Fragrant Flowers and Herbs

Fragrance in the garden seems like a superfluous topic, every garden is fragrant. However, much like color, texture or shape one can use the element of fragrance to enhance a garden. Strategically placed flowers and herbs with sweet scents give reason to pause and enjoy.

Consider Placement

Plant sweet smelling flowers in areas where you can enjoy them. For example, if you have a spot where you like to entertain or dine outside, place hanging baskets and containers filled with aromatic plants close by so the fragrance will be appreciated. Fragrant shrubs such as gardenias or lilacs planted near windows will perfume the air in your home with every breeze. Just remember that some flowers can be very heady. I heard people complain of a plant being too fragrant, especially at night when it's time to go the sleep.

Herbs Add Fragrance Too

Herbs have aromatic leaves that will fill your garden with fragrance, especially in the late morning when the sun begins to heat up. Lavender, pineapple sage, and basil are exceptionally fragrant.

Night Scented Flowers

Fragrant Flowers Daffodil Jenny If you enjoy the garden by moonlight, be sure to include evening primrose, flowering tobacco, moonflower vine, angel's trumpet, night scented stock, four o'clocks and August lily (Hosta plantaginea). All are more fragrant in the evening than during the day. Also, watering the garden just before sunset intensifies the fragrance of many night-scented blooms.

Fragrant Plants

With a little planning you can ensure your garden will be perfumed from early spring through fall. Here is a very short list of shrubs, perennials, annuals and herbs to consider.

Shrubs

  1. Roses (Rosa spp.)
  2. Lilac (Syringa spp.)
  3. Gardenia (Gardenia florida)
  4. Butterfly Bush (Buddleia spp.)
  5. Winter Honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima)
  6. Tea Olive (Osmanthus spp.)
  7. Silverberry (Elaeagnus pungens)
  8. Mock Orange (Philadelphus virginalis)
  9. Winter Daphne (Daphne odora)
  10. Summer Sweet (Clethora spp.)

Perennials

  1. Daffodils (Narcissus)
  2. Peony (Paeonia lactiflora)
  3. Garden Phlox (Phlox paniculata)
  4. Lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis)
  5. Pinks (Dianthus plumarius)
  6. Oriental Lily (Lilium)
  7. Daylily (Hemerocallis)
  8. Summer Hyacinth (Galtonia candicans)
  9. Sweet Autumn Clematis (Clematis terniflora)
  10. Iris (Iris spp.)

Annuals

  1. Petunias
  2. Marigolds (Tagetes erecta)
  3. Moonflower Vine (Ipomoea alba)
  4. Stock (Matthiola incana)
  5. Nemesia
  6. Four O'Clocks (Mirabilis jalapa)
  7. Flowering Tobacco (Nicotianna alata)
  8. Summer Snapdragon (Angelonia)
  9. Sweet Peas (Lathyrus odoratus)
  10. Angel's Trumpets (Brugmansia)

Herbs

  1. Lavender (Lavandula spp.)
  2. Basil (Ocimum basilicum)
  3. Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
  4. Wormwood (Artemisia vulgaris)
  5. Bee Balm (Monarda didyma)
  6. Sweet Marjoram (Origanum Majorana)
  7. Catmint (Nepeta)
  8. Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans)
  9. Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)
  10. Common Sage (Salvia officinalis)
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Comments

Sweet Shrub

by Jane Willis on April 25, 2010 02:10
We have the Sweet Shrub here in South Carolina. I saw some at a local garden center just last week. I remember my grandparents having one near a kitchen window and the frangrance in the summer time when the window was open was wonderful. It is definitely one worth having if you can find it.
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fragrent flowers and herbs/ interest in recipes

by dian jankowski stone on April 19, 2010 11:32
i love allen smith's website and found it filled with ample and pertenant information. i want this added to my favorites. i have been a long-term fam of allen smith and only wish i had been able to remember the books i had seen as a resource of his gardening advice and recipes when aired on my local news station. i did not keep pen and paper handy, when the books i wanted from a couple of his segments that i found of greatest interest for me and my needs.
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scented flowers

by vergie Bordelon on April 8, 2010 09:01
thanks for the different names and i do have some here that perfume the whole yard--angel trumpet--the white ones
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Daffodills

