . We are scentsless in the winter months .

How easy is it to grow ?

looksee

Its absolutely the easiest thing imaginable, and will seed babies around it - not to a nuisance situation but you should find some eventually. It is happy in a pot and grows about max a metre high, though usually only about half to two thirds of that. Glossy leaves all year round, tiny insignificant but sweetly scented flowers in the winter and black berries after. You will not really get the scent till it has been in long enough to be big enough to have a good few flowers.

Edit, it is also happy to grow in shade.

Marhay70

If you are buying lilies make sure you get Oriental not Asiatic. Orientals are very fragrant, Asiatic, not so much. Beware of the pollen too, stains almost impossible to get out of clothes.

standardg60

Sarcococca and Osmanthus definitely but they're both early. For me the king of summer fragrance is Philadelphia, every garden should have one, on a still evening it will fill the whole garden with glorious scent.

macraignil

Evening primrose has a very nice fragrance in the garden here at the moment and it self seeds a bit so if you learn to recognise the young plants and avoid weeding them out they seem to look after themselves and have a nice bright colour to the blooms as well. Honeysuckle has also been smelling nice recently as well as some buddlia. Earlier in the year Osmanthus, Choisya, Ceanothus, Philadelphus, Pittosporum, Lavender, and Sarcococca were giving good fragrance when in bloom.

Happy gardening!

OscarMIlde

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122454106#Comment_122454106

Thanks for the tip. I have two huge shrubs/bushes at the back of a garden that I've been toying with getting rid of but wasn't sure what to replace it with.

magicbastarder

A friend's mother has a tree which smells strongly of burnt sugar, I think when it's starting to shed its leaves. One of the more unusual smells you might encounter in the garden.

I'm fairly certain it's a katsura tree.

sudzs

Star Jasmine is great. In flower now.

appledrop

Jasmine definitely and Roses.

Now you have to he carefully with the roses, some look beautiful but have very little scent, other might not look as nice but have an amazing scent, so be sure you get the right ones.