Twilight temptations
As the sun sinks in the sky, many flowers start to pump out their scent. Most have pale colours that show up in the low light and attract moths to pollinate them, drawn by the sweet fragrances that attract us, too!
One of our most-loved native flowers, honeysuckle ( Lonicera periclymenum) is a welcome addition to our gardens and spectacular when in full flower. Often it’s planted against a sunny wall, which really doesn’t suit it, the dry soil causing mildew and encouraging aphids that suck the sap from the flower buds and prevent the blooms opening. A cool position in part shade is far better, and an arch or bower better than wall trellis. That sunny spot is better kept for summer jasmine ( Jasminum officinale) or evergreen trachelospermum.
Few annuals, apart from sweet peas and nicotiana, have notable fragrance but there are other exceptions. Old-fashioned night-scented stock is a dowdy thing during the day, when the flowers seem to gasp in the heat of the sun. But they open in the evening to scent the air
with the sweetest of perfumes. Sow a few seeds, where they’re to grow, among your borders or pots of plants or, harking back to tradition, sow with the brighter but equally easy Virginian stock ( Malcolmia maritima).
Lumbered with an unpronounceable name, zaluzianskya is another sowand-grow annual with sparkling white flowers and a honey-sweet perfume at night, although you’d pass it by completely in daylight when the flowers are closed.
Mirabilis (marvel of Peru) is a slightly tender perennial that
can be treated as an annual and is the perfect commuter’s plant! Rapidly forming a 60cm (2ft) mound of bright green leaves, the trumpetlike flowers, in many shades, remain closed till 4pm. Then they fill the garden with fragrance all night until they close at dawn.
But the most
extraordinary evening fragrances are produced by two tender plants that need a little extra effort. Tuberose (polianthes) is said to be the most fragrant of all flowers. The bulb-like shoots must be started in heat in spring and from the cluster of leaves emerges a single stem, 1m (40in) high, with waxy, white flowers. A single stem will perfume the patio or, if cut, the whole house. Needing full sun and warmth, it’s best in a greenhouse or on a warm patio. If you’ve a greenhouse to
overwinter them, brugmansias
can be the most spectacular plant in the neighbourhood. When the huge trumpets, often 30cm (1ft) long, hang from the branches, they look spectacular and fill your patio with a heady scent. They’re greedy and thirsty so feed and water them well. Their large leaves and flowers are easily damaged by wind so take care to place them outside in a protected, sunny spot.