by Patsy Thomas on April 4, 2010 03:21
My late neighbor gave me Daffolills that have a very long thin blade ,as thin as wild garlic which grows in abundance in AR. They have flowerrs that are the yellow daffodil color and have the usual trumpet in center. They grow in clusters of five or six very tiny flowers to the stem and have a gloiorious perfume( as sweet as Lilacss). She didn't know the name of them. Had gotten them from an old abandon house site several years before she shared them with me. I have never seen the variety before. I wonder if you might know the name of them? Would be happy to share some of the bulbs with you.
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Roses

by KAREN LANCZOK on April 4, 2010 09:56
we heard on a tv show about spraying milk on roses! Can you expand on that please? Didn't hear the whole story! Thanks~ Karen :o)
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life

by Bonnie J Anderson on April 4, 2010 09:49
Just wanted to thank you for all you do. You are a wonderfully intelligent person and very giving with your knowledge and time. I truly appreciate your dedication to what you set your mind to. You have enriched my life more than I can say. Thank you for giving me a kind word, a pat on the back, and some common sense to see me through. Yes, you do all that. Wonderful health to you, and quiet moments to reflect and savor.
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Re: Fragrant Flowers and Herbs

by Ofelia on April 1, 2010 07:12
Hello Dear P. Allen, why don't you put pictures of plants and herbs that you suggested??? Thank you
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Fragrant Plants

by Georgine Rak on March 29, 2010 12:18
Don't forget about Sweet Woodruff - groudcover. In my Ohio garden, I smell the lovely fragrance once the snow has melted in the Spring until the snow begins to fly in the Fall.
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moonflower vine

by Alice S. Wells on March 29, 2010 11:21
I have a perfect spot...but it doesn't get much sun. Morning until around 11:00 AM. Is that enough? Thanks!
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SWEET BUSH

by OBERIA BOUNDS on March 29, 2010 08:48
Is the magnolia fascatta (we called it), maybe some call it a sweet shrub. Smells like banans. People use to put them places in house or clothes to smell good. Are they still available?
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fragrant flowers and herbs

by Sharon Smart on March 28, 2010 07:33
Thank you for the lists of flowers, shrubs and herbs for the scented garden! I was not aware that the intensity of the scent increases with watering before sunset. Thanks!
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Fragrant herbs for the garden

by Robert L. Joslin on March 28, 2010 01:09
Allen Your list faiiled to include one my favorite aromatic herbs....Tagetes lucida (Mexican Mint Marigold). I keep several around my gardens because they are a handsome plant, require almost no care, are very easy to propagate, survive near zero temps with no extra protection, are the base for a wonderful herbal tea, and they can perfume the air on a still summer day like almost no other herb. And they provide a splash of color in the Fall garden when many other plants are past their prime.
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fragrance

by Barbara Conable on March 28, 2010 10:17
Fragrance is the most important element in my garden. It's one possibility. Thanks for bringing up a subject dear to some hearts, and noses.
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Re: Fragrant Flowers and Herbs

by June on March 28, 2010 08:44
This is an excellent article. I am a 1st year horticulture student and this list is very helpful for designing purposes. THANKS.
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fragrant flowers and herbs..

by Shar on March 27, 2010 10:35
I just want to thank you for such great gardning tipsand just fun things to learn about gardning.
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Re: Fragrant Flowers and Herbs

by Kathy Brown on March 27, 2010 09:06
Right now I have some white alyssum in my greenhouse. Oh boy, does is it fill it up with it's fragrance!
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Fragrant Flowers

by Ms. Jimmie Carol Ellis on March 27, 2010 03:41
Noticed you didn't mention mignonette, reseda odorata. Probably because it's not well know, and not so easy to grow in most states. I've tried numerous times because those who write about seem to rhapsodize, calling it the "cherry pie plant" and such. Also love the story about Napoleon bringing back seeds of it for Josephine. I only wish nurserymen would grow it, get it started, then I could get the little plants and replant my window boxes. Just a thought. Jimmie Ellis
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Fragrant Flowers

by Dale Gilkey on March 27, 2010 08:15
You have Four o' clocks listed as annual flowers in your recent newsletter. I have them coming back every year for many, many years. Is it a southern thing or what? I live in Kentucky.
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Jasmine

by David MacKinnon on March 24, 2010 10:04
Is there a variety that would grow in a northern climate like in Syracuse, NY?
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